Holmes and Watson Essay

Holmes requires Watson for companionship, for company, but more importantly as a sort of bodyguard, someone who will protect him. We have already seen, for example, how Holmes always lets Watson take the gun, for he himself does not want to be directly involved in any sort of violence. Holmes also bounces all of his theories and assumption of Watson, to see what his opinion is in the matter â€Å"What do you make it Watson† He would ask, just to see what Watson thought of the whole situation. Watson is someone who is not as clever or imaginative as Holmes, so he needs to follow Holmes lead, watching what Holmes does. Watson can be seen as the foil of the sword, Holmes being the tip of the sword. You can see that they both need each other to function efficiently, or neither work as well. Watson, although he doesn’t always have an important role in the stories, still has a important role because he is the narrator of the story, which means he is the link which connects us to Holmes world and he is the one who shows us the character of Holmes. At the start of the ‘Speckled Band’, we see the intimacy of these two friends â€Å"I woke one morning to find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my bed. † This scene shows how close the two friends are, and shows that their relationship as one which is very intimate, very close. When Holmes introduces Watson here, he shows us that he regards Watson here as an equal telling Mrs Hudson that â€Å"This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr Watson before whom you can speak as freely as before myself†. Whilst Holmes doesn’t always regard Watson as an equal, perhaps this a time were he does. Watson is sort of a sound board that Holmes can relay his ideas off of, often asking for Watson’s opinion. He does this perhaps so that he can see if Watson does or does not agree with him, or perhaps so that we can here what Holmes makes of it. Another reason why Watson is our link towards Sherlock Holmes, why Watson is so very Important. During the Speckled band Watson is beside Holmes to protect Holmes form danger, in particular Dr Grimsby Roylott. There relationship in all of the stories is pretty similar, with Watson simply observing Holmes’s actions, whilst adding in personal thoughts of his own. Holmes and Watson are a team however, they solve the cases together. Although Holmes will sometimes not always require Watson’s protection, but also even some ideas â€Å"What do you make of that Watson? † Watson for example, during the adventure of ‘The Silver Blaze’ figures out something which Holmes could not see â€Å"The Horse was alone before† discovers Watson as he notices a mans tracks alongside the horses. Whilst Watson can figure out certain things for himself, he like Sergeant Gregory lacks the imagination that Holmes has. This is often why Watson can not see beyond the picture, and therefore cannot discover things as quickly as Holmes. Holmes and Watson used to live as bachelors until Holmes got married in Which shows that their relationship may not of only have grown so intimate during their adventures, but also because the were living together. Also at the start of the ‘Sliver Blaze’ and the ‘Speckled band’, we clearly see just from picturing the seen how close they are. In the ‘speckled band’ Holmes is standing next to Watson’s bed apologising from waking him. In the ‘silver blaze’, they are sitting down together having breakfast with each other. These scenes show that they have a very deep relationship. Watson’s marriage also affects their relationship because it means that they no longer live with each other and therefore may have grown apart. The conclusion of my studies shows that Holmes and Watson are more than simply associate. They have an intimate and deep friendship, which is strengthened through their adventures together. Holmes and Watson work best during the investigations together, combining their different qualities and strengths to help them solve the case. Holmes in the relationship is the more dominant figure, intellectually smarter than Holmes and mainly contributing to the case itself using his powerful powers of observation and imagination. Watson however, is more down to Earth and his role is to assist Holmes by protection (carrying the gun, accompanying Holmes) and being the link between Holmes and us. He is also there perhaps to keep Holmes and check, for when he worries about Holmes smoking. Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Arthur Conan Doyle section.