|
And
none of us can forget Watson’s description of Holmes’s reaction to Irene
Adler:
|
To Sherlock Holmes she is
always the woman... In his eyes she eclipses and predominates the whole of
her sex. (SCAN)
|
So if the Master’s avoidance of women
is not caused by antipathy, why has he set himself apart from the world of
women? If we listen to what Holmes says on the subject instead of flying off
into rash accusations of misogyny, we will hear his explanation. As early as
SIGN, Holmes tells Watson why he avoids the tender passions:
|
Love
is an emotional thing, and whatever is emotional is opposed to that true,
cold reason, which I place above all things. I should never marry myself
lest I bias my judgment. (SIGN)
|
|
|
|
And
later in the same case, he says,
|
The emotional qualities
are antagonistic to clear reasoning, (SIGN)
|
and later yet,
|
It is of the first importance
not to allow your judgment to be biased by personal qualities. (SIGN)
|
By his own words it seems clear that
Sherlock Holmes made a conscious, carefully considered decision to distance
himself from womankind in order to avoid the temptations of love and sex and
emotional bias. He based his decision on two separate foundations.
First was his realization that one of
the natural talents he brought to his profession was his ability to
concentrate, to focus his brain and each of his senses in pulling every
possible piece of information from the scene or story before him. I just
called that a natural talent, but I have no doubt that the Master honed this
ability as well, bringing the full force of his remarkable intellect to bear
on opening his senses, his powers of observation, learning to concentrate
keenly at will. This was as much a part of his studies as his investigations
into the ash of various tobaccos or his observations about familial influence
in the shape of the ear - these were the studies that permitted him to
interpret the data, but first he had to train himself to focus his intellect
and his senses and to observe everything.
|
|
So Sherlock Holmes made a conscious
decision to eliminate from his life anything that did not lead to improving
himself as a perfect instrument of observation and deduction. What he needed
to excise was personal emotion. Sentiment was forbidden and so he separated
himself from the enticements represented by the gentler, more curvaceous
gender. In effect, he removed himself from temptation.
I think he made the decision to shun
womankind quite early in his life, before he really knew how he would use the
abilities and systems he was teaching himself. Then, when his path turned to
detection, he saw another strong reason to eschew contact with women. His
profession put him in opposition to some of the most dangerous men in London,
in the world. Any woman attached to him would live her life in constant
jeopardy. She would become a tool for his enemies to use against him and she
would be unlikely to survive for long. No gentleman would put a lady in such
a situation, and Holmes renewed his decision to put aside the softer emotions
and avoid the company of women.
The intriguing question here is exactly
how difficult was it for him to cut the female of the species out of his
life. His bent is clearly intellectual more than it is physical, but he is
still a man after all. He did proclaim, “I am a brain, Watson, the rest of me
is a mere appendix,” (MAZA) but nowhere did he say that the rest of him was
not in full working order! It is tempting to pause here to contemplate how he
controlled his appendage when it threatened to rise up against his brain.
What was the Holmesian equivalent of a cold shower? Could his violin provide
the necessary sublimation? Is this what turned him to cocaine? Did salt-peter
figure into it? This is a tempting area of conjecture, but on reflection, I
think I’ll leave it for another day to explore.
Kinky questions notwithstanding, Holmes
managed to build an important and fulfilling life for himself, but I think he
never forgot what he had sacrificed to fashion himself into the perfect
reasoning machine. In some deep corner of his soul, he recognized what he had
given up, and I believe we can see evidence of his silent longing in the
Canon. Listen to his words in BERY, VALL, ILLU, and DEVI. First, BERY:
|
You
owe a very humble apology to that noble lad, your son, who has carried
himself in that matter as I should be proud to see my own son do, should I
ever chance to have one. (BERY)
|
|
