In Defense of Irene Adler

[Andy_L]

We have only the King’s report, but even he doesn’t say she’s going to blackmail him (in fact, she refuses money) - she intends to send the photo to the king’s intended. In response, the King has sent burglars to invade her home, bribed railway workers to steal her luggage, and sent muggers to waylay her.

Irene’s letter says:

“We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might take in the future."

At worst, Irene is deeply jealous and intends to ruin the King’s reputation - but the person who is having a hard time getting over the relationship is the King

“Irene Adler is married,” remarked Holmes.

“Married! When?”

“Yesterday.”

“But to whom?”

“To an English lawyer named Norton.”

“But she could not love him.”

“I am in hopes that she does.”

“And why in hopes?”

“Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason why she should interfere with your Majesty’s plan.”

“It is true. And yet—! Well! I wish she had been of my own station! What a queen she would have made!” He relapsed into a moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in Serpentine Avenue.

I think it’s reasonable for Irene to be worried about the King’s potential actions and thus to not want to give up the photo.

[Andy_L]

@Exapno_Mapcase

IIRC, Holmes ran into Adler and fathered Wolfe during his three-year disappearance after Reichenbach. That three-year hole is large enough for almost anything to be stuffed into it. Many of the patisches are set there to take advantage. And as an adventuress, Adler could turn up anywhere.

Philip Jose’ Farmer has many of the remarkable characters of the 19th and 20th centuries as related to each other, descended from people mutated by a radioactive meteorite (or some such): Green Hornet, Lone Ranger, Nero Wolfe, Tarzan, Doc Savage, etc, etc.

[Sage_Rat]

@Exapno_Mapcase

Real world courtesans, or adventuresses, abounded in the 19th century.

They abound today. There’s any number of classy, well educated ladies taking on marriages to Saudi Princes for a few years, before retiring into a divorce.

But that says nothing about the norm or the reality. It’s like writing a story about 18th century America, and a pretty young slave girl who is educated by her owner to be a mathematics genius and astronomer. It’s not that it can’t be something that happened once, somewhere, and it’s not there can’t have been some subset of paternal, benevolent slave owners that chose to focus on their hobbies and interests over financial gain. But, the motivation to write that particular tale isn’t about presenting a meaningful and notable reality, it’s about fantasizing and avoiding harsh truths. Such characters are for the writer and his interests, not scholasticism.

[Wendell_Wagner]

@Andy_L

Philip Jose’ Farmer has many of the remarkable characters of the 19th and 20th centuries as related to each other

Two things about the Wold Newton family:

Wold Newton family

Series: Wold Newton

[Exapno_Mapcase]

“A Scandal in Bohemia” was written in 1891. The contemporary Prince of Wales, Albert, known as Bertie, was the notorious rake who later became Edward VII. He was born in 1841 and was the Prince of Wales during every moment of Doyle’s life until that time. At the age of 50 he would have been the only Prince of Wales most people in Britain could imagine, the previous one having died in 1830.

Wikipedia

Edward had mistresses throughout his married life. He socialised with actress Lillie Langtry; Lady Randolph Churchill;[c] Daisy Greville, Countess of Warwick; actress Sarah Bernhardt; noblewoman Lady Susan Vane-Tempest; singer Hortense Schneider; prostitute Giulia Beneni (known as “La Barucci”); wealthy humanitarian Agnes Keyser; and Alice Keppel. At least fifty-five liaisons are conjectured.[30][31] How far these relationships went is not always clear. Edward always strove to be discreet, but this did not prevent society gossip or press speculation.[32] Keppel’s great-granddaughter Camilla Parker Bowles became the mistress and subsequent wife of King Charles III, Edward’s great-great-grandson. It was rumoured that Camilla’s grandmother Sonia Keppel was fathered by Edward, but she was “almost certainly” the daughter of George Keppel, whom she resembled.[33] Edward never acknowledged any illegitimate children.[34] Alexandra was aware of his affairs, and seems to have accepted them.[35]

There are entire books on his long-term affairs, like The King in Love: Edward VII’s mistresses.

Here, for the first time, is an all-embracing account of the loves of that celebrated royal womaniser, Edward VII, as Prince of Wales and King.

It is also a study of the three women with whom the King was most deeply in love — his `official’ mistresses, Lillie Langtry, Daisy Warwick and Alice Keppel. In their different ways, all three were exceptional personalities. Lillie Langtry, the socially ambitious girl from the vicarage, became a famous actress. Daisy Warwick, an immensely wealthy heiress and social butterfly, was converted to socialism. Alice Keppel, probably the King’s greatest love, developed into an astute and fascinating figure in her own right.

And then there is the piercing called the Prince Albert. [(broken link: https://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Prince_Albert_(genital_piercing)] That he originated it or had one is purely apocryphal, but the naming reflects his reputation.

Rampaging royals were a dime a dozen in the late 19th Century, true. Doyle couldn’t have gotten away with making his Bohemian too closely identifiable with Bertie without being assualted with cries of lèse-majesté. This was his very first short story about Holmes: his towering fame would came later. But Bertie inevitably loomed as a model in the public’s minds, and later stories, like the Cumberbatch Sherlock, put the royal back into England.

[Jackmannii]

@Andy_L

We have only the King’s report, but even he doesn’t say she’s going to blackmail him (in fact, she refuses money) - she intends to send the photo to the king’s intended.

So, emotional blackmail.

In response, the King has sent burglars to invade her home, bribed railway workers to steal her luggage, and sent muggers to waylay her.

All that could’ve been avoided had she just sent back the photo. Holding onto it* hardly seems to have “protected” her prior to her marriage.

*correcting an error in an earlier post: the photo wasn’t autographed, but was considered compromising because she and the King were both in it - fully clothed, one presumes.

[Wendell_Wagner]

@Sage_Rat

pretty young slave girl who is educated by her owner to be a mathematics genius and astronomer

The closest examples I could find quickly:

https://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/wright/sweeper/sweeper.html

Benjamin Banneker

Thomas Fuller (mental calculator)

[Andy_L]

And perhaps if the King hadn’t sent thugs after her, none of this would have happened. The photo may be the onky thing keeping Adler alive.

[Andy_L]

@Wendell_Wagner

Two things about the Wold Newton family

Thank you

[CalMeacham]

@Exapno_Mapcase

Klinger’s is New because there was an earlier one by Willim S. Baring-Gould that I much preferred.

Koinger is the King of RE-Annotated editions. He re-annotated Frankenstein and *Dracula (both of which were annotated in the original series by Leonard Wolf and re-annotated H.P. Lovecrafft in two volumes. (S.T. Joshi had annotated Lovecraft in two main volumes and several subidiary volumes, although it wasn’t really part of the same series.)

[CalMeacham]

@De_La_Rue

The dialogue in the rest of Volume 1 gives the distinct impression that Holmes is dead because it’s set during the time Holmes has faked his death, and everyone except Mycroft thinks he’s dead. Moore isn’t diverting from Holmesian canon here but sticking to it (thus the beekeeper mention I referred to above later on, when Mina goes to see Holmes retired in Sussex in 1904).

LOEG vol. 1 #5 (which starts with the Reichenbach scene) was the first issue of the series I ever had, and I re-read it multiple times before getting the trade paperback. I never got this “implication” that you did, but felt that Moore was being faithful to “The Final Problem” (well, aside from having Moriarty survive).

I didn’t

In the Canon, Moran knows that Holmes is alive but doesn’t tell Moriarty, because Moriarty’s dead. In LoEG Moran would know if he shot Holmes or not, but if he didn’t succeed he’d almost certainly tell Moriarty, who wouldn’t be content to let Holmes escape incognito.

[De_La_Rue]

@CalMeacham

if he didn’t succeed he’d almost certainly tell Moriarty, who wouldn’t be content to let Holmes escape incognito.

Hmm, good point, but I suspect we’re thinking about this to a greater extent than Moore did. Moore likely thought, “Okay, this is 1898, everybody thinks Holmes is dead after ‘The Final Problem’,” including Moriarty, and left it at that.

[fedman1]

that’s why I loved the Jeremy Brett version–Daavid Burke is more realistic as war veteran, actually more physical, and capable; I wouldn’t trust nigel bruce to give me a bandaid