Central to The Sign of Four is the idea of wealth and opulence—the Agra treasure at the heart of this Sherlock Holmes story represents a life-changing amount of riches. The book asks whether this kind of wealth equates to happiness, and whether it is right to pursue wealth at all costs.
The Sign of the Four is the second of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes novels. In it the detective and his companion Dr Watson unravel a mystery of hidden treasure and murder. By the end of the story the criminals are either dead or arrested, and Miss Mary Morstan and Watson are engaged to be married.
Holmes, Watson and Miss Morstan accompany Thaddeus Sholto to Pondicherry Lodge late at night. Holmes and Watson break into the room and find Bartholomew has been murdered with a poisoned thorn. The treasure is missing.
Main characters
- Sherlock Holmes.
- Dr John Watson.
- Jonathan Small.
Summary: Sherlock investigates the scene of the crime. He deduces that the killer had come in through the window and had been the peg-legged man. He had to be let in by someone else, though, and he finds a trapdoor on the roof.
The group gets into a cab outside. Thaddeus explains that the value of the treasure is around “half a million sterling.” Watson thinks to himself how this will make Miss Morstan the richest heiress in England; he offers congratulations but inwardly feels disheartened. They arrive at Pondicherry Lodge.
Summary: Sherlock and Watson go with Miss Morstan to the meeting and are taken to a decrepit looking house and greeted by a “Hindoo” servant. Why This Book Is a Classic: Classic racism. We see some Oriental people made to look a bit silly.
Watson returns to Baker Street to find Holmes, Jones and Small. Small confesses to having scattered the treasure in the River Thames. It was whilst on guard duty that he became involved in the plot to steal the treasure and murder the servant who was transporting it.
The story is written in the first person, with Dr John Watson as narrator. Watson is wary of being perceived as 'a mere vulgar fortune-seeker'. In the end, when the treasure has been lost, he feels able, at last, to declare his love.
Small told Sholto, Morstan, and Brown about the treasure and asked that they free him in exchange for a fifth of the treasure each. So although Small was betrayed by Major Sholto, he had nothing to do with the death of Sholto's son, Thaddeus Sholto.
Small managed to escape the Andaman Islands with his companion, Tonga, and searched for Sholto, eventually managing to recover the treasure from Pondicherry Lodge, the Sholto family home. Small scatters the jewels of the Agra treasure into the Thames to prevent anyone else from enjoying their riches.
Miss Morstan is portrayed as being vulnerable and a victim, in need of help and protection. Even the mysterious letter describes her as 'a wronged woman' (p. 14). She is presented as a classic Victorian stereotype of perfect womanhood: passive, gentle and in need of male protection.
The character of Tonga is presented as the embodiment of evil in this novel. This greed can be seen as the source of evil. Holmes suggests he can help Small. Even though Small has committed a crime, he is not guilty of the murder of Bartholomew Sholto.
Thaddeus Sholto is an intriguing character presented to us in almost a comic fashion. His physical appearance is designed to make us see him as unattractive: a 'bald, shining scalp', 'pendulous lip' and 'yellow and irregular teeth' (p. 23).
Chasing the AuroraWhen the Aurora launches onto the River Thames, the police boat gives chase. They approach the boat and Small's accomplice, Tonga, lifts his hand to fire a dart. Holmes and Watson both shoot at him and he falls into the river. Jonathan Small's wooden leg gets stuck in the mud and he is easily caught.
He also explains how Major Sholto died of apparent shock before telling his sons, Thaddeus and Bartholomew, where the Agra treasure was hidden.
It is a shocking habit — destructive to the logical faculty. "Which is it to-day," I asked, "morphine or cocaine?" "It is cocaine," he said, "a seven-per-cent solution.
Sherlock Holmes said (SIGN, 74) the 3 qualities necessary to the ideal detective are: Observation. Deduction. Knowledge.
Holmes deduced from the watch that Watson's brother was "a man of untidy habits—very untidy and careless. He was left with good prospects, but he threw away his chances, lived for some time in poverty with occasional short intervals of prosperity, and finally, taking to drink, he died".
Sherlock also demonstrates the difference between observation and deduction. He observed a reddish mold on Watson's shoes and knew which neighborhood such soil existed. From that he deduced the rest: his friend had gone to send a telegram based on the state of his desk and mindset this morning.
Sherlock Holmes, a fictitious character was based on a real man, Dr Joseph Bell, a renown forensic scientist at Edinburgh University whom Conan-Doyle studied under. Conan Doyle wrote four novels and fifty-six short stories that feature Holmes.
Reading order for Sherlock Holmes
| 1 | A Study in Scarlet | Buy now |
|---|
| 2 | The Sign of Four | Buy now |
| 3 | The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes | Buy now |
| 4 | The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes | Buy now |
| 5 | The Hound of the Baskervilles | Buy now |
McMurdo is the doorman at Pondicherry Lodge, the Sholto family home. When Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson, Miss Morstan and Thaddeus Sholto arrive, he is unwilling to let anyone but Thaddeus into the house (under orders from Bartholomew Sholto).
The four novels of the canon:
- A Study in Scarlet (1887)
- The Sign of the Four (1890)
- The Hound of the Baskervilles (1901–1902)
- The Valley of Fear (1914–1915)
Bartholomew is stiff and cold; he's been dead for hours. Holmes picks up a note by the body, which once again reads “the sign of the four.” He also notices a “long dark thorn stuck” in the side of Bartholomew's head.
What genre is The Sign of Four?
Fiction
Novel
Mystery
Graphic novel
