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1. What year was *The Sign of Four* published and who wrote it?
*The Sign of Four* was published in 1890 by Arthur Conan Doyle.
2. When Sherlock Holmes doesn’t have a case, how does he stimulate his
mind?
He does drugs, which are often---at the time---prescribed for
nervousness or psychosis, namely morphine and cocaine (he does cocaine
in this book).
3. Where was Dr. Watson and what was he doing before coming to London to
live with Holmes?
He was an army surgeon, which is where he hurt his leg.
4. What happened to Captain Morstan?
He died during an argument with Major Sholto, when he got up in anger---
almost immediately succumbing to some long-stading heart malady, causing
him to faint and burst his head on a table.
Sholto didn't think anyone would believe that he hadn't killed Morstan,
so Sholto buried the body and took possession of the Indian treasure.
5. How did Major John Sholto become wealthy?
He brought back "Indian curiosities" and a household of servants to
England after serving in the Indian Army.
Included in these "Indian curiosities" is the treasure that he found
with the aid of some convicts and Morstan, which is why multiple people
believe to be the rightful owners of his wealth.
6. Who is Jonathan Small and what is his defining physical feature?
Jonathan Small is the thief of the treasure and the murderer of Sholto.
He is identified by his wooden peg leg.
7. What character in *The Sign of Four* most closely resembles Dr.
Jekyll? Please explain. There are no wrong answers.
In his image as a professional, Holmes most closely resembles Jekyll.
They are both portrayed as astute, mostly likeable, well-respected men,
and Holmes happens to have similar addictive traits as Jekyll which
require his "constant mental stimulation."
8. How does *The Sign of Four* use "health" to illustrate different
character traits? Please give at least one direct quotation and explain.
*The Sign of Four* uses Sholto's hypochondria as a proxy for his nervous
traits.
Dr. Watson says he is a "confirmed hypochondriac," spouting
"interminable trains of symptoms."
Sholto is also specifically worried about his heart: "The aortic I may
rely upon, but I should value your opinion upon the mitral."
It also uses Sherlock's cocaine addiction to demonstrate his
intellectual hunger.
The author applies medication usage and concern about health to proxy
a character's constitution, general nervousness/aloofness, and
obsessiveness versus a more detached predilection.
9. Last week, we discussed racial pseudoscience, phrenology, social
Darwinism, and eugenics. How does the author characterize non-white and
non-English people? Why? Give at least one direct quotation and explain.
The author characterises many non-white people as ugly and unattractive.
The most prominent example is Thaddeus Sholto, described as having "a
pendulous lip, and a too visible line of yellow and irregular teeth,"
but this is represented in other descriptions of non-white people as
improper.
10. What common themes do The Sign of Four and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
share?
Both of these stories are set in wealthy, high-class London with
medicine playing a role in the development of the characters.
Both are also structured as detective novels, uncovering some nefarious
act that has occurred.
For Dr. Jekyll, this is his self-experimentation and theorizing about
the "duality of man" and high moral principles.
For Watson, this is the repeated thefts and corruptions that come from
the chest of Indian treasure.
The similar theme between these two moral crimes is a corrupting
influence.
In The Sign of Four, wealth plays that role---but Watson's cocaine habit
shows that the corruption of character can come about in other ways.
Watson and Hyde, deliberate misanthropes, draw many similarities that
correspond with this theme: people are easily corrupted, especially in
situations of power or advantage.
This falls right back into Jekyll's duality of man theory and theme.
People are usually at least part evil and part good, and like Jekyll's
potion, the ill-gotten treasure helps bring out the worse even in
kind-hearted Watson (he struggles to congratulate Morstan on her new
wealth).
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