| A Case Of Identity |
Article Index for A Case |
Website Links For Case |
Information AboutA Case Of Identity |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT A CASE OF IDENTITY | |
| sherlock holmes short stories by arthur conan doyle | |
| case of identity, a | |
| 1891 short stories | |
|
"A Case of Identity" is one of the 56 short Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and is the third story in '' The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes ''. SYNOPSIS Set in 1888 , the story revolves around the case of Miss Mary Sutherland, a woman with a substantial income from the interest on a fund set up for her. She is engaged to a quiet Londoner who has recently disappeared. Sherlock Holmes' detective powers are barely challenged as this turns out to be quite an elementary case for him, much as it puzzles Watson. The fiancé, Mr. Hosmer Angel, is a peculiar character, rather quiet, and rather secretive about his life. Miss Sutherland only knows that he works in an office in Leadenhall Street , but nothing more specific than that. All his letters to her are typewritten, even the signature, and he insists that she write back to him through the local Post Office. The climax of the sad liaison comes when Mr. Angel abandons Miss Sutherland at the altar on their wedding day. Holmes, noting all these things, Hosmer Angel's description, and the fact that he only seems to meet with Miss Sutherland while her disapproving youngish stepfather is out of the country on business, reaches a conclusion quite quickly. A typewritten letter confirms his belief beyond doubt. Only one person could have gained by this: Mr James Windibank. Holmes' coduct after solving the mystery is rather strange. He chooses not to tell his client the solution, since "she would not believe me... There is danger to him who snatches a delusion from a woman". Ethically, she was his clinet and it was his professional duty to give her the solution for which she hired him; it was up to her whether or not to believe him. (Doyle does not disclose what Holmes did tell Miss Sutherland and whether he just let her pine disconsolately for her fictious beloved.) Moreover, in the confrontation between them Windibank tells Holmes "I have done noting actionable" and Holmes reluctantly agrees "The law cannot, as you say, touch you". In fact, breaking a propsal of marriage was actionable at the time, espcially when - as in the present case - it was manifestly clear that the proposal was not made in good faith and that the man was already married. The story first appeared in the '' Strand Magazine '' in 1891 . EXTERNAL LINKS
|
|
|