Sherlock Holmes Is Obsessed With Frankenstein
This story took place during the last week of June 1894. What an inopportune time to engage in this kind of work! I will continue with the explanations… Good day, I am Dr. Watson, physician, researcher, assistant, biographer and writer of the adventures of the sensational Sherlock Holmes. I continue with my memory problems, derived from a strange incurable disease, diagnosed only by my detective friend. Although it has not prevented me from dedicating to my hard work and I even have too many issues that concern me intensely. In addition to this, I am still deeply affected and surprised. Nonetheless, I don´t know how to express this precisely, but I hope you can understand me. Two months ago, Sherlock Holmes returned from the "beyond", however, he never was dead and fooled almost everyone, including me and several officers of Scotland Yard. I insist, the feeling of having something practically unrecoverable again is indescribable for the human mind. My thoughts are very confused. On the one hand, I have been extremely happy and optimistic, many of my immense concerns disappeared, and I regained the courage and strength to continue living. And on the other hand, in the bottom of my mind, I felt some disappointment and bitterness. How is it possible that my detective friend betrayed me in this way, making me suffer too much? And it was not for a few days or months. This mourning lasted three years! While his brother Mycroft and other agents of the secret service office, including Mrs. Watson, knew the truth. Time after time, I felt like a useful fool or a pawn in complicated political games. Of course, the audacious Sherlock Holmes explained me the situation about his personal safety, but I wasn´t convinced, and as on other occasions, I perceived that the relationship between the psychiatrist or doctor and the patient had been inverted, and I was a victim of the masterful machinations and unusual plans of Sherlock Holmes, being a kind of convalescent who he handled at his will.
Returning to the initial reflection. Why were those days so inappropriate to tackle a new investigation? In addition to my delicate emotional state, affected by my neurological disease and the crazy things of my detective friend, this was due to the fact that we knew about an unfortunate death, that of the honorable Ronald Adair, explained in The Adventure of the Empty House, and recently worked on two murders. In this regard, the parliamentarian Raschy Cooper, chief of the liberal party, was liquidated during the night of May 23. Fortunately, the brilliant detective solved that case in a few hours. And we witness the strange death of Godfrey Norton, the powerful figurehead of the organization and owner of Alsace, an alleged suicide that occurred on June 11, which in the conspiring mind of my detective friend was classified as murder and unsolved crime.
Of course, despite my limitations, I continue writing the stories of this great detective, and I am compiling the last two cases in an extensive novel entitled: The Big Secret of Sherlock Holmes and His Struggle Against the Organization. And as expected, it is my responsibility to tell the events of this last week of June.
In addition to all these concerns, which stole my sleep, another additional element persisted. The woman! Obviously, in Godfrey Norton's strange death, his then-wife, somehow was involved. It was very strange that Irene Adler ran away the night before that alleged suicide. At that time, my main anxiety was that Sherlock Holmes, perhaps the most powerful thinking machine of all time, has involuted. He no longer called her the woman, rather he admired that criminal woman and wanted to be close to his adversary, whom he even unsuccessfully pursued in Scandinavia, while he was officially missing. First, he gave her the nickname of countess of crime, then he recognized that she is the golden lady, worthy to hold the position of any European queen. Nonetheless, the last time Irene Adler ran away, she left Sherlock Holmes a letter, in the hotel room she shared with her husband, demanding that her mob friends would not be disturbed and threatening to divulge his dark secret.
Since then, I have noticed my friend Sherlock Holmes, extremely nervous and obsessed with finding Irene Adler, as soon as possible. Her passion was so great, that every time the famous detective read criminal news from European newspapers, he didn´t hesitate to relate her to those cases and many times, he has asked me to accompany him to look for her on the continent. My friend has also confessed me that just as the deceased professor James Moriarty had extraordinary mental powers, equal to his abilities, in the same way, the golden lady possesses a spark of those incredible psychic and mental faculties, which isn´t insignificant.
In short, I am affected by a neurological problem, which I cannot reveal because my medical license would be suspended, although I have found ways to mitigate its degenerative effects, but my emotional state is delicate and I know that my suffering is due to various reasons caused by the reckless behavior of Sherlock Holmes, the recent deaths and the unusual love-hate relationship between the detective and the golden lady. In addition to this, other concerns were running through my mind, and certainly all the problems revolved around the conflicting detective. Although I have another office outside of my home, I didn´t know whether to close it and go back to working exclusively in my home, and there were problems with Mrs. Hudson, the tenant of Sherlock Holmes' residence. In principle, she recognized half of the rent payments of apartment 221B, made by me for several years, as advances for the purchase of that property, but due to the unusual return of Sherlock Holmes, now she didn´t respect this agreement, and refused to give us this residence. As I said on another occasion, Sherlock Holmes is my front man and that apartment was practically mine, as he continued to protect my assets from an eminent divorce with the still missing Mary Morstan.
On that memorable morning of June 25, I walked to the apartment of my detective friend, while more than a thousand thoughts and anguishes were torturing me. I arrived exactly at seven o'clock, carrying new obligations, since we had to testify again, at the police station, for the capture of Sebastian Moran, because his lawyers appealed the guilty verdict before the High Court of Justice, presided by the distinguished magistrate Sir William Whihands, who agreed to review the proposal for invalidation of the arrest process, and the inspector Lestrade, in charge of that case, came to my house last night and confirmed that it was difficult to prove that the weapon used to try to kill Sherlock Holmes was the same employed against Ronald Adair. We were also summoned to attend the trial of Raschy Cooper's killer. While the third activity was due to a diplomatic conflict between the British and French governments, because although in principle the French authorities accepted that Travys Harlam and Godfrey Norton were the same person, they now questioned it, declining to return money and properties of British citizens, obtained fraudulently. However, they accepted that Sherlock Holmes, internationally known for providing strong evidence in impossible cases, without "biasing" in favor of any government or elite group, can review the corpse and validate his identity.
Anyway, we had to go to the police headquarters, in order to review the evidence against Sebastian Moran, to the court to be witnesses in the trial of Raschy Cooper's killer, and to the morgue, expecting to identify the body of Godfrey Norton. Undoubtedly, despite the speed with which Sherlock Holmes works, these activities also depended on the agendas of several people and would perhaps last more than a day.
It was not necessary to knock on the door of my detective friend. He was outside waiting for me, with his powerful look of a man of stone and without hiding his impatience. I saw the time on my watch, it was twenty-five minutes past seven, and as usual, I wrote it down in my agenda, to later reflect this time in this story. It seemed strange to me that the government carriage, promised by Mr. Lestrade, was not at his door. Sherlock Holmes invited me in, didn´t return my greeting, and after we sat down, he quickly started the conversation:
-Dear Watson.
-Why did you come so late?
-A chariot from Scotland Yard arrived very early, but I asked them to leave...
I reacted immediately:
-What did you do?
-Sherlock…
-How foolish you are!
-We have a lot of work and you know it!
-What are you waiting for?
-Are you expecting that the killers of Adair and Cooper will be free?
-Are you expecting that Travys Harlam will be declared missing by the French authorities?
-Are you expecting that the French government will not return some assets seized to our land?
Sherlock Holmes took his pipe, began to smoke, saw me as if I were insane, picked up a book that he had on the floor and put it on an adjoining table. I could see that it was the novel of Frankenstein. He exclaimed:
-Oh!
-Watson...
-In life everything has its time...
-Those little things can wait…
-Sebastian Moran's lawyers are trying to perform miracles, but they will not be able to destroy the full weight of the evidence.
-I already spoke with the inspector Lestrade, who passed here by six in the morning.
-You can see that Lestrade's vehicle is no longer here...
-If the magistrate Whihands continues accepting the theory that this was not the weapon that took Ronald Adair's life, Sebastian Moran will be charged with attempting to assassinate me.
-And the murder of Raschy Cooper does not require our presence at that trial.
-The killer can´t change his confession.
-Also, we can go to the morgue whenever we want.
-The English and French authorities will wait for us as long as necessary...
-Watson, please forget about those tiny worries!
-That´s why your mental health declines so much!
-And I confirm that some persons have been following me for several days.
-I think they are minions of some count of Scandinavia, he and the golden lady can wait a few days...
-Let´s go for something more serious!
I was annoyed by the rude tone of Sherlock Holmes, making fun of my sanity, but I could not discuss this matter with him, and at the same time, I was puzzled by his last words, because I considered impossible for him to leave for later a matter that may involve Irene Adler. I asked:
-What is the case?
He replied:
-There isn´t yet, but soon there will be...
My curiosity skyrocketed exponentially. I demanded explanations and the detective gladly continued talking. I didn´t know whether to laugh or cry at his folly.
-Dear Watson.
-Thank you for your understanding and patience!
-By your face, I know that I awoke your attention and I will keep you away from unnecessary anguishes, for a certain time.
-In just two nights, I read this book...
Then, he handed me the novel of Frankenstein. I opened this copy, printed in large letters, which had more than 400 pages, and quickly slid through several pages, seeing scrawls and unintelligible annotations on almost all of them. Certainly, I knew that only Sherlock Holmes could understand his own comments. He kept talking:
-In order of not annoying you, I will try to be brief.
-This novel has some mistakes!
-More than mistakes...
-They are deceptions and attempts to conceal information from citizens.
Right there, I interrupted him:
-Good Heavens!
-This is a fiction novel!
-What do you want?
-Are you expecting a rectification from the publisher?
-I remind you that the author, Mary Shelley, died in the fifties, and no one can modify her literary works.
Dodging my questions, Sherlock Holmes continued the conversation:
-Please listen to me well, dear Watson!
-I will explain by parts, one, two...
-One, Victor Frankenstein claims to be Genevan by birth and then says that he was born in Naples. After arduous reflections, I concluded that his not-so-honorable father, one of the most respected noblemen and politicians in Switzerland, used his influences and managed to modify that information on the birth certificate of his firstborn.
-Two, Justine Moritz was convicted and executed for the murder of William, the younger brother of Victor Frankenstein, while the perpetrator was Frankenstein's monster. The sentence was achieved through a false proof, the creature introduced a painting, which the deceased was wearing, in the pocket of the lady's dress, and a confession obtained by torture.
-My dear Watson!
-I know from your gestures of disapproval that you don´t understand me.
-William Frankenstein was strangled.
-There were two finger marks on his neck.
-A woman doesn´t have enough strength to murder a child with two fingers on the neck, and if she had done the crime with an accomplice, she would not make the mistake of keeping the victim's jewel in her dress, and then giving this to the servants of Mr. Alphonse Frankenstein to wash it.
-It is very easy to conclude that she was incapable of killing that young man, false evidence was placed on her, and this weak lady could not resist the way in which she was tortured, touching the bottom of her religious convictions, and threatening her with going to hell, if she didn´t give her life as sacrifice.
-Three, in Paris, a Turk is condemned to the maximum penalty, mainly because of his religion, which wasn´t Christian. There aren´t many relevant details, but I deduced that the Turk had dual nationality, that of Constantinople and the French. That is why he could be prosecuted on the European continent, under the laws of that nation, and obviously, he was a merchant, politician and extremely wealthy man, who was going to run for high office, and the French were not going to accept a Muslim as ruler.
-And…
-There is something else!
-Fourth point.
-I am going to talk about inappropriate romantic relationships!
-Captain Robert Walton confesses to his sister that he is looking for a very special friend and he found it in Victor Frankenstein.
-Victor Frankenstein liked very much to be with his best friend, Henry Clerval.
-Victor Frankenstein's father, admired in the Swiss society, was concerned about the strange attitudes of his favorite son and main heir to his fortune. Therefore, he and his spouse adopted and raised Elizabeth Lavenza, known more as the cousin than the sister, since she was destined to be the future wife of their son.
-In addition, Victor Frankenstein was sent to a university in Germany, far from Henry Clerval, who was initially denied to go to that land, and when the date of the wedding approaches, both the father and the future wife of Victor Frankenstein suspect that he may have some lover or refuse to marry with his childhood fiancée.
-Dear Watson...
-Let´s go to the publisher!
I insisted:
-And for what?
-What is the point of questioning a novel?
-Please place yourself in the real world and not in a fictional one!
-It doesn´t matter if the bad guys go unpunished in those novels!
-Or that there are messages or backgrounds that must be interpreted by the readers!
Sherlock Holmes looked at me with a bad face, he gestured with his right hand for me to shut up and said:
-Stop!
-Still…
-Don´t you understand me?
-I will explain my aspirations, hoping that you don´t get confused. First, second, third and fourth… My mind has already processed the answers and don´t think that these are the work of a fool.
-First, the true nationality and sexual orientation of Victor Frankenstein must be clarified.
-Second, details of the absurdity of the sentence against Justine Moritz must be introduced, explaining the negligence of the investigators and something else...
-Justine Moritz was also Victor Frankenstein's cousin!
-A pretty woman…
-A case similar to that of Elizabeth Lavenza, rescued from her original family, but, as she was from another social class, she worked with the servants in the Frankenstein's mansion, although she was treated as part of the family and had some privileges. She was also called the "sister" of Elizabeth Lavenza.
-Even if the marriage with Elizabeth Lavenza failed, Justine Moritz was the second candidate to marry Victor Frankenstein, and preserve the honor of the family.
-Third, don´t get bored Watson! The situation of the Turk must be explained better. Although there is one point in favor of the French: how is it possible that a foreigner, who rejected the suitor of his daughter, just because he is a Christian, governs a Christian country?
-And four…
-Victor Frankenstein is a great liar!
-The monster told him: "I will be with you on your wedding night".
-Victor Frankenstein told captain Walton that he feared for his life when he married, but this was an excuse to hide his sexual orientation, and he knew very well that the creature was going to cause him the greatest possible damage, first by killing his close relatives and then going after him.
-Therefore, it is logical that the target of the monster, during that celebration, was Elizabeth Lavenza and not Victor Frankenstein.
-He knew it very well and didn´t take the necessary precautions! Knowing that the monster is partially omnipresent and appears in unexpected places. This scientist didn´t use his psychic power or strange mental connection with the creature, which he used on other occasions to detect it, and even left Elizabeth alone in a room, while he unnecessarily checked other safe places in the house.
-John Hamish Watson...
-We must go to the publisher to protect citizens from false information!
-It is our duty!
-If you don´t want to come with me, I will go alone...
Again, Sherlock Holmes surprised me because he hardly ever utters my middle name. He only does this when his despair reaches a limit, and in that scenario, I feared that my refusal would multiply his emotional conflicts, even reliving ghosts from his past and he could terribly go back to his childhood and adolescence traumas. Likewise, I was aware of how stubborn and annoying my detective friend becomes when he gets into those crazy matters. Resistance or opposition weren´t options. I couldn´t give up either because the secret of my strange illness could be told by that gossip to everyone. What kind of friend is Sherlock Holmes! In good times he is exceptional, but in bad times he surpasses any enemy! And… I didn´t forget that Sherlock Holmes is a special patient, whom I attend by orders of the Queen. Anyway, despite my objections, I could not resign, and had to follow the instructions of the disturbed detective.
I came up with an excuse to buy time. I asked for his index or valuable personal file. He refused to give it to me, although he kindly read me the information I requested:
"F.
Frankenstein.
Ancient surname of nobles on the European continent.
Used by Mary Shelley for the family of the creator of a monster, in that novel of the same name, published anonymously in 1818, initially attributed to her husband, Percy Shelley. The great success of this literary work came thirteen years later. It is a horror novel with a strange and ambitious scientific fantasy, which predicts that human beings will be able to give life to other men or superior beings.
Frankenstein's novel.
Also called: "Frankenstein; or The Modern Prometheus", referring to an immortal Greek god, who gives forbidden knowledge to mortals, hoping that one day, they will be like him.
Summary.
Coming from a wealthy family, since a very young age, Victor Frankenstein is extremely ambitious and wants to know the secrets of the origin of life. Living in Geneva, Switzerland, he goes to a German university to study medicine, and at that time, his mother passes away. Being an avid reader, he is fascinated with Greek, Oriental and Arabic culture and is fond of the alchemist Cornelius Agrippa. In the university, he has a conflict with two professors. One rejects the views of Ancient philosophers, and the other accepts them, confirming that they created the bases for modern science.
He is a brilliant student and wants to bring the dead from beyond and create life from inanimate matter. Also, in his immense ambition, he wants to be recognized as a father god of a new species. In this regard, he experiments with corpses and creates Frankenstein's monster.
Nonetheless, the monster escapes and he goes into a severe depression with many health problems. Furthermore, he returns to his hometown because his young brother is murdered and his cousin, a beautiful girl, is accused of this death (someone planted a false proof in her pocket). In advance, he knows that the monster is guilty, but he can´t reveal the truth and is unable to stop the execution of his dear cousin.
Later, he goes to the mountains and has a discussion with the monster, who explains him how he survived in the woods, spied a family of cottagers, learned too much about humans and himself, and being rejected and attacked by a population, the cottagers and a man, after saving a woman, in revenge, he decided to burn down the shack of the cottagers, murder Frankenstein's brother and put the false proof on her cousin. The monster asks to create a female of his kind and he promises to go away from Europe and will not bother human beings anymore. At first, Victor Frankenstein rejects the request, but he is convinced by the monster and accepts.
Several months later, in Scotland, Victor Frankenstein is ready to create the monster's female. Although he reflects and realizes that she will not get along with her partner, will not respect the pact made by the monster, and a new species of monsters would destroy the human race. He ravages it, drawing out the wrath of the monster, who murders Victor Frankenstein's best friend. Next, the medical student is accused and sent to jail for this death, his father goes to the island, and manages to prove his innocence and free him.
The monster has threatened to kill Victor Frankenstein's future wife, and despite certain precautions, during their honeymoon, she is murdered. A few days after hearing this news, afflicted by so much pain, Victor Frankenstein's father dies, and he decides to take revenge on the monster.
Victor Frankenstein chases him around the North Pole, but he is extremely afflicted, sick and weak, and is rescued by a ship. In bed, he tells the whole story to the captain, who is the narrator of this story (4 letters to his sister and 24 chapters).
Finally, the monster appears in front of his creator, but Victor Frankenstein is already dead. He explains to the captain the reasons for his behavior and indicates that his revenge is complete, he is sorry for the death of innocent victims and will go to burn his body on a pyre, since he doesn´t want to continue living. The monster abandons the ship in order to fulfill his last promise...
Also, it is relevant to note that in this novel of horror other stories converge: first, the captain communicates with his sister about his desire to have a great friend, his ambitious travels and the strange tale of Frankenstein, second, there is a traumatic story of Victor Frankenstein's mother, daughter of his father's best friend, third, the relationship between Victor Frankenstein and his best friend, fourth, the adoption of Victor Frankenstein's future wife, fifth, the trial of the Turk, sixth, the love relationship between the Turk's daughter and the son of the family, who helped him escape from jail, and seventh, the condemn and exile of that French family, who are pleased to accept another fugitive: the Turk's daughter.
Structure of the novel.
4 letters from the captain Robert Walton to his sister, Margaret Saville, and 24 chapters. In these, Victor Frankenstein tells his story to the captain Walton, and there comes a time, after Victor's death (at the end of chapter 24) that Walton directly narrates the events, facing the monster.
Conclusions.
The great villain or intellectual author (even if he hasn´t conceived it intentionally) of this novel is Victor Frankenstein, who within his arrogance, selfishness and excessive ambition tried to be like God, expecting to create life and achieve immortality. Also the misnamed monster fled because Victor Frankenstein was scared when he saw him for the first time and decided to run away. Thus, the evil creator of a new species abandoned his "son" to its own fate and then hid from him. It is also relevant to note out that in addition of not repenting about his great error of secretly creating this monster, without professional ethics, the naive and arrogant Victor Frankenstein, who considered himself a genius, gifted or demigod among men, made great mistakes:
1. He created a big and ugly creature, with superhuman abilities (strength, intelligence and even psychic), without considering that it could rebel or betray him, as happened with Satan and Adam, and even that it could be a threat to humanity. He didn´t have a plan to attend the monster's needs, didn´t give him values and moral principles and didn´t know how to insert him into the human society.
2. Although he gave up on creating a monster woman, the promise was already made, and his best option was to create a defective being, without strength, who would live for a short time and could not reproduce, along with a plan to liquidate the monsters.
3. Being warned that the monster would kill his wife, he didn´t formulate a good plan to fight against the creature. Likewise, when the magistrate tells him that human beings cannot struggle against that superhuman being, he, in his arrogance, gets upset and decides to pursue the monster, without having opportunities of defeating him.
Finally, just as Victor Frankenstein was pleased to create a new living being, his pride made him think that he was invincible and could kill the monster. With this lack of humility, he didn´t learn from his mistakes neither mature. In this regard, the true villain and guilty of all the tragic situations in this story is Victor Frankenstein, who died as a result of his serious unethical act of giving life to a creature and not knowing how to face the consequences of this unprecedented action. While the monster is smarter than him and understood that the only way to end suffering was by ending his life. The novel of Frankenstein isn´t only the story of the tragic life of the monster, rather it reflects the misdeeds of his creator, who, despite his sensational intelligence, being separated from ethics and his religion, lost his way in life."
Sherlock Holmes finished his reading and I decided to take the floor:
-An excellent analysis, my dear Sherlock, although you missed something...
-While you were traveling with your false identity of Sigerson, I read that novel.
-The monster tried to integrate with human beings, helping and seeking love and acceptance from them. But, he was extremely despised and marginalized. When he realizes that he cannot live among men, he only asks for a mate and promises to leave. If Victor Frankenstein had been a psychology student, he would not have passed those subjects.
-He handled the situation very badly!
-The creature represents a big resentful who seeks revenge against society, and ends up committing suicide because he can´t stop his suffering.
Sherlock Holmes was interested in my remarks and stated:
-Excellent!
-I agree with you, my dear Watson!
-When I have time, I will write down your deductions, although noting that Victor Frankenstein is the intellectual author and the monster is the material author of the murders.
-And don´t worry…
With a certain air of arrogance, which disgusted me, the detective continued:
-My memory is not like yours, weak and in process of degeneration.
-I remember everything you said, word for word, and I will write it like this!
Despite my bad mood, I replied:
-Why didn´t you read your final entry?
Sherlock Holmes replied:
-You won´t understand!
This time, I didn´t hold back and yelled at him:
-How long are you going to keep making fun of my intelligence!
-Do you think you are gifted?
-I demand the truth!
My friend stated:
-Good!
-But, you're the one who shouldn´t laugh at me...
-With my incredible powers, I had a vision...
-That´s why I read this story.
-It is the first novel of a new literary genre about futuristic technology!
So, I asked:
-And this new style…
-How it will be called?
Smiling and happy because I accepted his point of view, Sherlock Holmes stared at me and picked up his pipe again. Although he preferred to answer me before smoking:
-It is something like science that seems like fiction, but it will be or can be science.
-That´s where the matter goes...
-That´s how Jules Verne writes!
-He focuses on inventions or discoveries of the future...
-It is science of the future mentioned today!
-That´s why I like these names: futuristic science, super technological science or science fiction...
Then, Sherlock Holmes took his jacket and we prepared to go to London's leading publishing house. Sometimes, I think my job is the most thankless in the world!