sunlit_music | The *real* Irene Adler.

Many people are fascinated by Irene Adler, from the Sherlock Holmes canon. I love the most recent movies, but their portrayal of irene is completely inaccurate. First,let's get things straight. Irene Adler was *not* a villain. So who was she, do you ask? Well. She first appears in the short story A Scandal in Bohemia. The titular king hires Sherlock Holmes to steal a photograph of Irene and himself from Irene. Long story short, the King believes that Irene plans to use the photograph to ruin him and prevent him from marrying his fiance.

Irene eventually aquits herself through leaving a letter for Sherlock Holmes explaining her side of the story. She flees England with her husband Geoffrey Norton (it's hinted in the story that the King can be dangerous and vengeful, after all).

Watson has mentioned that Holmes spoke of love contemptuously, but the only person he came even *close* to loving was Irene. "To Sherlock Holmes, she is always THE woman." Holmes admires her for her beauty, intelligence, daring and generosity.

It makes me laugh when I see fanfics where Irene is Holmes'student. People, please! She needs no lessons from him. This is the woman who outwitted Holmes and convinced him that women can be as intelligent as men! Since he had met Irene, Holmes no longer mocks women's cleverness and refers to Irene's title respectfully as a married woman.

When the King offers to pay Holmes for his assistance with an emerald ring, what does Holmes ask for instead?Irene's photograph.

One of my favourite parts in A Scandal in Bohemia is when the King says, "Oh! What a pity she was not on my level!She would have made a marvellous Queen!"(implying that Irene was inferior to him). Holmes,then defends Irene, saying coldly, "From what appears to me, she seems to be on an entirely different level to your Majesty."

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Hee! Yeah, very true. It's a bit unfortunate that later adaptations always want to turn Irene into either a villain or a love interest - though it's true that it's hard to really expand upon the original story without ruining it, since the whole point of it us that a) Irene treats Holmes as a minor nuisance and nothing more, and b) that is exactly what impresses Holmes so much.

And yeah, that zinger he gives the King at the end is just marvelous. ;)

:D I'm glad you liked my post! It is a shame that the adaptations change her into a villain or love interest only. And it's great that you've read A Scandal in Bohemia. :) That's one of my favourite stories in the Sherlock Holmes canon.

I read A Scandal in Bohemia way back when I was a kid, when I first read all the Sherlock Holmes stories, and it made an impression on me then. I was a little disappointed in the way she was portrayed in the Sherlock BBC show--that's probably my least favorite episode, even though I love the rest of the series.

I'm glad you liked A Scandal in Bohemia. :) How was she portrayed in the BBC show?

I haven't seen any of the recent adaptations myself. (Unless you count Elementary but unfortunately I got behind on watching that and don't know what if anything they did with Irene.)

But anyway, yes, I totally agree with what you're saying about her -- she's not a villain. And she absolutely did impress Holmes and that's a central point in the original story.

I haven't seen Elementary. :) What did you think of the episodes you saw? I heard that Lucy Liu played Watson, and I thought that was pretty impressive.

Irene definitely made strong impression on Holmes. And that's saying something. He's not easily impressed!

I thought it was quite good, actually. I'm sorry I got behind. Lucy Liu made a great Watson and it helped that their perspective on Watson and Holmes made it a more equal relationship. Liu's Watson was very professional and didn't take crap from Holmes, but you could still see the growing friendship between them.

The real Irene Adler.

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