Character Analysis

By: Andrew Carandang

Our group and I divided the book up into four parts and I was assigned pages 69- 92. This section of the book was very interesting because this is where all of the pieces of the murder come to together. Here we are introduced to a few more characters that play a big role towards the end of the investigation for Stangerson. Out of all the characters from my section, I am going to analyze John Watson, Jefferson Hope and Sherlock Holmes.

Let’s start off with Jefferson Hope, he is caring, he is trustworthy, and he is determined. Jefferson is also the one who killed Stangerson and Drebber. He wanted to marry a woman named Lucy Ferrier, but their love was forbidden because he was not from the same religious group. Since she went off marrying a different man, he relentlessly tried to get her back but was too late, but she was dead. He walked many miles trying to see her one last time. Angry at her death he is determined to get back at young Stangerson and Drebber. “There is no satisfaction in vengeance unless the offender has time to realize who it is that strikes him, and why retribution has come upon him.” (Doyle 82) So here he is being interrogated for killing Stangerson and completely tells them the truth “I’ve done my work now, and I don’t care how soon I go, but I should like to leave some account of the business behind me.” (Doyle 80) He does not care anymore now that his plan had been accomplished. His role in the novel is not long-lived; he dies a short time after.

 Now let’s talk about the assistant of Sherlock Holmes, Dr. John Watson. At this part of the play he is still hardworking, outgoing, ambitious and very intelligent.  I think he has a positive effect on Sherlock Holmes when he is not in a good mood. His role in this part of the novel is as the interrogator for Jefferson Hope. When the whole investigation was over and decision was made, John Watson wanted to compose a book of he and Holmes adventures together. “You should publish an account of the case. If you won’t, I will for you.” (Doyle 91) Because Watson is a hard worker and determination, he never stops attempting at something unless he has found the answer to the situation. He looked back at what Jefferson Hope said about how he committed the murder and wondered how the word RACHE was on the wall; other detectives thought the murderer forgot to put L at the end for RACHEL but RACHE actually means “revenge”. “You can tell that the blood on the wall was not of the victims, he had no wound for he was poisoned.” (Doyle 87) He has no regret on meeting Sherlock Holmes and now they have become best friends and he is curious about if they will have another adventure like this ever again. At the end of the novel Watson says “Populus me sibilat, at mihi plaudo Ipes domi simul ac nummos contemplar in arca” (Doyle 91) which translates to be “people hiss at me, but I cheer myself when in my own house I contemplate the coins in my strong-box.” This probably means that you will always have those people who dislike you and treat differently but when in your own house and you have money you will forget those who treat you differently because you look at the hard work and what you have accomplished in life.

 Finally, the most interesting character in the novel, Mr. Sherlock Holmes. As he developed throughout the novel we got to experience the changes he goes through. From being all self centered and not expressing that much emotion at the beginning to expressing a lot of emotions and being talkative to others more. His determination and will-power might have made him overcome these boundaries from way back to the beginning of the novel. It all didn’t come easy for Sherlock when he was a detective at a younger age. “In solving a problem of this sort, the grand thing is to be able to reason backward.” (Doyle 88) He thinks that everyone should be able to do this. When he investigates the crime scene he notices things that cannot be noticed by a regular human being. No one would be able to out how tall the man was by just looking at their footsteps, it takes skill and endless training to figure something lie that out. He says it hear also “There is no branch of detective science which is so important and so much neglected as the art of tracing footsteps.” (Doyle 89) Sherlock Holmes was even written in the letter at the time for his amazing detective skills, it goes to prove that hard work really does pay off in the future. Sherlock Holmes is a great example of determination because he started off as an amateur and now he is one of the best in the business. “Mr. Sherlock Holmes, who has himself, as an amateur, shown some talent in the detective line and who, with such instructors, may hope in time to attain some degree of their skill.” (Doyle 91) He was flattered by this letter but he deserved it.

 There were many other characters in the novel but I chose there three characters from my section because they seemed the most interesting to me and they brought the story to life in my opinion.

By: Jonathan Chu

The pages i was assigned were pg. 55-69, throughout my part of the novel many new characters that were introduced, instead of it being mainly focused on Sherlock Holmes and Watson new characters had came in the story with different unique stories, and backgrounds. I chose the characters that i believe had the most important roles in my part of the novel.

John Ferrier came from a wealthy family; he soon had his own farm in Utah. His wife had died a while ago, and he now lives with his daughter Lucy Ferrier. He cares about his daughter a lot and he had showed it many times in the chapter 2 and 3. My first and second quote describe his personality and background, he became wealthy at a young age and appeared to be better than others. My third quote showed how much he really cared about his daughter, when she was being forced to marry someone she did not love, John decided to move out of Utah so that his daughter wouldn’t have to be in a forced marriage.

“He was a man of practical turn of mind, keen in his dealings and skilful with his hands.”

“In three years he was better off than his neighbours, in six he was well-to-do, in nine he was rich, and in twelve there were not half a dozen men in the whole of salt city who can compare to him.”

“It will be time to look out for squalls when we do. We have a clear month before us; at the end of that, I guess we had best shin out of Utah.”

Lucy Ferrier is the daughter of John Ferrier. She is a young girl who has began to blossom into a woman. At this time many people have noticed her beauty and wanted to marry her, although she has began to grow up she didn't want to marry anyone yet. Her father tries to do whatever he can to make his daughter happy. One paragraph in the chapter revealed a lover she may have, it wasn’t to detailed about who this man is but it only revealed that she had feelings for this man.

 “One glance at her pale, frightened face showed him that she had heard what had happened.”

“She stood at the gate, gazing after him until he vanished from her sight. Then she walked       

back into the house, the happiest girl in Utah.”

“There, I didn’t mean it like that, of course you are a friend now. You must come see us.”

Joseph Stangerson is a son of one of the Mormon elders, he and Drebber are interested in marrying John’s daughter Lucy. His is very arrogant and wealthy. Him and Drebber enter John’s home and ask him to decide who his daughter can marry.

In my first and second quotes, Joseph is comparing himself to Drebber on who is the best choice for marrying John’s daughter, in these quotes I could tell that he is very arrogant and greedy, he believes himself as a higher class than others. In my third quote, John has kicked him out of his house due to the fact that he wants to marry his daughter; he felt full of rage and threatened John of what he had done

“At the voice of our fathers to solicit the hand of your daughter for whichever of us may seem hood to you and to her.”

“As I have four wives and Brother Drebber has seven, it appears my claim is the stronger one.”

“You shall rue it to the end of your days.”







By:Manpreet Bassi 

As a group  we had divided the book into 4 parts. the pages that i had where 
40-56. i found this section of the book to be very interesting because I got an chance to really know and understand the characters in my part. I say this because they each got to tell their part of the story in a way they interpreted which gave me an idea on how each of them think. the main characters in my part were  Sherlock Homes and Lestrade. These were the only two character that mostly talked in my part so i will be only be talking about the two. Without waffling any more lets get to it.  


Lets start off by talking about the most interesting character in my section Sherlock Homes. 
Sherlock homes did not talk much and was always just thinking as one of the members describes him "Sherlock Homes whose lips were compressed and his eye brows drawn down over his eyes" (doyle 40) This revels to us that homes is always to himself and think only and only about what he has set his mind on. Sherlock Homes had a very different way of working and did not want to communicate with people much. "we are all ready to acknowledge that your are a smart man, and that you have your own methods of working" this goes to show us that Sherlock Homes was not like the other deactivates. Sherlock Homes was always determined to find and solve out the mystery and when he would solve it he would be swelled  "Sherlock Homes sprang from this chair with an exclamation of delight"



Now lets move on to the second most important character in my section of the book. which is Lestrade. Lestrade is a detective from scotland yard who consults with Homes.  Lestrade and Gregson (in the part before my section of the book) have a bitter rivalry. as Lestrade mentions "I cannot help feeling that Gregson is right sir" (doyle 45). this goes to show that the two scotland yard detectives are not that pleased of each another. Lestrade is very open and explains each and every detail very well. Sherlock told him to tell his part of the story and Lestrdae replied "I have no objection has he said while so sitting down"(doyle 41) Lestrade did not always understand things the right way both Lestrade and Gregson believed that Sherlock Homes was a better detective. Lestrade mentions "this fresh development has shown me that I was completely mistaken.



These were the two main characters that were in part of the section. I have gained a further understanding of my the two characters in my part. so far this book has been very interesting for me to read. I say this because I enjoy reading novels that create suspense because it keeps you hooked on to the book.   


By: Andrew Lumia


In the novel "A Study in Scarlet" my pages that I was assigned to were 23-40. In my section of the novel we weren't really intro duce to many characters. So for that I will be talking about Sherlock Homes, John Watson and character that I found interesting in this section, a man name Mr. Gregson.


Frist I will be talking about most famous detective Mr. Sherlock Homes. A brilliant and eccentric "consulting detective," Holmes is a rather enigmatic figure. His knowledge is specialized yet diverse. He is a talented violin player and chemist, and is well-versed in sensational literature. It is implied that he is involved in some drug usage, although this is never explicitly stated. His success in solving crimes stems from his ability to observe and deduce. He has a tendency to be moody and he sometimes experiences profound depression he is also very solitary. But when it comes to citrine crimes that Sherlock Homes find difficult to solve he starts to worry and gives great thought. " I was certainly feeling very weary, so I obeyed his injunction. I left Holmes seated in front of the smoldering fire, and long into the watches of the night I heard the low melancholy wailings of his violin and knew that he was still pondering over the strange problem which he had set himself to unravel." (Doyle 33)


Now I will be talking about John Watson, or what people like to call him Dr. Watson. He is a military doctor who is wounded during the second Afghan war. He is sent to recover in London, upon which he is introduced to Holmes and becomes his roommate. He is intelligent, rational, calm, and steadfast. He also helps Sherlock Homes push his case and make him see what he might of missed but Mr. Holmes always pushes him to work harder and still Watson worries about homes if he works to hard. . "Now, Doctor, you are looking done up. Take my advice and turn in." ( Doyle 33)

Lastly I will talk about Mr. Gregson he is a Scotland Yard detective who is not particularly fond of Holmes but is considered by him to be the best of the Yard detectives. He and Lestrade have a bitter rivalry. I find this character important in my section of the novel. Because Gregson has his moment in this chapter he is certain that he has discovered the identity of the murderer in Arthur Charpentier, the young man who was defending the innocence of his sister who helped run the boardinghouse where Drebber was staying. Gregson's moment, however, is short-lived. The reader can tell that Holmes is not convinced of Gregson's conclusions. Gregson is also interrupted dramatically when Lestrade bursts into the room announcing the death of Joseph Stangerson, Drebber's secretary. "Well done!" said Holmes in an encouraging voice "Really Gregson, you are getting along. We shall make something of you yet."( Doyle 39)

I look forward of reading more of this novel and I hope to see new characters coming in.