Throughout the novel, the recurrence of scarlet thread forms a motif representing Sherlock Holmes’s fascination with solving Enoch Drebber’s murder. The motif is introduced in Part 1, Chapter 4, when Holmes and Watson are discussing the case together:
I shall have him, Doctor—I’ll lay you two to one that I have him. I must thank you for it all. I might not have gone but for you, and missed the finest study I ever came across: a study in scarlet, eh? Why shouldn’t we use a little art jargon. There’s the scarlet thread of murder running through the colorless skein of life, and our duty is to unravel it, and isolate it, and expose every inch of it.
Here, Holmes first refers to the murder as “a study in scarlet.” “Study” is an art term used to describe a sketch or quick drawing or painting that closely examines some specific subject. By using this art term to describe Enoch Drebber’s murder, Holmes is highlighting the careful observation that he must use to solve the case—just as an artist might while working on a study—as well as emphasizing his aesthetic appreciation of murder. Here, and at various other points in the novel, it is clear that Holmes works as a detective not out of a desire for justice, but because he gets intellectual enjoyment out of solving murders. He thinks of them not so much as tragedies but as puzzles. He also seems to admire the murderer for crafting the difficult puzzle of Drebber’s murder, and by calling the murder “a study in scarlet,” he casts the murderer in the role of an artist whose work he admires. All this aesthetic appreciation for murder and admiration for the murderer combine to make Holmes a somewhat morally ambiguous character. Although he is highly intelligent, and although he does help others with his detective work, it isn’t clear whether he is doing these things for good reasons.
Next in the passage, Holmes introduces the idea of “the scarlet thread,” which for him represents the interest and excitement that solving a murder holds for him in a world that is otherwise colorless, dull, and devoid of enjoyment. Although he often falls into periods of melancholy, when he is working on a case, he lights up with enthusiasm. In the above passage, his excitement is clear in the way that he assures Watson that he “shall have him” and that he’ll bet “two to one” that he’ll catch the murderer. He sounds exhilarated. The bright scarlet of the thread in this motif represents his excitement and interest. It also represents blood—specifically, the trail of blood that Holmes must follow to find Drebber’s murderer. This is perhaps most apparent in Part 1, Chapter 7, when Holmes and Watson discover the corpse of Joseph Stangerson:
From under the door there curled a little red ribbon of blood, which had meandered across the passage and formed a little pool along the skirting at the other side.
Here, the depiction of the blood being like a “ribbon” aligns it with the overall motif of the scarlet thread. Other clues at the scene of Drebber’s murder are red, too: the blood splattered on the floor around Drebber’s body, the word "RACHE" written in red blood on the wall, and the red candle left burning on the mantle. Holmes perceives all of these clues as being connected, like a single thread that he only needs to “unravel.” Further, the mystery itself is represented as a “knot” or “tangle,” as might exist in a thread.
Throughout the novel, the recurrence of scarlet thread forms a motif representing Sherlock Holmes’s fascination with solving Enoch Drebber’s murder. The motif is introduced in Part 1, Chapter 4, when Holmes and Watson are discussing the case together:
I shall have him, Doctor—I’ll lay you two to one that I have him. I must thank you for it all. I might not have gone but for you, and missed the finest study I ever came across: a study in scarlet, eh? Why shouldn’t we use a little art jargon. There’s the scarlet thread of murder running through the colorless skein of life, and our duty is to unravel it, and isolate it, and expose every inch of it.
Here, Holmes first refers to the murder as “a study in scarlet.” “Study” is an art term used to describe a sketch or quick drawing or painting that closely examines some specific subject. By using this art term to describe Enoch Drebber’s murder, Holmes is highlighting the careful observation that he must use to solve the case—just as an artist might while working on a study—as well as emphasizing his aesthetic appreciation of murder. Here, and at various other points in the novel, it is clear that Holmes works as a detective not out of a desire for justice, but because he gets intellectual enjoyment out of solving murders. He thinks of them not so much as tragedies but as puzzles. He also seems to admire the murderer for crafting the difficult puzzle of Drebber’s murder, and by calling the murder “a study in scarlet,” he casts the murderer in the role of an artist whose work he admires. All this aesthetic appreciation for murder and admiration for the murderer combine to make Holmes a somewhat morally ambiguous character. Although he is highly intelligent, and although he does help others with his detective work, it isn’t clear whether he is doing these things for good reasons.
Next in the passage, Holmes introduces the idea of “the scarlet thread,” which for him represents the interest and excitement that solving a murder holds for him in a world that is otherwise colorless, dull, and devoid of enjoyment. Although he often falls into periods of melancholy, when he is working on a case, he lights up with enthusiasm. In the above passage, his excitement is clear in the way that he assures Watson that he “shall have him” and that he’ll bet “two to one” that he’ll catch the murderer. He sounds exhilarated. The bright scarlet of the thread in this motif represents his excitement and interest. It also represents blood—specifically, the trail of blood that Holmes must follow to find Drebber’s murderer. This is perhaps most apparent in Part 1, Chapter 7, when Holmes and Watson discover the corpse of Joseph Stangerson:
From under the door there curled a little red ribbon of blood, which had meandered across the passage and formed a little pool along the skirting at the other side.
Here, the depiction of the blood being like a “ribbon” aligns it with the overall motif of the scarlet thread. Other clues at the scene of Drebber’s murder are red, too: the blood splattered on the floor around Drebber’s body, the word "RACHE" written in red blood on the wall, and the red candle left burning on the mantle. Holmes perceives all of these clues as being connected, like a single thread that he only needs to “unravel.” Further, the mystery itself is represented as a “knot” or “tangle,” as might exist in a thread.
