A Study in Scarlet

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1887

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1, Chapters 1-3

Part 1, Chapters 4-7

Part 2, Chapters 1-3

Part 2, Chapters 4-7

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Discussion Questions

Essay Topics

Explore the concept of justice in the novel. Holmes, Lestrade, and Gregson are not motivated by justice to solve the case. Conversely, Hope’s desire for revenge is the belief that only he can ensure justice for Lucy’s death. Why is the murderer the only character driven to seek justice?

Discuss the structure of A Study in Scarlet. Why is Part 1 Watson’s first-person account, while Part 2 changes setting and narrator so drastically? What is the effect of this shift? Why did Doyle arrange the novel this way?

Doyle is writing one of the first detective stories, inventing elements that would eventually be cemented as genre tropes. What tropes does Doyle coin here? How do future mystery writers work within the schema he lays out?