Hello and welcome to this course on The Victorian
Short Story.
In this week we will be looking at Arthur
Conan Doyleís The Red Headed League.
It is a very famous short story by Doyle;
in fact Doyle himself ranks it as his second
best story.
I want to begin this session by giving you
an interesting perspective by Harold Orel
in his book the Victorian Short Story and
this book was published in 1986.
He says that the 19th century British short
stories are astonishingly honest and dry eyed
in the examination of human problems that
all too easily might have been treated sentimentally
or with condescension.
They impress us by the economy of means in
them, in the questions of why things happen
as they do and why people behave as they do
remain unanswered.
So, this is a very interesting take on the
British short fiction and British short fiction
especially in the 19th century can be treated
sentimentally or condescendingly.
And, but in fact, they have an honest and
very very dry eyed way of looking at things
and despite this honesty and integrity with
which they deal with real life within the
world of fiction, the motives as to why people
behave the way they do and why peopleÖ why
things happen the way they do happen remain
unanswered.
So, the motives are not clearly examined in
19th century short fiction, even though there
is a reality to it even though there is a
nitty gritty way of examining life.
So, in this particular session we are going
to look at a very a clear cut detective fiction
byÖby Arthur Conan Doyle and it features
this very famous detective called Sherlock
Holmes.
And as you read the story you will know that
the real slice of London is kind of portrayed
in a very forthright manner in this short
story.
So, there is an honesty and dried eyed aspect
to The Red Headed League, that is there, but
things become complex when we come to the
motive of the peopleís behavior, it is not
as straightforward as other aspects of the
story.
Now, The Red Headed League is a story which
was published in 1891 in the magazine called
the Strand Magazine.
The story was very popular in its day and
now, and when it was first published the illustrations
to the story were done by Sidney Paget and
I do have a set of illustrations that he did
for this particular story, and I will share
them with you at some point in this particular
session.
And what is interesting about this Red Headed
League narrative is its structure, it has
an very interesting structure the way the
mystery plot, the detective plot is woven
in the story is done brilliantly by Arthur
Conan Doyle which is why I have chosen this
particular story to examine it in relation
to this short story course.
Now, I have an image by some of the fans of
Sherlock Holmes fiction and as you can see
in that image this story is ranked number
second by Conan Doyle himself and by Sherlock
surveys, Sherlockean surveys.
And the most important aspects of the story
are also mentioned here- the clientís name
is Jabez Wilson and it was first published
in 1892 as part of a collection called The
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
And in that collection too it appears in the
second place.
So, there is a lot of association with the
second in terms of The Red Headed League and
this is just a very interesting cultural facet
of the story that I wanted to share with you.
And Sherlock as you know has a massive fan
following and in the contemporary period it
has reached a kind of a contemporary popularity
that is unparalleled in the history of literature.
And the BBC Sherlock series has something
to do with that kind of popularization of
the Sherlock narrative.
Now, in the story Sherlock talks to Watson
and reminds the readers that it is Watson
who is chronicling his adventures.
So, in The Red Headed League at the beginning
of the story we have Sherlock mentioning that
ìI know, my dear Watson, that you share my
love of all that is bizarre and outside the
conventions and humdrum routine of everyday
life.
You have shown your relish for it by the enthusiasm
which has prompted you to chronicle, and,
if you will excuse my saying so, somewhat
to embellish so many of my little adventures.î
So, this quip, comment by Holmes takes place
at the beginning of The Red Headed League
story and he reminds the readers that Watson
his friend and companion and partner in detection
is also the chronicler.
The person who records the adventures in written
narratives and it is very interesting that
Holmes uses this word chronicle; chronicle
is usually associated with history writing.
So, somehow the adventures of Holmes are transforming
into a narrative of history, a history of
London and its crimes, and you can see that
Holmes is accruing a lot of importance to
the work that he is doing as part of everyday
routine, as part of the everyday humdrum of
ordinary existence.
And he also mentions that Watson is not just
purely recording the adventures, he is also
embellishing it; embellishing means that he
is you know making it very attractive, he
is improving on it, he is polishing the story
in order to make it very entertaining and
palatable to the readers.
So, we have the biographer of Holmes right
next to him in the figure of Watson.
So, I want to go back to the earlier point
about 19th century British short stories where
there is a kind of a very realistic you know
rendering of life itself.
And and compare it to this point about Sherlock
Holmes about how Watson is improving on reality.
So, there is a contrast between reality and
embellishing of it in the accounts of Watson.
Now, the story begins with this figure called
Jabez Wilson with whom Holmes is having a
conversation.
And Jabez Wilson is very important to the
story because he is the one who is pushing
the narrative into happening.
He is setting the ball rolling in this story
and what kind of a figure is influential in
the story is what is exciting us at this point.
And this is the description of Jabez Wilson.
As I said he is crucial for the narrative,
because he is responsible for the narrative
to come into being and what sort of this person
is what is revealed in this particular description.
ëOur visitor bore every mark of being an
average commonplace British tradesman.
Obese, pompous, and slow, he wore rather baggy
gray shepherdís check trousers, and not over
clean black frock coat, unbuttoned in the
front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy
Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of
metal dangling down as an ornament.í
There are a lot of details in this description,
but what is coming through for me here is
the drabness, the dullness, the gray aspect
of Jabez Wilson and his average quality.
He is commonplace.
Look at the word commonplace- very ordinary,
and his outfit is not that of a gentleman,
it is baggy, it is gray and, it is not clean;
it is not overly clean and it is very drab.
So, we do get a sense that Jabez Wilson is
an ordinary British tradesman who is not very
exciting, who is not very interesting, who
is not very extraordinary.
And we got to remember that Sherlock Holmes
is a figure who thinks that extraordinary
things can be hidden under commonplace exteriors.
So this figure is exciting in an ordinary
way.
Now, what happens in the story is that Jabez
Wilson is made to work in a place and the
work involves just copying out pages of Encyclopedia
Britannica for 4Öfor 4 pounds a week.
So, that is his job, and it is a very very
interesting job because this job is won by
him in an answer to an advertisement, which
says that only redheaded persons can apply
towards this advertisement and they would
get a good sum of money for a very nominal
piece of work on a weekly basis.
So, Jabez Wilson responds to this advertisement
and he gets the job, and he starts copying
out Encyclopedia Britannica during the morning
hours and he is paid 4 pounds a week.
And he was brought to the attention of the
advertisement by his assistant called Vincent
Spaulding.
And Vincent Spaulding is very interesting
because he is working for half wages in Jabez
Wilsonís pawnbrokerís business, and Jabez
Wilson gives us a description of the kind
of figure that Vincent Spaulding is.
So, he says that ëhis name is Vincent Spaulding
and he is not such a youth, either.
It is hard to say his age.
I should not wish a smarter assistant, Mr.
Holmes; and I know very well that he could
better himself and earn twice what I am able
to give him.
But, after all, if he is satisfied, why should
I put ideas in his head.í So, Vincent Spaulding
is interesting because he is an excellent
assistant and he is working for half wages
at Jabez Wilsonís pawnbrokerís business.
And he is the one who as I said brings up
to the attention of Jabez Wilson this advertisement
about you know The Red Headed League, demanding,
a new redheaded person to take up this particular
job for a hefty sum of money on a weekly basis.
So, he is an extremely smart person and he
is not young, but at the same time it is very
difficult to you know come to a decision about
his age.
And this set of ideas about Vincent Spaulding
is very interesting in retrospect, because
once you have read the story and once you
know the resolution to the story you might
want to you know go back on your tracks and
try to understand the man who is one of the
key antagonists in this particular story.
So, you know the nature of crime and, you
know, and which is embedded in a figure of
indeterminate age becomes interesting in retrospect.
Now, we get further questions from Sherlock
Holmes about Vincent Spaulding and Jabez Wilson
offers further details.
He says that he is ìSmall, stout-built, very
quick in his ways, no hair on his face, though
heís not short of thirty.
Has a white splash of acid upon his forehead.î
Once again, a very you know fascinating set
of details about Vincent Spaulding and this
is fascinating because he is the master criminal
in this particular story, and you want to
know how this criminal appears physically
and he is small.
The reference to the smallness of Vincent
Spaulding as well as his accomplice is exciting.
And we also need to know that he is also very
quick in his ways and if you compare these
attributes with the attributes of another
very famous criminal in late nineteenth century
fiction who is Mr. Hyde, you will kind of
come to see that there is a resemblance between
smallness and quickness in terms of these
criminal figures, there seems to be a common
set of you know attributes which are associated
with criminals.
So, that is one you know stereotype or physical
quality that we need to keep in mind in terms
of masterminds or in terms of evil minded
figures in literature.
So, he is small and he is not yet thirty and
most interestingly he has a white splash of
acid upon his forehead.
So, this is a very odd detail and this also
very obviously, in a very marked way you know
brings some kind of significance to his face.
A splash of acid means that he has been dabbling
with chemicals or, he is involved with someone
who has dabbled with chemicals.
So, the association of chemistry and this
evil minded figure becomes significant if
we think about it.
So, should we ask this question is science
associated with criminal masterminds as well
in terms of late 19th century fiction?
So, we also need to keep this query in mind.
Of course, we also know that Sherlock Holmes
also dabbles with chemical experiments and
we also know that he works for the good in
society at least he is involved in catching
criminals and putting them behind bars.
But we also know that if push comes to shove
he could also have you know adopted you know
underhand means to catch his criminal.
So, science becomes very very complex in terms
of these detectives and criminals at this
point of 19th century fiction.
And once again I am returning to the strange
case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde where science
is manipulated by Dr. Jekyll in order to transform
into Hyde.
So, this splash of acid becomes a distinct
mark on Vincent Spauldingís face.
Now, I want to pay attention to the way in
which Holmes is trying to describe crime in
society and what fascinates me is the metaphor
that he employs.
He says that ëAs a rule, said Holmes, the
more bizarre a thing is the less mysterious
it proves to be.
It is your commonplace, featureless crimes
which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace
face is the most difficult to identifyí.
It is a very interesting set of ideas.
Now I want to first look at the first section
of this set of perspectives by Holmes.
He says, the more bizarre a thing is the less
mysterious it proves to be.
So, if a thing is obviously bizarre, strange
and mysterious it might prove to be a dull
case.
And it if it is kind of commonplace; if the
mystery is commonplace, then its end result
might be more exciting.
So, that is what he is trying to establish,
and what I would want you you know students
who have enrolled on this course is to apply
this concept to this story Red Headed League
and see and test if what he says is true.
Is the story commonplace in The Red Headed
League?
Is the crime commonplace in The Red Headed
League and is the result very very mysterious?
So, try to test the proposition of Holmes;
so that is the you know homework for you in
relation to this particular point that Holmes
is trying to establish.
Now, Jabez Wilson has given his case to Holmes
and he has you know fascinated Holmes the
great detective and therefore, Holmes has
accepted the case; and once Wilson has left
what the two men do is to visit the space
occupied by Jabez Wilson.
So, this chunk of text from the story is exciting
for the social canvas that we get of late
nineteenth century London.
ëWe travelled by the underground as far as
Aldersgate and a short walk took us to Saxe
Coburg Square, the scene of the singular story
which we had listened to in the morning.
It was a poky, little, shabby genteel place,
where four lines of dingy two-storied brick
houses looked out into a small railed in enclosure,
where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps
of faded laurel bushes made a hard fight against
a smoke laden and uncongenial atmosphere.
Three gilt balls and a brown board with Jabez
Wilson in white letters, upon a corner house,
announced the place where our redheaded client
carried on his business.í
So, Watson and Holmes visit the place of business
of Jabez Wilson, and the setting of Jabez
Wilsonís business is very interesting for
us.
Look at the description.
It is a dingy two storied brick house, and
a lot of weedy grass not very healthy grass
and a few clumps of faded laurel bushes it
is not very bright it is faded, and it is
in a smoke laden and uncongenial atmosphere.
And three gilt balls and a brown board, gilt
very flashily ornamental, ornamental in a
fake way in a flimsy way and a brown board
not in a very attractive color it is in a
brown board with Jabez Wilson in white letters.
So, the ambience of this place of business
is not very attractive.
It is dull, it is dingy, it is in an uncongenial,
unhealthy atmosphere and this is where Jabez
Wilson works.
The point of this description is to tell us
that Jabez Wilson is a shabby genteel, figure;
he is not part of the gentlemanly middle class.
In fact, if you look at the early sections
of the story, it is made very clear that Jabez
Wilson had done manual labor which means that
he is not part of the middle classes or the
upper classes and then he has even been a
shipís carpenter.
So, from that position he has risen to the
state of a small time tradesman.
So, this class position of Jabez Wilson is
consciously established by The Red Headed
League story.
And the physical setting of Jabez Wilsonís
business is oriented in such a way that we
consciously understand his place in society.
And the natural elements surrounding his place
of work such as the grass and the laurel bushes
are also equally dingy and dull and it is
all of one piece.
And just as you know the clothing or the outfit
of Jabez Wilson also established the class
position and the character of this particular
small time trader.
Now, once we have been introduced to the place
of business in a particular manner the narrator
of the story takes us to a different setting
in order to suggest the contrasts that are
there in the city of London.
So, this particular journey that Watson and
Holmes undertake after visiting the place
of business of Jabez Wilson is also significant
to understand widely differing pockets of
life in this urban environment of London.
ëThe road in which we found ourselves as
we turned around the corner from the retired
Saxe Coburg square presented as great a contrast
to it as the front of a picture does to the
back.
It was one of the main arteries which conveyed
the traffic of the city to the north and west.
The roadway was blocked with the immense stream
of commerce flowing in a double tide inward
and outward, while the footpaths were black
with the hurrying swarm of pedestrians.
It was difficult to realise as we looked at
the line of fine shops and stately business
premises that they really abutted on the other
side upon the faded and stagnant square which
we had just quitted.í So, when you read the
story, we are conscious of the fact that this
is a different side to London.
In fact, we can see in the description that
the narrator is conscious to point out that
difference, look at the comparison here.
The retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as
great a contrast to it as the front of a picture
does to the back.
So, as soon as they turn the corner from where
Jabez Wilson has his business they reach a
neighborhood which is completely different
from the front to the back of a picture.
So, that is the kind of difference that we
get when we move to this side of London and
the narrator says Watson says that it was
one of the main arteries which conveyed the
traffic of the city to the north and west
and the following description about the double
tide of people moving inward and outward also
reminds us of the inward moving and the outward
going traffic of redheaded men who answered
the call to that particular advertisement
by The Red Headed League which wants a person
to occupy a vacancy for a very nominal work
on a weekly basis.
So, we see echoes of one setting or the another
in this particular story and there are symbolic
and ideological significances connected to
this echoing of settings at different points
in the story.
And he says that, it was difficult to realize
as we looked at the line of fine shops and
stately business that they really abutted
on the other side upon the faded and stagnant
square.
And this faded and stagnant square is the
one in which we have Jabez Wilsonís pawnbrokerís
business.
So, on the one side we have a very drab neighborhood
which is dull and dingy and unhealthy and
on the other side you know we have a fine
line of shops and stately business, and some
of the stately businesses include a big you
know a bank as well.
Now, it is very easy to you know kind of follow
Holmesís deduction, because it is almost
implied that something really untoward is
going to happen in terms of the activities
of the assistant of Jabez Wilson.
So, when we are told by Holmes that there
is going to be a big bank robbery and that
Jabez Wilsonís assistant called Vincent Spaulding
who is in fact, the big criminal mastermind
John Clay who is trying to dig a tunnel from
the pawnbrokerís shop from the cellar of
the pawnbrokerís shop to the city bank and
rob the bank of a big sum of money, it is
not a massive surprise to the reader.
So, we are somehow trying to we have somehow
kind of followed the instincts of Sherlock
Holmes.
But what is the surprise is the fact that
he is going to catch him in the act, he is
going to stop the crime in the act and the
key criminal mastermind is an interesting
figure in Holmesís assessment.
He says that John ClayóëHe is in fact, a
murderer, he is a thief, a smasher and forger
he is a young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he
is at the head of his profession, and I would
rather have my bracelets on him than on any
criminal in London.
He is a remarkable man, he is young John Clay.
His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself
has been to Eton and Oxford.
His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and
though we meet signs of him at every turn,
we never know where to find the man himselfí.
So, the man called Vincent Spaulding, who
is working for half wages at Jabez Wilsonís
pawnbrokerís business is in fact a murderer,
a thief, a smasher of property and a forger
of documents.
And he has hatched this plan to rob the bank
which is on the other side of the street by
digging a tunnel from Jabez Wilsonís cellar
and Holmes kind of detects this plan and he
is waiting with his set of you know friends,
and his friends from the police as well at
the cellar of the bank, and he is waiting
to catch this murderer, and thief,
But, what is interesting about John Clay is
not that he is a criminal, but he is background,
that is what is exciting.
In fact, he is of noble blood; his grandfather
was a royal duke and he himself has been to
Eton and Oxford to institutions of higher
learning to elite institutions of higher learning,
and he says that his brain is as cunning as
his fingers.
So, just as he is agile physically his brain
is also agile mentally and Holmes says that
he is on the verge of catching him at every
point, but then he escapes him in the past.
So, he is always round the corner for Holmes
and at this point in the story, at this stage
in his life he thinks that he is going to
catch him.
Thank you for watching and I will continue
in the next session.
