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Arthur Conan Doyle was not only one of the world’s best crime fiction writers. He was a progressive wordsmith who shed light on controversial and taboo subjects. One of those taboo subjects was male vulnerability and mental health problems – a topic of personal importance to the author.
Doyle was a weak child. His father, Charles, was an alcoholic, which led to financial troubles in the family. Charles was admitted to an asylum in 1881 and spent the next 12 years in various mental care establishments. Thus began Doyle’s interest in male vulnerability and mental health.
The character of Sherlock Holmes is a true expression of male insecurity that does not equate it with weakness. Doyle presents Holmes not as infallible, but as a man to whom others can relate – he struggles with drug addiction, loneliness, and depression. His genius flourishes in part because of these weaknesses, not in spite of them.
Many of Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories examine male characters facing emotional devastation, betrayal, or moral dilemmas. In works such as The Man with the Twisted Lip (1891), The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb (1892) and The Stockbroker’s Clerk (1894), Holmes’s male clients come to him with problems associated with emotional turmoil, fear, and failure.
For example, in The Man with the Twisted Lip, a man named Neville St. Clair hides his double life. He tells his family that he is a respected entrepreneur who is visiting London on business. Actually he is begging on the streets of the city. He leads this double life because of the fear and shame of his inability to repay his debt. “It was a long battle between my pride and money,” he explains, “but ultimately the dollar won out.”
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St. Clair says, “I would rather endure imprisonment, even execution, than leave my tragic secret as a family disgrace to my children.” By having his character contemplate hanging himself to protect his and his family’s reputation, Doyle explored the societal expectations of Victorian masculinity and how men grappled with such pressures.
The stockbroker’s clerk investigates a male suicide as well as financial and business concerns. When Holmes uncovers Harry Pinner’s crimes, the man attempts suicide rather than go to prison.
In The Engineer’s Thumb, hydraulic engineer Victor is treated physically by Watson and mentally by Holmes. As Doyle writes: “He had a handkerchief wrapped around one hand, which was stained with blood all over. He was young, not more than five-twenty years old, I should say, with a strong manly face; but he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who was suffering from some intense excitement, which it took all the strength of his mind to control.”
The physical injury marks Victor as a victim of physical violence. Watson suggests that Victor is using all his mental abilities to remain calm about his severe pain. Holmes treats Victor’s mind while listening to his story: “Pray you will lie down there and make yourself quite at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you get tired, and keep up your strength with a little stimulant.”
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In this scene Holmes is a protector, confidant, and comforter. He gives Victor breakfast, induces him to lie down and gives him stimulants (presumably more brandy).
The extreme violence that Victor has endured has amounted to mental trauma. In having Holmes treat Victor’s mental trauma and Watson treating his physical pain, Doyle shows the importance of psychological support for men of that age.
Holmes was a hugely popular character. To contemporary readers, his drug use and promiscuous clients were seen as markers of his genius rather than a reflection of the significant social issues faced by men during this period. But today, they provide a window into the mental struggles of Victorian men and a point of connection between readers past and present.
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Emma Linford, Honorary Research Associate, English Literature, University of Hull
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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