Ziona Kocher

Date of Award

2013

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Wallace, Miriam

Keywords

Sherlock Holmes, Lady Detectives, Gender, Literature, Victorians

Area of Concentration

English

Abstract

The mystery stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle, C. L. Pirkis, and George R. Sims about the detectives Sherlock Holmes, Loveday Brooke, and Dorcas Dene explore the adherence to and rejection of idealized gender roles by female criminals and lady detectives. This exploration relies heavily on the societal importance of the division of the masculine public sphere and feminine private sphere, and the ways in which Victorian women subverted expectations by rejecting their designated place in society in order to both commit and solve crimes. Anxieties concerning gender, class, and nationality are central to these stories, and they are presented in a way that critiques them while carefully maintaining the status quo. The ways in which the female characters in these stories are constructed illustrate the ways in which the authors simultaneously reinforce and disrupt conceptions of morality and justice in Victorian society.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida Libraries, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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