A Scandal in Bohemia Themes

Unlike many Sherlock Holmes adventures, “A Scandal in Bohemia” does not present an unsolvable mystery for modern fiction’s preeminent detective. Instead, Holmes must trick a young woman, Irene Adler, into divulging the whereabouts of a photograph that could damage the reputation of his latest client, the King of Bohemia. While Holmes is famous for his use of the powers of observation and deductive reasoning to solve crimes—his assistant, John Watson, portrays Holmes…

The prolific use of disguises in “A Scandal in Bohemia” sends the message that not everything is what it seems, and that appearances are never to be trusted. Sherlock Holmes, the King of Bohemia, and Irene Adler all attempt to disguise themselves in order to get what they want, with varied results; the quality of their disguises, and their ability to fool those around them, is a measure of the intellectual capacity of…

In “A Scandal in Bohemia,” as with most of Holmes’s adventures, the detective serves a very unconventional form of justice that is not necessarily in line with state-sanctioned law and order. As a private detective, Holmes is deliberately separate from official law enforcement and is able to take on cases that the police could not—and he is also able to use methods that aren’t available to the police. The story ultimately suggests the justice…