Y for The Yellow Face

For the second-last post in Kerrie´s alphabet game I have chosen an old Sherlock Holmes story, The Adventure of the Yellow Face.

In many ways this is a typical Sherlock Holmes story. A very upset husband, Grand Munro, calls in our near-omniscient protagonist because he is worried about his secretive American wife. Together with an awestruck Dr Watson, Holmes follows Mr Munro to the countryside to solve the little problem.

Another typical feature is the description of a churlish servant, “a tall, gaunt woman with a harsh, forbidding face” and the good, little wife who cannot tell a lie without trembling and fidgeting. The mysterious cottage and the old secret that seems to haunt Mrs Munro are other well-known aspects.

Two things are unusual, however. Sherlock Holmes is not exactly proud of his own performance, and we meet a foreigner who is both handsome and intelligent!

Sherlock Holmes & Middle Class Women

[See also Sherlock Holmes & Women 1 & Sherlock Holmes & Working Class Women]

“When the house is renovated and refurnished, all that he will need will be a wife to make it complete.” If we didn´t know already, Dr Watson kindly informs us here what middle class women were there for. During the late Victorian period, the bachelor gentleman was an important literary figure whose ideals, lifestyle and puritanical moral prevailed. The middle class woman ´of independent means´ was all but invisible, however, so one has to read several Sherlock Holmes stories to meet any of them.

My first example is Miss Annie Harrison, the fiancé of young Percy Phelps in ´The Naval Treaty´. Annie and her scoundrel of a brother are the only children of an ironmaster, a connection which is seen as a disadvantage, economically as well as socially. Dr Watson, always courteous (towards middle class women, that is), obligingly describes her: “She was a striking-looking woman, a little short and thick for symmetry, but with a beautiful olive complexion, large, dark Italian eyes, and a wealth of deep black hair. Her rich tints made the white face of her companion the more worn and haggard by the contrast.”

An unusually thorough description, but what is interesting in this context is her dark colouring. Though it is never said explicitly, the ideal woman seems to be a blonde and pale creature with delicate, white hands. Furthermore the ´lack of symmetry´ suggests that she is not a real lady.

Sherlock Holmes, who never judges by appearances, has been taken by her ´rare character´. Even Watson notices that she is ´a girl of strong character´. That this trait should be mentioned twice is curious as Holmes or Watson never point out what is so unusual about her character. We are told that she has been nursing her fiancé for two months during a brain-fever, and at Holmes´ request she assists him by staying in a certain room for a whole day, but still she is only a minor figure in the story. It seems as if Conan Doyle has made a vague effort to describe an extraordinary woman, but not very successfully.

Another story in which a young middle class woman plays more than an absolutely negligible part is ´The Yellow Face´. Young Mrs Munro is troubled by her mysterious past which has ´come home to roost´. Both her dark secret and the fact that she is a lady of independent means make her one of the few female counterparts to Conan Doyle´s bachelor gentlemen. Another interesting parallel is her having lived with a maiden aunt some time.

Surprisingly, Mrs Munro´s looks are not described at all, maybe because much of the story is told by her husband and not the romantic Dr Watson. Mr Munro is preoccupied with the changes of her behavior. His wife, usually ´a woman of a frank, open nature´ suddenly becomes nervous and secretive. Being a real lady she is not in the habit of lying so her looks and behavior reveal that something is wrong, “she gave a violent start and a kind of gasping cry when I spoke, … there was something indescribably guilty about them.”

Mrs Munro fights heroically to keep her secret. She performs her role as a ´playful´ and probably decorative Victorian housewife, keeping up appearances for as long as possible. Inwardly she is torn between her duties towards her husband and her child, however.

On our search for the ideal woman we cannot leave out Mrs Watson. She is introduced in “The Sign of Four”, in which her and Dr Watson´s love-story makes a sweet little sub-plot. Having lost her mother at a very young age, the young, amiable Miss Mary Morstan has been raised ´in a comfortable boarding establishment at Edinburgh.´ Her father has disappeared so she is now quite alone in the world. Her means are limited, but Nature has favoured her otherwise. “She was a blonde young lady, small, dainty, well gloved, and dressed in the most perfect taste.” Dr Watson´s admiration is boundless: “In an experience of women which extends over many nations and three separate continents, I have never looked upon a face which gave a clearer promise of a refined and sensitive nature.” [This quotation which is one of my favourites is used many years later by Lord Peter Wimsey & Harriet Vane]

As opposed to working class women, Miss Morstan is able to control her emotions when necessary. “After the angelic fashion of women, she had borne trouble with a calm face as long as there was someone weaker than herself to support…” Yet in her distress, she readily accepts Dr Watson´s efforts at comforting her, “… there was in her also the instinct to turn to me for comfort and protection. So we stood hand in hand like two children, and there was peace in our hearts for all the dark things that surrounded us.”

Their love grows quickly. In the course of events Miss Morstan shows a curious lack of interest in the missing treasure, whereas her concern for Watson increases. His description of the lady who is waiting for him is revealing: “One white arm and hand drooped over the side of the chair, and her whole pose and figure spoke of an absorbing melancholy. At the sound of my footfall she sprang to her feet, however, and a bright flush of surprise and of pleasure coloured her pale cheek.”

Watson´s happiness is almost complete, but her great expectations seem insurmountable to him. Thanks to the villain, Jonathan Small, her treasure is lost forever while Dr Watson gains one.

With customary cynicism Sherlock Holmes admits that he ´cannot congratulate´ Watson on his engagement, and we will now leave Miss Morstan to her infinitesimal role as Mrs Watson with Holmes´ grudging admiration: “I think she is one of the most charming young ladies I ever met and might have been most useful in such work as we have been doing.”

Very few women found favour in the eyes of Sherlock Holmes, yet one deserved the honourable title of the woman. During the first pages of ´A Scandal in Bohemia´ the case seems ordinary and insignificant, and the reader expects a quick solution to the problem. Miss Irene Adler, a young opera singer, is in possession of a compromising photograph. First she is described by the King of Bohemia, her former lover, who has engaged Holmes to procure the photo, “she has the soul of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and the mind of the most resolute of men.” Also the newly-wed Dr Watson falls for her charm and ´superb figure´ and loathes his role in the drama: “I know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited upon the injured man.”

In short, Miss Adler´s beauty and her amiable character would endanger (almost) any man´s heart. Even the indifferent Holmes acknowledges that ´she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for.´

To the great surprise of Holmes and the reader Miss Adler is not the sort of woman who depends on male help or protection. When she feels threatened she disappears resolutely, keeping the photo and gaining anyone´s sympathy. The king regrets that she is not on ´his level´ and receives a cold answer from the outwitted detective. “From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a very different level to your Majesty.” Together with Holmes we marvel at the woman who represented the ideal combination of beauty, wit, and a strong and virtuous character.

Sherlock Holmes & Middelklassekvinder.

[Se første og andet indlæg om Sherlock Holmes]

”Når huset er sat i stand og møbleret, er alt hvad der behøves for at gøre det komplet en kone.” Hvis vi ikke vidste det allerede, kan Doktor Watson fortælle os, hvad middelklassekvinder skulle til for. I den senviktorianske periode var den ugifte gentleman en fremtrædende litterær person, hvis idealer, livsstil og puritanske moral dominerede samtiden. Den uafhængige middelklassekvinde var derimod næsten usynlig.

Mit første eksempel er Miss Annie Harrison, forlovet med unge Percy Phelps i ´The Naval Treaty´. Annie og hendes skurkagtige bror er eneste børn af en jernværksejer, en uheldig forbindelse for den unge kvinde, både økonomisk og socialt. Doktor Watson, som altid er galant (når det gælder middelklassekvinder), beskriver hende gerne: ”Hendes udseende var bemærkelsesværdigt, lidt for lille og kraftig til at være symmetrisk, men med en smuk, olivengylden teint, store, mørke, italienske øjne, og et væld af dybtsort hår. Hendes stærke farvetone fik hendes ledsagers hvide ansigt til at fremtræde endnu mere slidt og hærget.”

Denne beskrivelse er ualmindelig grundig, men det mest interessante er hendes mørke farver. Selv om det aldrig bliver sagt lige ud, tyder alt på, at idealkvinden er en blond og bleg skabning, med sarte, hvide hænder. Desuden tyder denne mangel på symmetri på, at Miss Harrison ikke er nogen helt rigtig dame. Men Sherlock Holmes, som aldrig dømmer ud fra udseendet, har lagt mærke til hendes ´sjældne personlighed´. Også Watson har noteret sig, at hun er en pige med en stærk personlighed. At dette træk nævnes to gange, er lidt overraskende, da det aldrig bliver nærmere forklaret hvad det er, der er så usædvanligt. Vi hører, at hun passer sin forlovede i to måneder, mens han lider af hjernebetændelse, og på Holmes´ anmodning hjælper hun ham ved at blive i et bestemt rum i 24 timer, men ikke desto mindre er hun en biperson i novellen. Det ser ud til, at Conan Doyle gjorde et forsøg på at skildre en ekstraordinær kvinde, men ikke kom helt godt fra det.

Endnu en novelle, hvor en ung middelklassekvinde får en smule plads, er ´The Yellow Face´. Unge Mrs Munro plages af sin mystiske fortid, som pludselig trænger sig på. Både hendes dystre hemmelighed og hendes økonomiske uafhængighed gør hende til et af de få modstykker til den typiske, viktorianske ungkarl. Endnu en interessant parallel er, at hun har boet hos en ugift tante nogle år. Overraskende nok bliver Mrs Munros udseende slet ikke beskrevet, sikkert fordi det er hendes ægtemand, som fortæller det meste af historien, og han er mere optaget af hendes forandrede væsen end af hendes udseende. Hans kone, som plejer at være en ´ligefrem, åben natur´, bliver pludselig nervøs og hemmelighedsfuld. Da hun er en rigtig dame, er hun ikke vant til at lyve, så hendes minespil og opførsel røber, at noget er galt: ´hun gav et voldsomt spjæt og nærmest et gispende udråb da jeg talte, … der var noget ubeskriveligt skyldbetynget ved det´.

Mrs Munro kæmper en brav kamp for at holde på sin hemmelighed. Hun spiller sin rolle som den muntre og sikkert dekorative viktorianske husmor, og bevarer facaden så længe som muligt, men indvendigt er hun splittet mellem sin pligt overfor sin ægtemand og sit barn.

På denne søgen efter den perfekte kvinde er Mrs Watson ikke til at komme uden om. Hun bliver præsenteret i romanen ”The Sign of Four”, hvor hendes og Watsons kærlighedshistorie udgør en romantisk lille sidehistorie. Da hun har mistet sin mor i en tidlig alder, er den unge, elskværdige Miss Mary Morstan vokset op ´på en komfortabel kostskole ved Edinburgh´. Hendes far er forsvundet, så hun er helt alene i verden, og hendes økonomiske midler er begrænsede, men Naturen har velsignet hende på andre måder. ”Hun var en blond, ung kvinde, lille og nydelig, med pæne handsker og klædt med udsøgt smag.” Doktor Watsons beundring er grænseløs: ”I min erfaring med kvinder, som strækker sig over mange nationer og tre forskellige kontinenter, har jeg aldrig set et ansigt, som gav et klarere løfte om en forfinet og følsom natur.”

I modsætning til arbejderklassens kvinder er Miss Morstan i stand til at styre sine følelser, når det er nødvendigt. ”På kvinders engleagtige maner havde hun båret bekymringer med et behersket ansigt, så længe der var nogen svagere end hun selv, som havde behov for støtte ….” Men i sin nød tager hun gerne imod Watsons ridderlighed, ”… i hende fandtes også et instinkt for at vende sig mod mig for at søge trøst og beskyttelse. Så vi stod hånd i hånd som to børn, og der var fred i vore hjerter på trods af alt det dystre som omgav os. ”

Deres kærlighed udvikler sig hurtigt, og Miss Morstan viser en forbløffende mangel på interesse for sin forsvundne skat, mens hendes bekymring for Watson vokser. Hans beskrivelse af kvinden, som venter på ham, er afslørende: ”En hvid arm og hånd hang slapt ned over siden af stolen, og hele hendes positur og skikkelse talte om en overvældende melankoli. Men ved lyden af mine fodtrin sprang hun på fødderne, og en tydelig rødmen af overraskelse og fornøjelse farvede hendes blege kinder.”

Watsons lykke er næsten fuldkommen, men hendes forhåbninger om stor velstand truer med at bringe hende udenfor lægens rækkevidde. Takket være skurken, Jonathan Small, mister hun imidlertid sin skat for evigt, og Doktor Watson vinder sin. Med sin sædvanlige kynisme kan Sherlock Holmes ikke gratulere Watson helhjertet, men vi vil overlade Miss Morstan til sin birolle som Mrs Watson med Holmes modstræbende beundring: ”Jeg synes, hun er en af de mest charmerende unge kvinder jeg har mødt, og hun kunne være blevet virkeligt nyttig i den form for arbejde, vi udfører.”

Meget få kvinder fandt nåde for Sherlock Holmes´ øjne, men én gjorde sig fortjent til den ærefulde titel ´kvinden´. De første sider af ´A Scandal in Bohemia´ tyder ikke på andet end en ganske almindelig, ubetydelig sag, og læseren forventer en hurtig løsning. Miss Irene Adler, en ung operasanger, er i besiddelse af et kompromitterende fotografi. Hun bliver først beskrevet af Kongen af Bøhmen, hendes tidligere elsker, som har hyret Sherlock Holmes til at skaffe sig billedet: ”hun har en sjæl af stål. Hun har det smukkeste ansigt blandt kvinder, og den mest beslutsomme mands sind. ” Nygifte Doktor Watson kan heller ikke modstå hendes charme og ´fortrinlige skikkelse´, og væmmes ved sin rolle i dramaet. ”Jeg ved, at jeg aldrig havde følt mig mere skamfuld over mig selv i mit liv end da jeg så det smukke væsen, jeg konspirerede imod, eller den yndefuldhed og venlighed hun hjalp den sårede mand med.”

Kort sagt ville Miss Adlers skønhed og elskværdighed bringe (næsten) alle mænds hjerter i fare. Selv den ellers så ligegyldige Holmes erkender at ´hun var en skøn kvinde, med et ansigt en mand ville dø for.´ Men til Holmes og læserens overraskelse, er Miss Adler ikke en type, som er afhængig af en mand for hjælp eller beskyttelse. Da hun føler sig truet, forsvinder hun resolut, beholder fotografiet og vinder alles sympati. Kongen beklager, at hun ikke er på ´hans niveau´, og får et køligt svar fra den overvundne detektiv: ”Ud fra hvad jeg har set til denne kvinde, ser hun virkelig ud til at befinde sig på et helt andet niveau end Deres Majestæt.” Med Sherlock Holmes kan vi kun forundres over idealkvinden som formåede at forene skønhed og vid med en stærk, dydig karakter.

Sherlock Holmes & Working Class Women

NB: this post is not connected to this week´s "Bait in the Box" quotation. This review will appear tomorrow, Friday, as usual.

As my previous Sherlock Holmes post indicates, Conan Doyle did include women in his crime stories – when they suited a purpose. As in real, Victorian life, Conan Doyle´s women belonged to a strict social hierarchy, and today I am going to take a look at the working class woman. Any respectable middle-class household would have at least one maid, preferably more, and often a cook as well. These servants are faceless and nameless unless they appear several times in a story, making a name convenient.

One of the few girls with a name is Edith Baxter from “Silver Blaze”. She brings supper to a stable boy when a stranger suddenly turns up and begins questioning her. The dialogue is not relevant here, but her reactions contribute to a characterization of the Victorian maid, “She was frightened by the earnestness of his manner” – “the girl fled away to the house…” A similar example is found in “The Crooked Man”. When their master had died a mysterious and terrible death, “the maids were too distracted with fear to be of any assistance.”

Even much older working class women were liable to uncontrollable fear, e.g. the two housekeepers of “The Sign of Four”, and “The Hound of the Baskervilles”. Mrs Bernstone, Bartholomew Sholto´s housekeeper, is introduced thus, “… there sounded through the silent night the saddest and most pitiful of sounds – the shrill, broken whimpering of a frightened woman.”

Another night, in another place, the Barrymores, butler and housekeeper of Baskerville Hall, are taken by surprise, “… Mrs Barrymore, paler and more horrorstruck than her husband, was standing at the door.” Just like Mrs Bernstone, she is unable to control her feelings, and she also cries in the night. “And then suddenly, in the very dead of the night, there came a sound to my [Watson´s] ears, clear, resonant and unmistakable. It was the sob of a woman, the muffled, strangling gasp of one who is torn by an uncontrollable sorrow.”

Working class women did not receive much formal education (or informal, for that matter), and they were not supposed to be as clever or polite as other women. In the story of “The Yellow Face”, the anxious Mr Munro is turned out by his new neighbour, an elderly servant, with a ´churlish rebuff´. In another story we meet the mother of William the coachman who has just been killed. We are told that she is old and deaf, and that “the shock has made her half-witted, but I understand that she was never very bright.”

The above-mentioned housekeeper, Mrs Barrymore, is worth returning to as she is one of the working class women who is characterized most thoroughly. In Dr Watson´s words, “she is a heavy, solid person, very limited, intensely respectable…” Other epithets are “large, heavy-featured, stern, bulky”. Apparently this lump of a woman is the proto-type of the female servant.

If we turn to Mrs Mordecai Smith, wife of the boathouse keeper of “The Sign of Four, we will see that she was “a stoutish, red-faced woman with a large sponge in her hand.” Another apt description, this time of the above-mentioned servant from “The Yellow Face” reads, “a tall, gaunt woman, with a harsh, forbidding face.” For a last example of a ´servant exterior´ I have selected Mrs Tangey from “The Naval Treaty” who is “a large, coarse-faced, elderly woman, in an apron.”

So far, the descriptions of these working class women have been discouraging, but it is possible to find a few positive characteristics as well. Many of the servants are highly respectable, and in spite of their limitations they are often ´good´ and ´faithful´ girls.

A few women are difficult to place socially, e.g. Mrs Laura Lyons, the mysterious woman of “The Hound of the Baskervilles”. Her father is a neighbour of Sir Henry´s but she has “made a rash marriage” with an artist who has deserted her. She is now forced to support herself as a typist, and the fact that she has married beneath her, puts her in a delicate position between the middle and the working class. As there is always a close connection between looks and position in Victorian literature, Dr Watson´s description of her does not come as a great surprise: “The first impression left by Mrs Lyons was one of extreme beauty.” – “But the second was criticism. There was something subtly wrong with the face, some coarseness of expression, some hardness, perhaps of eye, some looseness of lip which marred its perfect beauty.”

It might be argued, of course, that what ´marred´ her was her connection with the villain, rather than her place in society, but if we compare her to another woman in the same book, ´Miss´ Stapleton, her looks are in no way destroyed by the fact that she is married to the same villain and knows a lot more about what is going on. Here, as in other stories, society seems to accept that a woman is loyal to the man she is married to, no matter what he has done.

Future post: Sherlock Holmes & Middle Class Women

Sherlock Holmes & arbejderklassens kvinder.

OBS: dette indlæg har ikke noget at gøre med ugens ”Gæt en Bog”, som vil blive anmeldt i morgen fredag som sædvanlig.

Som mit tidligere indlæg om Sherlock Holmes viser, forekommer der kvinder I Conan Doyles krimier – når det tjente et formal. Som I det virkelige, viktorianske liv, hørte Conan Doyles kvinder hjemme I et strengt, socialt hierarki, og I dag vil jeg beskæftige mig med arbejderklassekvinden. Enhver respektabel middelklassefamilie havde mindst én tjenestepige, helst flere, og ofte en kok også. Disse tjenestefolk har hverken ansigt eller navn, medmindre de vender tilbage I historien så ofte, at det er bekvemt at have noget at kalde dem.

En af de få tjenestepiger, vi hører navnet på, er Edith Baxter fra “Silver Blaze”. Hun går ud til staldknægten med hans aftensmad, da en fremmed pludselig dukker op og begynder at udspørge hende. Deres samtale er uden betydning her, men hendes reaktioner kan bidrage til en karakteristik af den viktorianske tjenestepige: ”Hun blev skræmt af hans indtrængende væremåde” – ”pigen flygtede i retning mod huset…” Et lignende eksempel kan findes i ”The Crooked Man”. Da husets herre har lidt en mystisk og frygtelig død, ”var tjenestepigerne ude af sig selv af frygt i sådan en grad, at de ikke kunne være til nogen hjælp.”

Selv granvoksne arbejderklassekvinder led af ukontrollabel frygt, for eksempel de to husholdere I “The Sign of Four” og “The Hound of the Baskervilles”. Mrs Bernstone, Bartholomew Sholtos husholder, bliver præsenteret med følgende ord: ”… der lød gennem den stille nat den mest triste og ynkværdige af lyde – den skarpe, brudte klynken af en skræmt kvinde.”

En anden nat og et andet sted bliver Barrymores, butler og husholder på Baskerville Hall, overrasket midt om natten: ”… Mrs Barrymore, blegere og mere rædselsslagen end sin mand, stod ved døren. ” Ligesom Mrs Bernstone er hun ude af stand til at kontrollere sine følelser, og også hun græder om natten. ”Og pludselig, i nattens dybe stilhed, nåede en lyd mine [Watsons] ører, klar, gennemtrængende og umiskendelig. Det var en kvindes hulken, det dæmpede, halvkvalte gisp af en person, som rives itu af en ukontrollabel sorg.”

Arbejderklassens kvinder fik ikke megen formel uddannelse (eller uformel, for den sags skyld), og de forventedes ikke at være så kloge eller høflige som andre kvinder. I novellen ”The Yellow Face” bliver ængstelige Mr Munro sat på porten af sin nye nabo, en ældre tjenestepige med en ”grov afvisning”. I en anden novelle møder vi moderen til kusken William, som lige er blevet dræbt. Vi får at vide, at hun er gammel og døv, og at ”chokket har skræmt hende fra vid og sans , men så vidt jeg kan forstå, har hun aldrig været særlig klog.”

Den før-nævnte husholder, Mrs Barrymore, er en af de arbejderkvinder, som bliver beskrevet mest udførligt. Ifølge Dr Watson er hun ”en tung, solidt bygget person, meget begrænset, yderst respektabel…” Andre træk er ”stor, groft bygget, streng, massiv”. Og denne skude af en kvinde er tilsyneladende prototypen på periodens kvindelige tjenestefolk.

Hvis vi vender os mod Mrs Mordecai Smith fra ”The Sign of Four”, vil vi opdage at hun er ”en kraftigt bygget, rødmosset kvinde med en stor svamp i hånden.” En anden rammende beskrivelse, denne gang af den uhøflige tjenestepige fra ”The Yellow Face”, lyder: ”en høj, mager kvinde med et barsk, afvisende ansigt.” Som mit sidste eksempel på et tjenestepige-eksteriør har jeg valgt Mrs Tangey fra ”The Naval Treaty” som er ”en stor, forklædeklædt ældre kvinde med et groft ansigt.”

Indtil videre har beskrivelserne af arbejderklassekvinderne ikke været særlig opmuntrende, men det er dog muligt at finde nogle få, positive karaktertræk. Mange af tjenestefolkene er højst respektable, og på trods af deres begrænsninger er de ofte ´gode´ og ´trofaste´ piger.

Nogle få kvinder er svære at placere på den sociale rangstige, for eksempel Mrs Laura Lyons, den mystiske kvinde I “The Hound of the Baskervilles.” Hendes far er nabo til Sir Henry, men hun har ”indgået et overilet ægteskab” med en kunstner, som har forladt hende. Derfor er hun tvunget til at forsørge sig selv som maskinskriver, og hendes uheldige ægteskab har placeret hende i en vanskelig stilling midt mellem middel- og arbejderklasse. Da udseende og position altid var tæt forbundet i viktoriatiden, kommer Dr Watsons beskrivelse af hende ikke som den store overraskelse: ”Det første indtryk man fik af Mrs Lyons var af ekstrem skønhed.” – ”Men det andet var kritik. Der var noget udefinerligt galt med ansigtet, et udtryk af grovhed, en hårdhed, måske i øjnene, noget slapt ved læberne som skæmmede dets perfekte skønhed.”

Nu kan det naturligvis tænkes, at det der skæmmer Mrs Lyons er hendes forbindelse med romanens skurk, og ikke hendes sociale position, men hvis vi sammenligner hende med en anden kvinde I samme bog, ´Miss´ Stapleton, påvirkes hendes udseende på ingen måde af, at hun er gift med selvsamme skurk, og ved en hel del mere om, hvad der foregår. Her, som i andre Sherlock Holmes-historier, ser det ud til, at samfundet accepterer, at en kvinde er loyal over for sin ægtemand, uanset hvad han har gjort.

Kommende indlæg: Sherlock Holmes & middelklassekvinden.

Sherlock Holmes & Women # 1

Photos: Sherlock Holmes online

Many years ago, in what feels like another world, I wrote a short paper about Victorian literature called "Sherlock Holmes and Women." I found the subject relevant and engaging then, and I think parts of it are quite relevant for my March discussion: is there a genre which could be called ´machokrimi´?

Planned posts:
2) Sherlock Holmes & working class women
3) Sherlock Holmes & middle class women.

The first part of my paper was called "Stories without Women". Actually, I was not able to find a Holmes story or novel which did not feature women at all. The main characters of my first example "The Resident Patient" are Sherlock Holmes and his indispensable Dr Watson, another bachelor doctor, a bachelor patient and two (male) criminals. Among them, they are perfectly able to commit and clear up a crime. Nevertheless, a female presence is lurking in the background, "I´ll take the house, furnish it, pay the maids, and run the whole place." Nine pages later there is another reference to a maid, and in the third and last reference to the female gender we realize that there were actually two specimens in the household, "the maid and the cook have just been searcing for him."

So the Victorian man may be a capable doctor, detective or scientist, but he would be quite helpless without a woman to wash, clean and cook. The story is not typical, though, as the maids were neither supposed to be heard nor seen. So the typical female of the story without women is an absent or dead wife/mother. Even the ´young person´ to whom Victorian stories were often read aloud, might realize that a son is supposed to have a mother. Thus in "The Gloria Scott", where Sherlock Holmes recounts an experience from his youth about an old fellow student and his father, the female aspect of the story is limited to this quotation, "Trevor senior was a widower, and my friend was his only son. There had been a daughter, I heard, but she had died of diphtheria while on a visit to Birmingham."

In the last category of stories without women Mrs Watson provides the feminine touch. My example comes from "The Stockbroker´s Clerk." Apart from Holmes and Watson the characters are a clerk and two bank robbers, and it seems that if a story takes place in an absolutely woman-free environment, Arthur Conan Doyle pulls Mrs Watson out of his hat as a last resort. Watson starts out his account with the following remark about his private life, "Shortly after my marriage I had bought a connexion in the Paddington district." Holmes visits him in his practice one morning, inquires about his wife´s health, and invites Watson to join him on a trip to Birmingham. Watson explains the matter to his wife, and off they trot into the dangerous, male world of crime and corruption.

Even a Victorian author could hardly write a complete novel without women. Conan Doyle does his best, however, which the following, conspicuous example illustrates. In "The Hound of the Baskervilles" we meet a few women, but young Henry Baskerville accounts for his background as follows, "I was a boy in my teens at the time of my father´s death ... Thence I went straight to a friend in America." The intelligent reader is left wondering whether his birth was an instance of male partenogenese, or which cruel fate spirited Mrs Baskerville away.

My main source: The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes & kvinder # 1.
For mange år siden skrev jeg en lille universitetsopgave om viktoriansk litteratur med titlen "Sherlock Holmes og Kvinder." Jeg syntes, emnet var relevant og spændende den gang, og jeg mener, dele af opgaven er relevante indlæg i min marts-diskussion: findes der en machokrimi-genre?

Planlagte indlæg
2) Sherlock Holmes & arbejderklassekvinder
3) Sherlock Holmes & middelklassekvinder

Første afsnit af opgaven hed "historier uden kvinder." For at være helt præcis, har jeg ikke kunnet finde Sherlock Holmes-noveller eller romaner helt uden kvinder. De vigtigste personer i min første novelle, "The Resident Patient" er Sherlock Holmes og hans uundværlige Dr Watson, endnu en ugift læge, en ugift patient og to mandlige kriminelle. I fællesskab er de fuldt ud i stand til at begå og opklare en forbrydelse, men alligevel findes der en kvindes hånd i baggrunden. "Jeg tager huset, møblerer det, betaler tjenestepigerne ..." Ni sider senere er der endnu en henvisning til en tjenestepige, og i tredje og sidste reference til kvindekønnet opdager vi, at der faktisk findes to eksemplarer i husholdningen: "pigen og kokken har lige været ude for at lede efter ham."

Den viktorianske mand kan altså sagtens være en dygtig læge, detektiv eller videnskabsmand, men han er aldeles hjælpeløs uden en kvinde til at vaske, gøre rent og lave mad. Novellen er dog ikke typisk, da tjenestepiger helst ikke skulle ses eller høres. Så den typiske kvinde i dette afsnit er en fraværende eller død hustru/mor. Den viktorianske roman/novelle blev ofte læst højt i familiens skød, men selv datidens uskyldige, unge mennesker havde måske en fornemmelse af, at en søn må have en mor. Så i "The Gloria Scott", hvor Sherlock Holmes fortæller om en ungdomsoplevelse om en studiekammerat og dennes far, begrænses det kvindelige nærvær til følgende citat: "Trevor senior var enkemand, og min ven var hans eneste søn. Der havde været en datter, hørte jeg, men hun døde af difteri under et besøg i Birmingham."

I den sidste kategori af historier uden kvinder er det Mrs Watson, som tilfører et strøg af kvindelighed. Eksemplet her stammer fra "The Stockbroker´s Clerk". Ud over Holmes og Watson figurerer en kontormand og to bankrøvere, og det ser ud til, at når novellen udspiller sig i et totalt kvindefrit miljø, haler Arthur Conan Doyle Mrs Watson ud af hatten som sidste udvej. Watson begynder sin beretning med følgende bemærkning om sit private liv: "Kort efter mit ægteskab, købte jeg en praksis i Paddington-distriktet." Holmes besøger ham her en morgen, spørger til fruens helbred, og inviterer Watson til at følge med ham til Birmingham. Watson forklarer sin kone sagen, og de to mænd drager ud i den farlige, mandlige verden af kriminalitet og korruption.

Selv en viktoriansk forfatter kunne næppe skrive en hel roman uden kvinder, men man kan mene, at Conan Doyle gør sit bedste i følgende, påfaldende eksempel. I romanen "Baskervilles Hund" møder vi nogle få kvinder, men hør, hvordan unge Henry Baskerville beretter om sin baggrund: "Jeg var en teenagedreng da min far døde ... Derefter rejste jeg direkte til en ven i Amerika." Imens kan den intelligente læser så spekulere på, om unge Henry var et resultat af mandlig partenogenese (jomfrufødsel), eller hvilken ond skæbne der kan have revet Mrs Baskerville bort.