The Sign of the Four

Last updated

The Sign of the Four
"The Sign of the Four" in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine (1890).jpg
One of the coversheets to the original serial publication of the novel in Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine .
Author Arthur Conan Doyle
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Series Sherlock Holmes
Genre Mystery
Publisher Lippincott's Monthly Magazine
Spencer Blackett (book)
Publication date
February 1890
Media typePrint (Magazine, Hardback & Paperback)
Preceded by A Study in Scarlet  
Followed by The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes  
Text The Sign of the Four at Wikisource

How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?

Contents

Sherlock Holmes, Chap. 6, p. 111

The Sign of the Four (1890), also called The Sign of Four, is the second novel featuring Sherlock Holmes by British writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Doyle wrote four novels and 56 short stories featuring the fictional detective.

Plot

In 1888, [1] Dr. Watson remonstrates with Holmes about his cocaine usage. Holmes claims that his mind "rebels at stagnation", and that he needs a problem to solve in order to stimulate himself.

Miss Mary Morstan then arrives with a case. She explains that, in December 1878, her father, Captain Arthur Morstan, arrived in London, on leave from his post as a convict guard in the Andaman Islands. He requested her to meet him at the Langham Hotel, but was not there when she arrived. Mary contacted Major John Sholto, a retired convict guard who was her father's only friend in London; however, he denied having seen Morstan, and nothing further has been heard of the Captain. Four years later, Mary answered an anonymous newspaper advertisement that said it would be "to her advantage" that she reveal her whereabouts; after replying with her address, Mary received a valuable pearl in the post, a gift repeated once a year for six years. With the sixth pearl, she received a letter asking for a meeting, claiming that she is a "wronged woman".

Holmes takes the case, and soon discovers that Major Sholto had died in 1882; within a week of his death, Mary received the first pearl. The only further clue Mary can give Holmes is a map of a fortress found in her father's desk, appended with the words "The Sign of the Four: Jonathan Small, Mahomet Singh, Abdullah Khan, Dost Akbar," and four small cross-like symbols.

Following the letter's instructions, Holmes, Watson, and Mary go to the Lyceum Theatre; there, they meet a coachman who takes them to the house of Major Sholto's son Thaddeus, the anonymous sender of the pearls. He reveals that Captain Morstan did, in fact, visit Major Sholto, demanding his half of a treasure that Sholto had secretly brought back from India. In the ensuing quarrel, Captain Morstan suffered a heart attack and died, striking his head on the treasure box as he fell. Afraid he would be suspected of murder, Major Sholto buried the body and hid the treasure, leaving out a small gold chaplet studded with twelve pearls. Thaddeus and his twin brother Bartholomew knew nothing of these events, until a letter from India caused their father to faint, and sicken to his death. On his deathbed, he confessed the truth to them; he was about to reveal to them where the treasure was hidden, when a bearded man appeared at the window and the Major died of fear. The brothers tried and failed to catch the intruder; later on, they found a note pinned to the Major's body, which read "The Sign of Four". Thaddeus began sending Mary the pearls to make things right, and the brothers searched for the treasure. Six years later, Bartholomew found and withheld it; Thaddeus then contacted Mary so they could both confront Bartholomew and demand their shares.

The party, now accompanied by Thaddeus, heads to Bartholomew's house, Pondicherry Lodge, Upper Norwood. As they enter the house, the worried housekeeper reveals that Bartholomew has locked himself in his laboratory and refuses to come out. Mary Morstan stays downstairs to comfort the housekeeper, while the others rush up to the laboratory door; through the keyhole, they can see Bartholomew Sholto slumped in his chair, with a "fixed and unnatural grin" upon his face. Holmes and Watson break down the door, to discover Bartholomew in a state of rigor mortis . Upon further inspection of the body, Holmes discovers a poisonous thorn above Bartholomew's ear. The treasure box is also gone, though there is a hole in the ceiling where it used to be.

While the police wrongly take Thaddeus in as a suspect, Holmes deduces from footmarks and other clues that there are two persons involved in the murder: a one-legged white man named Jonathan Small, and a small Andamanese accomplice, who accidentally stepped in creosote. Borrowing Toby, a trained scent hound, from a naturalist, Holmes traces the pair to a boat landing. Learning that Small has hired a steam launch named the Aurora, Holmes, with the help of the Baker Street Irregulars and his own disguises, traces the boat to a repair yard. In a police launch, Holmes and Watson pursue the Aurora when it flees the yard; the islander attempts to shoot a dart at Holmes, and is shot dead himself. Small attempts to flee, running the Aurora aground, but is captured. However, the treasure box is now empty; Small, not wanting to surrender the gems, had scattered them into the Thames during the chase.

Small confesses that he was once a soldier of the Third Buffs in India, and lost his right leg to a crocodile while bathing in the Ganges. He then became an overseer on an indigo plantation; the 1857 rebellion occurred, and he was forced to flee to the Agra fortress. While standing guard one night, he was overpowered by Sikh troopers, who gave him a choice; be killed, or help them waylay Achmet, a disguised servant of an outlawed rajah, who had sent Achmet with a box of jewelry to the British for safekeeping. The robbery and murder took place, but the crime was discovered, although the hidden jewels were not. Small and his accomplices got penal servitude on the Andaman Islands.

Some years later, Small learned that Major Sholto and Captain Morstan, who were guards at the convict barracks, had lost money playing cards. Small saw his chance, and made a deal with the officers; Sholto would recover the treasure, and in return send a boat to pick up Morstan, Small, and the Sikhs so they could all meet and divide it. However, Sholto stole the treasure for himself, returning to England after inheriting a fortune from his uncle. Morstan went after Sholto but never returned, and Small vowed vengeance against Sholto. Four years later, Small escaped prison with the help of Tonga, an islander whose life he had once saved. It was the news of this escape that shocked Sholto into his fatal illness. Small arrived too late to hear of the treasure's location, but left the note in the room anyway as revenge for the treatment of himself and the Sikhs. When Bartholomew eventually found the treasure, Small only planned to steal it; however, a miscommunication led Tonga to kill Bartholomew before Small could stop him. Small decides the treasure brings nothing but bad luck to anyone who has it; to Achmet and Bartholomew, death; to Major Sholto, fear and guilt; and for Small himself, penal servitude for life.

Mary is left with no treasure, save the pearls; however, she and Watson have fallen in love over the course of the adventure, and the loss of the treasure has removed any barriers there might have been between them. Watson reveals that he has proposed to Mary and that she has accepted, much to the annoyance of Holmes.

Publication history

The 1892 cloth-bound cover of The Sign of Four after it was compiled as a single book The Sign of Four cover 1892.jpg
The 1892 cloth-bound cover of The Sign of Four after it was compiled as a single book

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle described how he was commissioned to write the story over a dinner with Joseph Marshall Stoddart, managing editor of the American publication Lippincott's Monthly Magazine , at the Langham Hotel in London on 30 August 1889. Stoddart wanted to produce an English version of Lippincott’s with a British editor and British contributors. The dinner was also attended by Oscar Wilde, who eventually contributed The Picture of Dorian Gray to the July 1890 issue. [2] Doyle discussed what he called this "golden evening" in his 1924 autobiography Memories and Adventures.

The novel first appeared in the February 1890 edition of Lippincott's Monthly Magazine [3] as The Sign of the Four; or The Problem of the Sholtos, appearing in both London and Philadelphia. [4] The British edition of the magazine originally sold for a shilling, and the American for 25 cents. Surviving copies are now worth several thousand dollars.

Over the following few months in the same year, the novel was then republished in several regional British journals. These re-serialisations gave the title as The Sign of Four. The novel was published in book form in October 1890 by Spencer Blackett, again using the title The Sign of Four. [2] This edition included a frontispiece illustrated by Charles H. M. Kerr. [5] The title of both the British and American editions of this first book edition omitted the second "the" of the original title.

A German edition of the book published in 1902 was illustrated by Richard Gutschmidt. An edition published by George Newnes Ltd in 1903 was illustrated by F. H. Townsend. [6]

Different editions over the years have varied between the two forms of the title, with most editions favouring the four-word form. [2] The actual text in the novel nearly always uses "the Sign of the Four" (the five-word form) to describe the symbol in the story, although the four-word form is used twice by Jonathan Small in his narrative at the end of the story.

As with the first story, A Study in Scarlet, produced two years previously, The Sign of the Four was not particularly successful to start with. It was the short stories, published from 1891 onwards in Strand Magazine , that made household names of Sherlock Holmes and his creator.

Adaptations

Television and film

There have been multiple film and television adaptations of the book:

YearMediaTitleCountryDirectorHolmesWatson
1905Film (silent) Adventures of Sherlock Holmes; or, Held for Ransom US J. Stuart Blackton Gilbert M. Anderson Kyrle Bellew
1913Film (silent)Sherlock Holmes Solves the Sign of the FourUS Lloyd Lonergan Harry Benham Charles Gunn
1923Film (silent) The Sign of Four UK Maurice Elvey Eille Norwood Arthur Cullin
1932Film The Sign of Four UK Graham Cutts Arthur Wontner Ian Hunter
1968TV (series) Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes - "The Sign of Four"UK William Sterling Peter Cushing Nigel Stock
1974TVDas Zeichen der Vier (Le signe des quatre)France/West Germany Jean-Pierre Decourt Rolf Becker Roger Lumont
1983TV (film) The Sign of Four UK Desmond Davis Ian Richardson David Healy
1983TV (series)Sherlock Holmes and the Sign of Four (animated)AustraliaIan Mackenzie
Alex Nicholas
Peter O'Toole (voice)Earle Cross (voice)
1983TV (series) The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson - The Treasures of Agra (Сокровища Агры, Sokrovishcha Agry)USSR Igor Maslennikov Vasily Livanov Vitaly Solomin
1987TV (film) The Return of Sherlock Holmes US Kevin Connor Michael Pennington (n/a)
1987TV (series) The Return of Sherlock Holmes - "The Sign of Four"UK Peter Hammond Jeremy Brett Edward Hardwicke
1991Filmed play The Crucifer of Blood US Fraser Clarke Heston Charlton Heston Richard Johnson
1999TV (series) Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century - "The Sign of Four" (animated)US/UKPaul Quinn Jason Gray-Stanford (voice) John Payne (voice)
2001TV (film) The Sign of Four CanadaRodney Gibbons Matt Frewer Kenneth Welsh
2014TV (series) Sherlock - "The Sign of Three"UK Colm McCarthy Benedict Cumberbatch Martin Freeman
2014TV (series) Sherlock Holmes - "The Adventure of the Cheerful Four" (愉快な四人組の冒険, Yukai na yoningumi no bōken)Japan Kunio Yoshikawa Kōichi Yamadera (voice) Wataru Takagi (voice)

Radio

A radio adaptation of the story was broadcast on New York radio station WGY on 9 November 1922. The cast included Edward H. Smith as Sherlock Holmes, F. H. Oliver as Dr. Watson, and Viola Karwowska as Mary Morstan. It was produced as part of a series of adaptations of plays, so it is likely that the script was based on an existing stage adaptation of the story (one was written by John Arthur Fraser in 1901 and another by Charles P. Rice in 1903). [7]

A six-part adaptation of the novel aired in the radio series The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes . Adapted by Edith Meiser, the episodes aired from 9 November 1932 to 14 December 1932, with Richard Gordon as Sherlock Holmes and Leigh Lovell as Dr. Watson. [8]

The book was adapted by Felix Felton for the BBC Light Programme in 1959. Richard Hurndall played Holmes and Bryan Coleman played Watson. [9]

In 1963, the story was dramatised by Michael Hardwick for the BBC Home Service as part of the 1952–1969 radio series, with Carleton Hobbs as Holmes and Norman Shelley as Watson. [10]

CBS Radio Mystery Theater aired a radio version of the story in 1977, starring Kevin McCarthy as Holmes and Court Benson as Watson. [11]

The Sign of the Four was adapted for radio by Bert Coules in 1989 as part of BBC Radio 4's complete Sherlock Holmes 1989–1998 radio series, with Clive Merrison as Holmes, Michael Williams as Watson, and featuring Brian Blessed as Jonathan Small. [12]

In 2016, the story was adapted as an episode of the American radio series The Classic Adventures of Sherlock Holmes , with John Patrick Lowrie as Holmes and Lawrence Albert as Watson. [13]

Stage

Paul Giovanni's 1978 play The Crucifer of Blood is based on the novel. The Broadway premiere featured Paxton Whitehead as Holmes and Timothy Landfield as Watson. The 1979 London production featured Keith Michell as Holmes and Denis Lill as Watson.

Related Research Articles

<i>The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes</i> 1927 collection of short stories by Arthur Conan Doyle

The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes is the final set of twelve Sherlock Holmes short stories by British writer Arthur Conan Doyle first published in the Strand Magazine between October 1921 and April 1927.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Adventure of the Speckled Band</span> Short story by Arthur Conan Doyle featuring Sherlock Holmes

"The Adventure of the Speckled Band" is one of 56 short Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the eighth story of twelve in the collection The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. It was originally published in Strand Magazine in February 1892.

<i>The Valley of Fear</i> Sherlock Holmes novel by Arthur Conan Doyle

The Valley of Fear is the fourth and final Sherlock Holmes novel by British writer Arthur Conan Doyle. It is loosely based on the Molly Maguires and Pinkerton agent James McParland. The story was first published in the Strand Magazine between September 1914 and May 1915. The first book edition was copyrighted in 1914, and it was first published by George H. Doran Company in New York on 27 February 1915, and illustrated by Arthur I. Keller.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inspector Lestrade</span> Fictional character from Sherlock Holmes

Detective Inspector G. Lestrade, or Mr. Lestrade, is a fictional character appearing in several of the Sherlock Holmes stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle. Lestrade's first appearance was in the first Sherlock Holmes story, the novel A Study in Scarlet, which was published in 1887. The last story in which he appears is the short story "The Adventure of the Three Garridebs", which was first published in 1924 and was included in the final collection of Sherlock Holmes stories by Doyle, The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Adventure of the Six Napoleons</span> Short story by Arthur Conan Doyle

"The Adventure of the Six Napoleons", one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 13 stories in the cycle collected as The Return of Sherlock Holmes. It was first published in Collier's in the United States on 30 April 1904, and in The Strand Magazine in the United Kingdom in May 1904.

Clive Merrison is a British actor of film, television, stage and radio. He trained at Rose Bruford College. He is best known for his long running BBC Radio portrayal of Sherlock Holmes, having played the part in all 64 episodes of the 1989–1998 series of Sherlock Holmes dramatisations, and all 16 episodes of The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (2002–2010).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canon of Sherlock Holmes</span>

Traditionally, the canon of Sherlock Holmes consists of the 56 short stories and four novels written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In this context, the term "canon" is an attempt to distinguish between Doyle's original works and subsequent works by other authors using the same characters. Usually capitalized by aficionados of the Sherlockian game as "the Canon", the description of these 60 adventures as the Sherlock Holmes canon and the game of applying the methods of "Higher Criticism" to it was started by Ronald Knox as a playful use of the traditional definition of canon as an authoritative list of books accepted as holy scripture.

Sherlock Holmes is the overall title given to the BBC Radio 4 radio dramatisations of the complete Sherlock Holmes stories, with Bert Coules as head writer, and featuring Clive Merrison as Holmes and Michael Williams as Dr Watson. Together, the two actors completed radio adaptations of every story in the canon of Sherlock Holmes between 1989 and 1998.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dr. Watson</span> Fictional character, associate and friend of Sherlock Holmes

John H. Watson, known as Dr. Watson, is a fictional character in the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Along with Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson first appeared in the novel A Study in Scarlet (1887). "The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place" (1927) is the last work of Doyle featuring Watson and Holmes, although their last appearance in the canonical timeline is in "His Last Bow" (1917).

<i>The Sign of Four</i> (1932 film) 1932 film

The Sign of Four is a 1932 British crime film directed by Graham Cutts and starring Arthur Wontner, Ian Hunter and Graham Soutten. The film is based on Arthur Conan Doyle's second Sherlock Holmes novel The Sign of the Four (1890). The film is also known as The Sign of Four: Sherlock Holmes' Greatest Case.

This article describes minor characters from the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and from non-canonical derived works. The list excludes the titular character as well as Dr. Watson, Professor Moriarty, Inspector Lestrade, Mycroft Holmes, Mrs. Hudson, Irene Adler, Colonel Moran, the Baker Street Irregulars, and characters not significant enough to mention.

<i>The Sign of Four</i> (1983 film) British TV series or programme

The Sign of Four is a 1983 British made-for-television mystery film directed by Desmond Davis and starring Ian Richardson and David Healy. The film is based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 1890 novel of the same name, the second novel to feature Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson.

The Sign of Four (2001) is a Canadian television film directed by Rodney Gibbons and starring Matt Frewer and Kenneth Welsh. The movie is based on Arthur Conan Doyle's second Sherlock Holmes novel published in 1890.

Sherlock Holmes is a film series running from 1931 to 1937. Arthur Wontner portrayed Sherlock Holmes in five films.

The Sign of Four is a 1923 British silent mystery film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Eille Norwood, Isobel Elsom and Fred Raynham. The film is based on the 1890 novel The Sign of the Four by Arthur Conan Doyle, and was one of a series of Sherlock Holmes films starring Norwood.

"The Empty Hearse" is the first episode of the third series of the BBC television series Sherlock. It was written by Mark Gatiss and stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes, Martin Freeman as Dr John Watson, and Mark Gatiss as Mycroft Holmes. It also marks the first appearance of Amanda Abbington as Mary Morstan and Lars Mikkelsen as Charles Augustus Magnussen.

"The Sign of Three" is the second episode of the third series of the BBC television series Sherlock. It was written by Stephen Thompson, Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat, and stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes and Martin Freeman as Dr John Watson. The episode's title is inspired by The Sign of the Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It is set six months after the series opener "The Empty Hearse" and is primarily centred on the day of Watson's wedding to Mary Morstan. It garnered a viewership of 11.37 million, and received mostly positive reviews.

Sherlock Holmes or Puppet Entertainment Sherlock Holmes is a Japanese puppetry television series written by Kōki Mitani and produced and broadcast by NHK. The puppets for the series were designed by Bunta Inoue. The first series of 18 episodes was broadcast on Sundays from 12 October 2014 to 15 February 2015 by NHK Educational TV (ETV); the first six episodes were broadcast by NHK General TV (GTV) in March and August 2014. A special programme was broadcast on 5 October 2014 while a "Sherlock Holmes Award" was broadcast on 28 December 2014. Each episode was rebroadcast on successive Fridays. The programme won the Japan Sherlock Holmes Award on 22 March 2015.

"The Adventure of the Cheerful Four" is an episode of the NHK puppetry Sherlock Holmes. It is based on "The Sign of the Four" and was broadcast on 30 November and 7 December 2014 by NHK Educational TV.

Sherlock Holmes is the overall title given to the series of radio dramas adapted from Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories that aired between 1952 and 1969 on BBC radio stations. The episodes starred Carleton Hobbs as Sherlock Holmes and Norman Shelley as Dr. Watson. All but four of Doyle's sixty Sherlock Holmes stories were adapted with Hobbs and Shelley in the leading roles, and some of the stories were adapted more than once with different supporting actors.

References

  1. Doyle, Arthur Conan. "Chapter 2: The Statement of the Case". The Sign of the Four. He disappeared upon the 3d of December, 1878,—nearly ten years ago. & About six years ago—to be exact, upon the 4th of May, 1882
  2. 1 2 3 Redmond, Christopher (2009). Sherlock Holmes Handbook: Second Edition. Dundurn Press. pp. 14–15. ISBN   9781459718982.
  3. Smith, Daniel (2011). The Sherlock Holmes Companion. Castle Books. p. 30. ISBN   978-0-7858-2784-9.
  4. Honce, Charles (1944), "Sherlock Holmes in the News", in Smith, Edgar W. (ed.), Profile by Gaslight, Simon and Schuster, pp. 74–75
  5. Green, Richard Lancelyn (ed.). The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Oxford University Press, 1998). p. 11. ISBN   978-0191605598
  6. Klinger, Leslie (ed.). The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes, Volume III (New York: W. W. Norton, 2006). p. 214, 269. ISBN   978-0393058000
  7. Dickerson, Ian (2019). Sherlock Holmes and His Adventures on American Radio. BearManor Media. p. 6. ISBN   978-1629335087.
  8. Dickerson, Ian (2019). Sherlock Holmes and His Adventures on American Radio. BearManor Media. p. 49. ISBN   978-1629335087.
  9. De Waal, Ronald Burt (1974). The World Bibliography of Sherlock Holmes. Bramhall House. p. 384. ISBN   0-517-217597.
  10. De Waal, Ronald Burt (1974). The World Bibliography of Sherlock Holmes. Bramhall House. p. 390. ISBN   0-517-217597.
  11. Payton, Gordon; Grams, Martin Jr. (2015) [1999]. The CBS Radio Mystery Theater: An Episode Guide and Handbook to Nine Years of Broadcasting, 1974-1982 (Reprinted ed.). McFarland. p. 196. ISBN   9780786492282.
  12. Bert Coules. "The Sign of the Four". The BBC complete audio Sherlock Holmes. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  13. Wright, Stewart (30 April 2019). "The Classic Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: Broadcast Log" (PDF). Old-Time Radio. Retrieved 1 May 2020.