Something I found interesting while studying Sidney Paget's illustrations for Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories is how relatively un-interperative these illustrations are in comparison with the other illustrations we have looked at so far. Paget seems to pretty faithfully and uncontroversially reproduce the scenes Doyle lays out, with few real novel contributions regarding each scene's narrative.

The class discussions about Sydney Paget’s illustrations for “The Man With the Twisted Lip” by Arthur Conan Doyle struck a lot of interesting thoughts for me. The most prominent image in my mind has to be the illustration of the “Lascar scoundrel”. Our discussion mostly followed the word “Lascar” in relation to the illustration, however I also found the following use of the word “scoundrel” just as intriguing. “Scoundrel” is used as an adjective to further alienate and/or discriminate against the man in the drawing. It suggests that he is a rogue, lying man.

In the popular Sherlock Holmes series image, text and context worked together to convey character interactions that help the reader to better understand the scene. When looking specifically at the story The Adventure of the Speckled Band, the black and white illustrations held several similarities that displayed the crime scenes and characters. They worked together to also show perhaps the social class of the characters, family life, and the race. The illustrations all depict specific moments in the narrative, allowing readers to better understand expressions and reactions to the scene.

This week's seminar focused on the Sherlock Holmes stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle, the stories are beloved in the genre of detective stories. A product of its time, although not an adequate excuse, the stories are rife with racist stereotypes of BIPOC and portray women in a light where they lack little agency. In the story, 'The Man with the Twisted Lip', one of the character's is seen trying to enter an opium den to look for her husband, but is stopped by the owner in what is portrayed as a very violent way.