stonepicnicking_okapi: holmes in silohuette (holmessilouhette)
stonepicnicking_okapi ([personal profile] stonepicnicking_okapi) wrote2025-02-09 02:17 pm
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Sherlock Sunday: A Case of Identity

I listened to an audiobook version of "A Case of Identity," and the main reaction, which I always have to this story, is pure rage.

Tell her!

Here's the plot: Mary Sutherland's stepfather (under a false identity named Hosmer Angel) woos then jilts his stepdaughter so that she will not marry and keep supporting himself and Mary's mother financially, and Holmes solves the case but chooses not to reveal the truth to his client:

'If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old Persian saying, "There is danger for him who taketh the tiger cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman." There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much knowledge of the world.'

I've written plenty of rage-fic & dark fic, even dark poems, over the ending of this case.

But apparently this is also based on a true story. A young girl named Joan Paynter consulted ACD himself about her missing fiancé and ACD found the guy but convinced the young lady that he wasn't worth the trouble.

Here's Holmes at the end taking two steps toward the whip to give it to Mary's stepfather, but he lets him go.

IDEN
smallhobbit: (Holmes umbrella)

[personal profile] smallhobbit 2025-02-09 08:01 pm (UTC)(link)
I completely agree with you - she's treated badly by all the men, not just her stepfather.
sixbeforelunch: Sherlock Holmes and John Watson from the Grenada adaptation (holmes and watson 3)

[personal profile] sixbeforelunch 2025-02-09 08:11 pm (UTC)(link)
Ugh. That ending is definitely not Holmes finest hour.
debriswoman: (Default)

[personal profile] debriswoman 2025-02-10 09:01 am (UTC)(link)
Absolutely…this isn’t legitimately protecting her, or in her best interests at all.
firecat: damiel from wings of desire tasting blood on his fingers. text "i has a flavor!" (Default)

[personal profile] firecat 2025-02-10 12:51 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes there are some bits of the Holmes canon that show women can have agency but that’s not one of them.
barbaratp: https://sheliak.dreamwidth.org/125518.html (Default)

[personal profile] barbaratp 2025-02-12 04:14 am (UTC)(link)
Homens sempre pensam que as mulheres não suportariam as dores da desilusão. Mal sabem eles as coisas que aguentamos e que eles não suportariam nem a metade. Morons
barbaratp: https://sheliak.dreamwidth.org/125518.html (Default)

[personal profile] barbaratp 2025-02-12 03:28 pm (UTC)(link)
Holmes como filho de seu tempo não me espanta ter feito isso, mesmo assim me desgosta e muito. ACD poderia ao menos ter feito ele mais progressivo não é mesmo?