Abstract
Crowe provides an analysis centered on the idea of a Gestalt shift of the eight Holmes stories anthologized in His Last Bow. Included are some of the very best Holmes stories such as “The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans,” “The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax,” and “His Last Bow.”
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- 1.
Doyle, Holmes, II, 1042–1043.
- 2.
Doyle, Holmes, II, 1026.
- 3.
Doyle, Holmes, II, 1039.
- 4.
Doyle, Holmes, II, 1026. D. Martin Dakin states that he was unable to identify a Central American city or country that has the name San Pedro. See Dakin’s A Sherlock Holmes Commentary (Newton Abbot: David and Charles, 1972), 219.
- 5.
Doyle, Holmes, II, 1026.
- 6.
Doyle, Holmes, II, 1040.
- 7.
Doyle, Holmes, II, 1040.
- 8.
Doyle, Holmes, II, 1042.
- 9.
Doyle, Holmes, II, 1042.
- 10.
On this matter, see Leslie S. Klinger, “The Textual Problem of the Resident Patient” at http://www.sherlockian.net/canon/klinger.html. Viewed December 31, 2014, and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventure_of_the_Cardboard_Box. Viewed December 31, 2014.
- 11.
Doyle, Holmes, II, 1048.
- 12.
Doyle, Holmes, II, 1052.
- 13.
Doyle, Holmes, II, 1066
- 14.
Doyle, Holmes, II, 1068.
- 15.
Doyle, Holmes, II, 1081–1082.
- 16.
Doyle, Holmes, II, 1082.
- 17.
Doyle, Holmes, II, 1082.
- 18.
Doyle, Holmes, II, 1082.
- 19.
An interesting question that this story suggests is this: In perceiving a Gestalt does one typically see it all at once? The aha experience that usually accompanies a Gestalt shift proceeds very rapidly, but perhaps in various stages. In coming to see the Dalmatian Gestalt, one may first see an ear or a collar or leg, with the dog following on this. In the duck/rabbit Gestalt shift, one first sees the ears of the rabbit turn into the beak of the duck. What is striking in this case is that from recognizing the railway points as significant, one ends up with a major clue to where the murder occurred.
- 20.
Doyle, Holmes, II, 1075–1076.
- 21.
Doyle, Holmes, II, 1096.
- 22.
Doyle, Holmes, II, 1097.
- 23.
Doyle, Holmes, II, 1098.
- 24.
Doyle, Holmes, II, 1104.
- 25.
Doyle, Holmes, II, 1106.
- 26.
Doyle, Holmes, II, 1108.
- 27.
Doyle, Holmes, II, 1109.
- 28.
Doyle, Holmes, II, 1109.
- 29.
Doyle, Holmes, II, 1109.
- 30.
Doyle, Holmes, II, 1112.
- 31.
Doyle, Holmes, II, 1113.
- 32.
Doyle, Holmes, II, 1114.
- 33.
Doyle, Holmes, II, 1111.
- 34.
Doyle, Holmes, II, 1115.
- 35.
Doyle, Holmes, II, 1119.
- 36.
Doyle, Holmes, II, 1124.
- 37.
Doyle, Holmes, II, 1127.
- 38.
Doyle, Holmes, II, 1127.
- 39.
Doyle, Holmes, II, 1127.
- 40.
Doyle, Holmes, II, 1140.
- 41.
Doyle, Holmes, II, 1157.
- 42.
Doyle, Holmes, II, 1147. My reading of the story is that the first appearance of Martha may be an important clue that she is Martha Hudson of Baker Street. Others disagree. For a well-regarded analysis taking the opposite view, see Catherine Cooke, “Mrs. Hudson: A Legend in Her Own Lodging-House,” which is available on the internet. See http://www.bakerstreetjournal.com/images/Catherine_Cooke_Mrs_Hudson.pdf. Viewed January 10, 2015.
- 43.
Doyle, Holmes, II, 1147.
- 44.
Doyle, Holmes, II, 1153.
- 45.
Doyle, Holmes, II, 1154.
- 46.
It is interesting to ask how Doyle came to write “His Last Bow.” One source reports that Doyle wrote it in the following context: “It was … meant to answer a question that blindsided the author while he was reviewing troops at the French front in 1916. Taken by surprise when asked if Holmes was serving in the English army, he answered, ‘He is too old to serve.’ Apparently, Conan Doyle rethought that answer, and this story is the result.” See http://dickens.stanford.edu/sherlockholmes/2007/notes12_1.html. Viewed January 10, 2015.
Bibliography
Printed Sources
Dakin, D. Martin. A Sherlock Holmes Commentary (Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1976).
Doyle, Arthur Conan. The Complete Sherlock Holmes, 2 vols. (New York: Doubleday, 1953).
Internet Sources
Cooke, Catherine, “Mrs. Hudson: A Legend in Her Own Lodging-House,” which is available on the internet at http://www.bakerstreetjournal.com/images/Catherine_Cooke_Mrs_Hudson.pdf. Viewed 10 January 2015.
http://dickens.stanford.edu/sherlockholmes/2007/notes12_1.html. Viewed 10 January 2015.
Klinger, Leslie S. “The Textual Problem of the Resident Patient” at http://www.sherlockian.net/canon/klinger.html. Viewed 31 December 2014, and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventure_of_the_Cardboard_Box. Viewed 31 December 2014.
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Crowe, M.J. (2018). His Last Bow (1917). In: The Gestalt Shift in Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes Stories. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98291-5_6
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