Plot

Author's Note: I was trying to think of what to write about without getting into the "mode" category, and I tried to stay as close to the topic as I could. Enjoy! -Evan Hoffins

The plot of the  Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, usually falls into one of a few categories. Usually there is one main event that happens, such as death, someone getting blackmailed or threatened, or other things that would cause a crime for Sherlock to investigate. At first glance of the book, it would seem that the plot is just that there is a problem, and Holmes solves it, but you can break it down further than that, and this is one way that you could do it.

There are a few main problems that all of the stories pertain to, with just slight variations and details for each one. A few main problems include death, someone being threatened, and someone who is confused. One main, and very real-life problem  is when someone dies, and nobody exactly knows why they died. In the news or on reality TV shows, somebody might have gotten murdered or killed, and a team of police or detectives often try to figure out why. It usually takes them a while, and sometimes they don't even solve the crime at all, and it gets lost away somewhere in government files. But on reality TV, and in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, this doesn't happen. The reason that it doesn't happen on TV, is because it would make for a bad program, and leave people open-ended, without the problem being solved, and the reason it doesn't happen in the book, is because they have Sherlock, (A.K.A. "The Secret Weapon") who can solve anything, no matter how hard, and no matter how odd. Beside from someone dyeing, there are other main plots that take place in the stories, such as someone being threatened. One example is in "A Scandal in Bohemia".  In this story, a king is being threatened, or blackmailed, by a woman that he would have to marry, because she has a photograph that shows the king with her, back when he was only a prince. She has threatened to show the public the picture, and announce their marriage, so the king and Holmes only have one option, to get back the photograph. They end up having a huge scheme involving a smoke bomb, and a faked fire, but in the end the woman says that she has found a better husband anyway, and will keep the picture stowed away in case the king should ever ruin her reputation. This goes to show that although nobody got killed, crime doesn't have to have bloodshed. In addition to these to types of plots, there is one type of problem that doesn't involve anybody getting killed, or does it involve blackmail, but in some cases, it may still need a keen eye and a sharp eye like Holmes to solve. This is when someone is confused. One example of this is in "The Red Headed League", when a pawnbroker's assistant starts a fake club for read-headed people, just to get his boss out of the shop so that he could rob a bank. Then, after he is prepared, he shuts down the league, causing much confusion to the pawnbroker. The pawnbroker brings it up to Sherlock, who then not only solves the solution to why the league closed, but also stops the pawnbroker's assistant from robbing a bank.

These are some of the main plot-types in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, and you too may find that most mysteries fit into one of those three main categories, even if a few minor details are changed. I therefore conclude that there are many types of plots in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, and almost all of them can compare to real-life mysteries, such as people getting killed, threatened, or confused and just need help.