Introduction: Andrew Sanders in his The Short Oxford History of English Literature says, “The speculation and sensational popular literature of crime, which had been a feature of mid-Victorian Britain, retained much its currency in the late century.” (476) The story “Scandal in Bohemia” is about safeguarding the Aristocrats from the scandals in Victorian society. It is about the Victorian anxiety of being exposed. Here the duke of Cassel-Felstein, King of Bohemia comes to Holmes to safeguard him from the scandal associated with Irene Adler; and Holmes takes the case in spite of knowing that he is going to support a scandal. Holmes’ agreement with the duke Wilhelm depicts the urgency of veiling the scandal. So, Doyle wants us to focus on the benefits that the higher class enjoyed in the contemporary time. The entertainments that the Aristocrats did at that time, however scandalous it might be, it was the duty of the citizens to protect them from blasphemy. In this way the Victorian society worked where extramarital affair was a cult.
Issues Regarding Female Gender: The story is displaying the disruption under by the failure of Holmes. In front of Irene Allen, Holmes has been depicted as an incapable detective. The inability of Holmes, in the hand of a woman, has been considered quite problematic in that society. By defeating Holmes for the first time in all the cases, Doyle is challenging the patriarchy and subverting the gender stereotypical Victorian norms. Doyle also represents the issue of independence of woman through the character of Irene as she has to put on male appearance to roam in the society freely. By this cross-dressing Doyle also indicates the social issues and hypocrisies with the female identity and their regulations. So, one woman at that time was not allowed to go anywhere, anytime with anyone which is also applicable for Irene as well. But being a woman, she was not ready to surrender herself in the hands of patriarchal norms. Thus, she chooses to perform male gender that would give her liberty and licence to wander freely. It is an example of gender as a performance, as Beauvoir said “One is not born, but becomes a woman” in her The Second Sex.
Theoretical and Historical Aspects: This particular story of Doyle is unique enough as there is no such violence or murder have been occurred. The most astonishing aspect of the story is Irene herself. One cannot consider Homles as the protagonist of the story, rather Irene is playing a vital role to deconstruct the concept of gender and its roles prescribed by society. Those who read the text is aware of Irene’s cross-dressing. By doing so she deconstructs the gender roles assigned by society. Playing with gender is one of the key features of Irene to be noted in the text. So, according to her gender is not biological but it is a performance or performativity explained by Judith Butler in her Gender Trouble. Performance is what someone is doing by force and performativity is what someone is doing voluntarily. So, Irene is doing both as per her need. It also alludes to A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf where she was not allowed to attend certain part of the university where only males are permitted. By marrying Norton, Irene again conceals her identity through the help of the institution of marriage. So, by performing cross-dressing, Irene is confusing patriarchy like a poststructuralist feminist as it doesn’t defend patriarchy, rather it loves to confuse the patriarchal patterns of lifestyle.
The event of cross-dressing also refers to the threat of being Queer in Victorian society where Sodomy was a crime until 1967. So, it was mandatory to play the role of gender which was allocated to them; and behaving out of that given role was a crime in contemporary time. So, cross-dressing was a soft solution and remedy to satisfy the prohibition of gender allocation.
Allusions and Metaphors: There is also a significance of picture in the text for its imagery and ambiguous nature. The photography, the utmost urgency of the text, which is unable to forge is hinting towards the development of modern techniques in Criminology. Sometime we are unable to differentiate between the real and the unreal world as we interpret and judge through our visual approach. In this postmodern era, it’s important that how we see the things instead of what we see as Henry David Thoreau once said, “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.” So, our perspective is quite significance nowadays. The scene of cross-dressing of Irene and bidding Holmes “good night” alludes to the “Duck-Rabbit Picture” of Wittgenstein in 1953 which provides the philosophy of illusions in aspect of perceptions. It shows that the object itself does not change rather our perception does. So, in dialectical on multi-stable personality has been represented through the character of Irene. The transexual performance has identified her as double. It made her a criminal as cross-dressing was also a crime as it was an aspect of homosexuality. The crime intensified when Sherlock was after her as the detectives run after a criminal. Here the metaphoric crime committed by Irene is that she has rejected the contemporary social code of conducts.
The Protagonist of the Story: According to André Bazin, “photography is more real and pure, freed emotional space.” So, acquiring Irene’s picture instead of emerald ring, as a remuneration of the case, Holmes somehow acquires Irene or to some extent apprehends her to satisfy his male within.
So, one cannot be completely sure about the feelings of Holmes but one may say that he might be fall in love with Irene. Doyle’s stories are uncertain when it comes to visual representation of gender, sexuality and femininity. Women are often represented as barricades to Holmes’ visual methodology. Doyle’s females are enigmatic in the text whom have been portrayed as uncooperative bodies, protective from the suspicion. Hence one cannot consider Holmes as the central figure of the text, rather Irene is occupying the place. According to Frances Gray, Irene offers an endless destabilization and disruption and what seems fixed. In this way the outward display of femininity rejects the inward norms of feminine behaviour.
Aman Pal
Literatureman
