Sign of Four Juicy Examples - Learn for the Exam!

Key moments/examples to refer to in the ‘Novel as a Whole’ part of the Exam 

• Circular nature of opening and ending  

Opening: “Sherlock Holmes took his bottle from the corner of the mantel-piece and his hypodermic syringe from its neat morocco case.”  

“wrist all dotted and scarred with innumerable puncture-marks” 

Ending : "For me," said Sherlock Holmes, "there still remains the cocaine-bottle." And he stretched his long white hand up for it. 

• Watson: The Foil 

Chapter 1’s introduction of Holmes and Watson as two contrasting characters. Watson acts as a foil for Holmes.  

"But consider!" I said, earnestly. "Count the cost!  

"My mind," he said, "rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work, give me the most abstruse cryptogram or the most intricate analysis, and I am in my own proper atmosphere. I can dispense then with artificial stimulants. But I abhor the dull routine of existence. I crave for mental exaltation. That is why I have chosen my own particular profession,—or rather created it, for I am the only one in the world." 

 Athelney Jones the blundering policeman is another foil  

• Holmes the Saviour/Genius Figure  

Sherlock is established as a man of science, curiously brilliant and knowledgable but equally curiously lacking in empathy 

“I had forgotten how personal and painful a thing it might be to you.” 

Chapter 1 sets up both strands of the dual narrative structure (Crime and love) with the arrival of Mary Morstan.  

“Miss Morstan entered the room with a firm step and an outward composure of manner. She was a blonde young lady, small, dainty, well gloved, and dressed in the most perfect taste. There was, however, a plainness and simplicity about her costume which bore with it a suggestion of limited means. The dress was a sombre grayish beige, untrimmed and unbraided, and she wore a small turban of the same dull hue, relieved only by a suspicion of white feather in the side. Her face had neither regularity of feature nor beauty of complexion, but her expression was sweet and amiable, and her large blue eyes were singularly spiritual and sympathetic. In an experience of women which extends over many nations and three separate continents, I have never looked upon a face which gave a clearer promise of a refined and sensitive nature. I could not but observe that as she took the seat which Sherlock Holmes placed for her, her lip trembled, her hand quivered, and she showed every sign of intense inward agitation.” (Chapter 2) 

NB. Watson’s retrospective narrative perspective – seems more sinister when it comes to Mary 

• The Coach ride through London Streets on the way to Thaddeus Sholto’s house  

Pathetic fallacy + symbolism are used to create a gloomy and foreboding atmosphere  

It was a September evening, and not yet seven o'clock, but the day had been a dreary one, and a dense drizzly fog lay low upon the great city. Mud-colored clouds drooped sadly over the muddy streets. Down the Strand the lamps were but misty splotches of diffused light which threw a feeble circular glimmer upon the slimy pavement. The yellow glare from the shop-windows streamed out into the steamy, vaporous air, and threw a murky, shifting radiance across the crowded thoroughfare. There was, to my mind, something eerie and ghost-like in the endless procession of faces which flitted across these narrow bars of light,—sad faces and glad, haggard and merry. 

Long lines of dull brick houses were only relieved by the coarse glare and tawdry brilliancy of public houses at the corner. Then came rows of two-storied villas each with a fronting of miniature garden, and then again interminable lines of new staring brick buildings,—the monster tentacles which the giant city was throwing out into the country. At last the cab drew up at the third house in a new terrace. None of the other houses were inhabited, and that at which we stopped was as dark as its neighbors, save for a single glimmer in the kitchen window. (Chapter 3)  

• Holmes is quickly developed as a character with an astounding range of remarkable talents and skills. He is an expert in many fields 

"Oh, yes you do, McMurdo," cried Sherlock Holmes, genially. "I don't think you can have forgotten me. Don't you remember the amateur who fought three rounds with you at Alison's rooms on the night of your benefit four years back?"     "Not Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" roared the prize-fighter. "God's truth! how could I have mistook you? If instead o' standin' there so quiet you had just stepped up and given me that cross- hit of yours under the jaw, I'd ha' known you without a question. Ah, you're one that has wasted your gifts, you have! You might have aimed high, if you had joined the fancy."     "You see, Watson, if all else fails me I have still one of the scientific professions open to me," said Holmes, laughing.  (Chapter 5, The Tragedy of Pondicherry Lodge) 

Twice as we ascended Holmes whipped his lens out of his pocket and carefully examined marks which appeared to me to be mere shapeless smudges of dust upon the cocoa-nut matting which served as a stair-carpet. He walked slowly from step to step, holding the lamp, and shooting keen glances to right and left.  (Chapter 5) 

N.B Other fields of expertise in the novel include: virtuoso playing of the violin, reading German literature, disguising himself, forensic criminology and anthropology.  

• Gothic, sinister settings reveals common Victorian fears of London and the Victorian fascination with the foreign. Also demonstrate sensational detective genre that was just emerging in the 1890s. 

Both Thaddeus Sholto’s house and Pondicherry Lodge  
Thaddeus’ House 

We were all astonished by the appearance of the apartment into which he invited us. In that sorry house it looked as out of place as a diamond of the first water in a setting of brass. The richest and glossiest of curtains and tapestries draped the walls, looped back here and there to expose some richly-mounted painting or Oriental vase. The carpet was of amber-and-black, so soft and so thick that the foot sank pleasantly into it, as into a bed of moss. Two great tiger-skins thrown athwart it increased the suggestion of Eastern luxury, as did a huge hookah which stood upon a mat in the corner. A lamp in the fashion of a silver dove was hung from an almost invisible golden wire in the centre of the room. As it burned it filled the air with a subtle and aromatic odour. (Chapter 4)  

Pondicherry Lodge  

  Inside, a gravel path wound through desolate grounds to a huge clump of a house, square and prosaic, all plunged in shadow save where a moonbeam struck one corner and glimmered in a garret window. The vast size of the building, with its gloom and its deathly silence, struck a chill to the heart. Even Thaddeus Sholto seemed ill at ease, and the lantern quivered and rattled in his hand. 

• Holmes never wavers in confidence, unlike Watson > Genius/Saviour figure 

"This is all an insoluble mystery to me," said I. "It grows darker instead of clearer."    

 "On the contrary," he answered, "it clears every instant. I only require a few missing links to have an entirely connected case." 

• Holmes’ mood becomes increasingly elated as they become closer to solving the mystery and he cooks a lavish meal for his companions. This serves a lull before the frantic river chase 

Our meal was a merry one. Holmes could talk exceedingly well when he chose, and that night he did choose. He appeared to be in a state of nervous exaltation. I have never known him so brilliant. He spoke on a quick succession of subjects,—on miracle-plays, on medieval pottery, on Stradivarius violins, on the Buddhism of Ceylon, and on the war-ships of the future,—handling each as though he had made a special study of it. His bright humor marked the reaction from his black depression of the preceding days. (Chapter 10, ‘The End of the Islander) 

• The Chase on the River Thames is in many ways the climax of the novel – it is dramatic and shocking 

 We MUST catch her!" cried Holmes, between his teeth. "Heap it on, stokers! Make her do all she can! If we burn the boat we must have them!" 

We were fairly after her now. The furnaces roared, and the powerful engines whizzed and clanked, like a great metallic heart. Her sharp, steep prow cut through the river-water and sent two rolling waves to right and to left of us. With every throb of the engines we sprang and quivered like a living thing. One great yellow lantern in our bows threw a long, flickering funnel of light in front of us. Right ahead a dark blur upon the water showed where the Aurora lay, and the swirl of white foam behind her spoke of the pace at which she was going. We flashed past barges, steamers, merchant-vessels, in and out, behind this one and round the other. Voices hailed us out of the darkness, but still the Aurora thundered on, and still we followed close upon her track. (Chapter 10, The End of the Islander) 

• Tonga is described in animalistic terms as a ‘black cannibal’, seeming to symbolise everything that is abhorrent and frightening about humanity  

At the sound of his strident, angry cries there was movement in the huddled bundle upon the deck. It straightened itself into a little black man—the smallest I have ever seen—with a great, misshapen head and a shock of tangled, dishevelled hair. Holmes had already drawn his revolver, and I whipped out mine at the sight of this savage, distorted creature. He was wrapped in some sort of dark ulster or blanket, which left only his face exposed; but that face was enough to give a man a sleepless night. Never have I seen features so deeply marked with all bestiality and cruelty. His small eyes glowed and burned with a sombre light, and his thick lips were writhed back from his teeth, which grinned and chattered at us with a half animal fury. (Chapter 11, The End of the Islander) 

Pathetic fallacy is again important 

It was a wild and desolate place, where the moon glimmered upon a wide expanse of marsh-land, with pools of stagnant water and beds of decaying vegetation.  (Chapter 11, The End of the Islander) 

• Treasure is equated to Mary Morstan > dual narrative structure  

In the end, Watson gets his treasure…  

"The treasure is lost," said Miss Morstan, calmly.     As I listened to the words and realized what they meant, a great shadow seemed to pass from my soul. I did not know how this Agra treasure had weighed me down, until now that it was finally removed. It was selfish, no doubt, disloyal, wrong, but I could realize nothing save that the golden barrier was gone from between us. "Thank God!" I ejaculated from my very heart. (Chapter 11) 

….. 

  "Then I say, 'Thank God,' too," she whispered, as I drew her to my side. Whoever had lost a treasure, I knew that night that I had gained one.      

In the end, Holmes is left with his cocaine bottle (cliff-hanger ending)