In Part 1 of A Study in Scarlet, the mood is curious, intellectual, and suspenseful. The curious mood is established immediately, when Dr. Watson first learns about Sherlock Holmes from his friend Stamford, who paints Holmes in a mysterious, eccentric, and intriguing light. In Part 1, Chapter 2, after several weeks of living with Holmes, Watson begins to feel intensely curious about his new roommate, whose occupation as a detective remains a mystery to him:
As the weeks went by, my interest in him and my curiosity as to his aims in life, gradually deepened and increased […] The reader may set me down as a hopeless busybody, when I confess how much this man stimulated my curiosity, and how often I endeavoured to break through the reticence which he showed on all that concerned himself.
This mood of curiosity continues throughout this first part of the novel, when Watson and Holmes begin investigating the murder of Enoch Drebber. Just as Holmes is mysterious and reticent about his occupation at the beginning of the novel, piquing Watson’s curiosity through his silence, he keeps his deductions to himself as the investigation unfolds and keeps Watson in the dark. Similarly, the reader is kept frustratingly in the dark about what Holmes is thinking by being stuck in the first-person perspective of Watson. In Part 1, Chapter 3, for example, Watson watches Holmes investigate the scene of the crime with infuriating slowness. The reader, like Watson, is left out of the deductions he appears to be making:
With an air of nonchalance which, under the circumstances, seemed to me to border upon affectation, he lounged up and down the pavement, and gazed vacantly at the ground, the sky […] he proceeded slowly down the path, keeping his eyes focused on the ground. Twice he stopped, and once I saw him smile, and heard him utter an exclamation of satisfaction.
Although Doyle gives meticulous descriptions of each crime scene, the reader is left, like Watson, wondering how it could all fit together, since Holmes refuses to share his findings with anyone until he is absolutely certain and the murderer has been caught.
In Part 2, the mood shifts from Part 1’s overall mood of intellectual curiosity and focus on logical deduction. Immediately, a mood of sensationalism, romance, and strong emotion sweeps away the more tempered mood of Part 1. Doyle describes the harsh Utah landscape in a much more heightened and romantic way, setting the stage for Jefferson Hope's dramatic tale of love, betrayal, and revenge. This shift in mood reflects Jefferson Hope’s character. His strong emotions are what drive him to seek revenge on Drebber and Stangerson, make him ill, and eventually lead to his arrest and death.
To that end, Doyle characterizes the United States as serving “as a barrier against the advance of civilization,” thus contrasting it with the more emotionally tempered, intellectual, and civilized London of Part 1 and suggesting that Hope himself is uncivilized for seeking revenge. The “snow-capped and lofty mountains, and dark and gloomy valleys” could be read as symbolizing the turbulent highs and lows of Hope’s emotional state as he pursues Drebber and Stangerson. The starkly contrasting moods of Part 1 and Part 2 serve to highlight the triumph of reason, represented by Sherlock Holmes, the urban, and the English, over emotionality, which is represented by Hope, the rural, and the American.
In Part 1 of A Study in Scarlet, the mood is curious, intellectual, and suspenseful. The curious mood is established immediately, when Dr. Watson first learns about Sherlock Holmes from his friend Stamford, who paints Holmes in a mysterious, eccentric, and intriguing light. In Part 1, Chapter 2, after several weeks of living with Holmes, Watson begins to feel intensely curious about his new roommate, whose occupation as a detective remains a mystery to him:
As the weeks went by, my interest in him and my curiosity as to his aims in life, gradually deepened and increased […] The reader may set me down as a hopeless busybody, when I confess how much this man stimulated my curiosity, and how often I endeavoured to break through the reticence which he showed on all that concerned himself.
This mood of curiosity continues throughout this first part of the novel, when Watson and Holmes begin investigating the murder of Enoch Drebber. Just as Holmes is mysterious and reticent about his occupation at the beginning of the novel, piquing Watson’s curiosity through his silence, he keeps his deductions to himself as the investigation unfolds and keeps Watson in the dark. Similarly, the reader is kept frustratingly in the dark about what Holmes is thinking by being stuck in the first-person perspective of Watson. In Part 1, Chapter 3, for example, Watson watches Holmes investigate the scene of the crime with infuriating slowness. The reader, like Watson, is left out of the deductions he appears to be making:
With an air of nonchalance which, under the circumstances, seemed to me to border upon affectation, he lounged up and down the pavement, and gazed vacantly at the ground, the sky […] he proceeded slowly down the path, keeping his eyes focused on the ground. Twice he stopped, and once I saw him smile, and heard him utter an exclamation of satisfaction.
Although Doyle gives meticulous descriptions of each crime scene, the reader is left, like Watson, wondering how it could all fit together, since Holmes refuses to share his findings with anyone until he is absolutely certain and the murderer has been caught.
In Part 2, the mood shifts from Part 1’s overall mood of intellectual curiosity and focus on logical deduction. Immediately, a mood of sensationalism, romance, and strong emotion sweeps away the more tempered mood of Part 1. Doyle describes the harsh Utah landscape in a much more heightened and romantic way, setting the stage for Jefferson Hope's dramatic tale of love, betrayal, and revenge. This shift in mood reflects Jefferson Hope’s character. His strong emotions are what drive him to seek revenge on Drebber and Stangerson, make him ill, and eventually lead to his arrest and death.
To that end, Doyle characterizes the United States as serving “as a barrier against the advance of civilization,” thus contrasting it with the more emotionally tempered, intellectual, and civilized London of Part 1 and suggesting that Hope himself is uncivilized for seeking revenge. The “snow-capped and lofty mountains, and dark and gloomy valleys” could be read as symbolizing the turbulent highs and lows of Hope’s emotional state as he pursues Drebber and Stangerson. The starkly contrasting moods of Part 1 and Part 2 serve to highlight the triumph of reason, represented by Sherlock Holmes, the urban, and the English, over emotionality, which is represented by Hope, the rural, and the American.
