The Important Role of Dr. Watson in Sherlock Holmes’ Life

Dr. Watson plays a paramount role in the accomplishments of Sherlock Holmes, as a sidekick and as a friend. Their friendship is extraordinarily vital as it is the only normal thing in Holmes’ life. The character of Dr. Watson is used as a foil1 since his main purpose in the story is to make Holmes look more human and to manifest his intelligence and show his exceptional detective skills. In this essay, I will elucidate the meaning of friendship according to the works of Aristotle and demonstrate how Dr. Watson is the true reason for Holmes’ successes and how Holmes’ takes advantage of his “friend” for his personal benefit.

Sherlock Holmes, a creation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of the most admired characters in the history of literature. This fictional detective renowned for his prodigious logical and observational skills was listed as “the most portrayed movie character” in history by Guinness World Records. He first appeared in Conan Doyle’s “A Study in Scarlet” which was published in Beeton’s Christmas Annual of 1887. The author portrays Holmes as an egotistical and a peculiar person who is also a drug addict. His cocaine addiction is the only thing that keeps him from committing suicide as his piquant and weird personality prevents him from having any friends or a significant other. He also has an elder brother, Mycroft Holmes, who works for the British government and he is apparently much smarter than Holmes. Despite his antisocial personality, Holmes only craves for one thing, recognition.

John H. Watson, also known as Dr. Watson, is Sherlock Holmes’ friend and assistant. He does the narration in all but four of the stories in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. He is a retired army soldier who got wounded by a bullet in his shoulder and is now living in England on a small army pension. He met Sherlock Holmes because of his friend who introduces him to Holmes as his new flat mate. Even though he does not have Holmes’ intuition but he is still an intelligent man who used to be a surgeon. Dr. Watson is described as “a middle-sized, strongly built man – square jaw, thick neck, with a moustache” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in The Adventures of Charles Augustus Milverton. He is estimated two years older than Sherlock Holmes, but the media has always portrayed Holmes as vastly older than John Watson.

The basic components of any relationship, from our marriage to our coworkers, are all found in friendship. A friend is a person who, no matter what you are going through, will always be there for you. A friend is a person who you spend time with and talk to. A friend is a person who will always be honest to you and never replace you with someone else. Friends are the ones who keep us mentally and physically strong. As Walter Winchell once said, “A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out”.

The Beliefs of Aristotle

Aristotle believes that there are three types of friendships: friendships of utility, friendships of pleasure, and friendships of good.

Aristotle explains the meaning of this type of friendship as fragile and temporary. He believes that people only possess this type of friendship for one reason, benefit. Friendships of utility are those where people are friends because they have what the other person needs. For example, co-workers, business partners, and, in some cases, neighbours. For instance, you may have this kind of friendship with your neighbour because you take care of her son when she is away and she does something for you when you are away. Aristotle believes that this type of friendship seems to occur most commonly with old people as they usually prefer profit over pleasure in their old age. This type of friendships is the one that can be changed at any time and which do not hold any sentimental value.

Friendships of pleasure can be defined as a friendship for the youth as the adolescent age is where the youngsters live their lives looking for pleasure and amusement. Aristotle also states that this type of friendship can also be, in most cases, short-term because the taste for pleasure is always changing amongst these youngsters as their age changes and they just want to move onto the next thing for pleasure. Some examples for this type of friendship are: people with whom you like to talk to, people who accompany you when doing any leisure activities, and you’re significant others from school. These types of imperfect friendships arise and die quickly as they are solely based on beauty, affluence, and shared memories. Aristotle believes that this type of friendship can be awfully harmful for your mental and, sometimes, physical health because when the relationship ceases, it can be very traumatic and can make you disturbed for a very long time.

Aristotle believes this to be the best kind of friendship as it is built on mutual respect and appreciation between each other. This kind of friendship tends to last longer than the other two kinds I talked about before; in some cases, it can last for your whole life. Some examples are: your significant other, someone you have been friends with for years, and sometimes, your family. It takes some time to construct this kind of friendship but it is also more powerful and long-lasting. These kinds of friendships are extremely difficult to find but can significantly strengthen your emotional health and wellbeing. This friendship mostly occurs when two people realize that their values, beliefs, and personality is greatly similar to each other and these friends mostly meet during their childhood or adolescence. Aristotle states that this kind of friendship can change your life for good and fill your life with happiness and joy.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

A Scandal in Bohemia is the first short story from the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and his is when the audience meet the infamous Irene Adler. It all starts out when the king of Bohemia reaches out to Holmes and requests him to help the king get out of a difficulty. The king explains to Holmes that he had previously been in a relationship with Irene Adler, before being engaged to someone else and now, she is threatening the king that she would leak an explicit photo of her and the king to the press, in an attempt to call off his wedding. The king previously attempted to get ahold of that picture but failed miserably as he could not discover the location of that photo. Holmes makes a plan with Watson to find out the location of the photo. With the help of Watson, he manages to locate the picture but is unsuccessful in returning the photo to the king as Irene Adler outsmarts him.

This is an example of how Watson’s help is paramount to Holmes’ success. Without Watson, Holmes would not have been able to locate the photo and his assignment would have been a failure. Another example in this story which portrayed the significance of Watson to Holmes was when Watson requested to leave and go home, Holmes said, “Stay where you are. I am lost without my Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity to miss it”. This shows that Holmes prefers to work with Watson than work alone.

This story, from the Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, is about a battle between Sherlock Holmes and Professor James Moriarty. Holmes prepares a plan with Dr. Watson to catch Moriarty. It starts off by Moriarty attempting to murder Holmes three times but fails. Holmes gives Watson a list of strange instructions and they both leave the country unbeknown to where they were going. Watson meets Sherlock in a train where Holmes is in a disguise as an elderly Italian priest and they leave for the Victoria station where they spot Moriarty. After taking a few trains, they end up in Meiringen, Switzerland. Once they reach there, a boy appears and hands Watson a note which says that there is a sick woman in a nearby hotel. It was an act of deceit by Holmes but Holmes leaves Watson a note stating that he left to fight Moriarty alone. There is also a set of footprints leading to a dead-end where Watson believes that Holmes and Moriarty have died. Filled with sorrow, Watson returns to England and finishes his narrative journal about the adventures of Holmes stating that Sherlock Holmes was “the best and the wisest man whom he had ever known” (Doyle 755). This shows Watson’s loyalty and faithfulness towards Sherlock Holmes and Holmes’ trust in Watson to keep him by his side when his life was in danger.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson had a very interesting relationship and their bond was crucial for Holmes’ cases to be successful. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle portrays their brotherly love as too powerful to just be called ‘friends’. Even though the media has changed the way Holmes and Watson are seen together but the one thing that never changed was the fact that Holmes needed Watson and Watson needed Holmes. As Holmes says, “Good old Watson! You are the one fixed point in a changing age”.

Works Cited

1. Aristotle. (1999). Nicomachean Ethics (T. Irwin, Trans.). Hackett Publishing Company.
2. Conan Doyle, A. (2015). A Study in Scarlet. HarperCollins.
3. Conan Doyle, A. (2016). The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. HarperCollins.
4. Conan Doyle, A. (2016). The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. HarperCollins.
5. Guinness World Records. (n.d.). Sherlock Holmes named the most portrayed literary human character in film and TV. Retrieved from https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2012/5/sherlock-holmes-named-the-most-portrayed-literary-human-character-in-film-and-tv-41482/
6. Johnson, P. (2017). Sherlock Holmes: The man who never lived and will never die. Ebury Press.
7. McParland, R. (2018). Sherlock Holmes and philosophy: The footprints of a gigantic mind. Open Court Publishing.
8. Simpson, M. J. (2012). Friendships in adulthood. In K. C. Cramer & S. R. Winter (Eds.), The Wiley Handbook of Personal Construct Psychology (pp. 437-452). Wiley-Blackwell.
9. Vaughan, M. (2018). The importance of friendship. In T. Leustek & A. Duarte (Eds.), The Meaning of Life and the Great Philosophers (pp. 135-145). Routledge.
10. Winchell, W. (n.d.). Friendship quotes. Retrieved from https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/walter_winchell_385599