Irene Adler
There have been many interesting characters with some admirable qualities to them this semester. But none of them can compare to Irene Adler from “A Scandal in Bohemia” by Arthur Conan Doyle. This Sherlock Holmes story has an unexpected outcome. Sherlock Holmes is a very brilliant detective who can disguise himself cleverly and is very well known for always being successful in any case. Irene Adler was perhaps the first person to uncover Sherlock’s ingenious plan. Since she defeated the great detective Sherlock Holmes that means she is worthy of being an admirable character.
Irene Adler is a beautiful opera singer who once had a relationship of some sort with the hereditary King of Bohemia. They have written letters to each other back when they were young. The king had sent a picture of them together within a letter and he wants to obtain it back because she threatened to reveal it. He is engaged to a Scandinavian princess whose royal family is very delicate, and would not tolerate any misconduct in his part because it would end the marriage. “Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she traveled. Twice she has been way laid. There has been no result” (437). The king has attempted to get the picture five times before but now solely relies on Sherlock to successfully accomplish the task.
Sherlock and his accomplice Watson, who is a doctor, both devised a clever plan to take the picture from Irene Adler’s house. Sherlock planned to dress up like a simple clergyman and cause some sort of commotion in which he gets injured in front of Irene’s house, so she would let him in. Then Sherlock was going to signal Watson to throw a plumber’s rocket through the window and yell fire so that she would grab her primary possession, which is the picture. That was going to show Sherlock were the picture was hidden. Everything seemed to go according to plan until a coachman had...