Sidney Paget does something interesting when it comes to illustrating Sherlock Holmes; and that is, he almost contrasts the words being said. He does this in a way where the text and image relate and make sense and aren't contradictory. But, since he had creative freedom, we see where Paget brought in his own creative liberty and how he saw the characters and scenes he was illustrating for. When it came to the images discussed in presentations today, it is very clear that many if not all these images touched upon fin-de-siècle ideologies and prejudices held at that time. These are imperialism, classism, ableism, racism, and sexism. Many of Paget's images surrounding someone of a race other than white especially showed these prejudices. There was such a fear of the "other" that anyone who looked different was seemingly dangerous and violent. The only racialized man in "The Man With The Twisted Lip" was violent and illustrated to be seen coming out of the shadows. The only disabled person in the same story was a drug-addicted "creature." There was such a divide and fear that was shown through Paget's illustrations that are quite disturbing looking at now. I'm excited to see how these ideologies are shown through as we continue in other presentations, though.
Submitted by Zeinab Fakih on