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Sherlock Holmes Year 8 English Revision GuideA Scandal in BohemiaPlot SummaryAt the start of the story we find the newly-married Watson returning on an impulse to his oldBaker Street quarters to see how Holmes is doing. Holmes once again shows his skill as a detectiveby observing minute details about Watson’s appearance that proves he has served in Afghanistan.What is happening in this image?Watson finds him with a royal client, the King of Bohemia, who requests Holmes’s help in hisprivate affairs. He is engaged to be married to a princess, but a former lover of his, the sopranosinger Irene Adler, has vowed to wreck the marriage. Irene threatens to expose the King’s formeraffair with her by means of a compromising photograph. The King wants Holmes to try and getthis photograph away from her.What is happening in this image?Holmes disguises himself as a groom and goes to the neighbourhood where Irene lives, to getinformation. He learns that Irene is now seeing someone else. He arrives, coincidentally, when thetwo of them are about to be married, and he is roped into attending the wedding as a witness. Thismarriage increases the urgency of his quest to secure the photograph, as Irene and her newhusband are now about to leave the country.What is happening in this image?For his next move, Holmes disguises himself as a clergyman and also enlists Watson’s help. Hegoes to Irene’s house in his disguise and is, seemingly, caught up in an altercation in the streetoutside, leaving him wounded. Irene has him brought into her house so that she can tend to him.At this point Watson, having been instructed by Holmes, throws a smoke-bomb into the room, andthe people outside start crying fire. Holmes and Watson leave and Holmes explains what has justhappened.
What is happening in this image?He arranged the scene outside the house and only pretended to be wounded, in order to gain entryto Irene’s house. He further organised the false fire alarm to see where she would go in anemergency. He knows that the photograph is one of her most important possessions and that in anemergency she would rush to it first. Holmes has thus discovered where in the house thephotograph is hidden, and he resolves to return next day and take it for himself when Irene is notabout. During their walk home, a strange youth passes by and wishes Holmes goodnight. He issurprised by this.What is happening in this image?Next morning, on arriving at Irene's house, Holmes, Watson, and the King find that she hasalready left, taking the photograph with her. Holmes is stunned at her ingenuity. She has left anote explaining everything. Having been previously warned that the King might hire someone toget the photograph from her, she guessed that Holmes was acting on the King’s behalf and haddeliberately gained entry to her house the night before in his disguise as a clergyman. Realisingthis, she put on her own disguise as a young man and tracked Holmes and Watson back to BakerStreet before leaving the country. Although she has taken the incriminating photograph, shedeclares that she will not use it against the King after all, as she now has married a better personthan he.What is happening in this image?The King is relieved but Holmes is mortified, although also full of admiration at the way that Irenehas outwitted him. Watson makes Holmes's admiration for her quite clear at the very start of thetale. To Holmes, then, Irene appears unique; in his eyes she holds a special place among women inher rare combination of beauty, passion, intelligence and resolve.What is happening in this image?
CharactersSherlock HolmesWhat do we learn about this character?What key quotations show this?Dr WatsonWhat do we learn about this character?What key quotations show this?Irene AdlerWhat do we learn about this character?What key quotations show this?The King of BohemiaWhat do we learn about this character?What key quotations show this?
The Red-Headed LeagueDoctor John Watson steps into the home of his friend, the famous private detective SherlockHolmes. Watson, the story’s narrator, finds Holmes deep in conversation with Jabez Wilson, aman who would be entirely unremarkable except for his blazing red hair. Holmes asks Watson tostay and lend his assistance, claiming that he has never heard a case as bizarre as Jabez Wilson’s.What is happening in this image?Wilson reveals that he is a pawnbroker and has an assistant named Vincent Spaulding, who isworking for half the usual salary to learn the business. Wilson says that Spaulding is a fine worker,although he is interested in photography and often goes alone into the basement of the shop todevelop photos. About two months ago, Spaulding drew Wilson’s attention to an advertisement inthe paper for an opening in the League of Red-Headed Men.What is happening in this image?According to Spaulding, the league is a foundation established by an eccentric and wealthyAmerican to promote the interests of redheaded men by paying them to perform small tasks.Spaulding encouraged Wilson to apply, and the two went to the offices listed in the advertisement.After fighting through a crowd of redheaded men waiting outside, Spaulding and Wilson madetheir way to the manager, another redheaded man by the name of Duncan Ross, who promptlyhired Wilson. The league paid Wilson to copy pages of the Encyclopedia Britannica, forbiddinghim from leaving the office for any reason during his four-hour shifts.What is happening in this image?
Wilson says that he worked for the league for eight weeks and was paid handsomely for his efforts.The morning on which the story begins, however, Wilson arrived at the offices to find that the RedHeaded League had been dissolved and that Duncan Ross was nowhere to be found. Wilson wentimmediately to Sherlock Holmes, hoping that Holmes could help him find out whether he hadbeen the victim of a practical joke. Holmes asks Wilson a few questions about Vincent Spauldingand discovers that Spaulding came to work for Wilson only about a month before the wholemysterious affair began. Holmes tells Wilson that he will have an answer in a few days.What is happening in this image?After smoking three pipes in a row, Holmes leaps up and asks Watson to accompany him to aconcert. Along the way, they stop in front of Wilson’s shop, where Holmes thumps his walkingstick on the pavement and knocks on the door to ask Spaulding for directions. After Spaulding andHolmes finish talking, Holmes tells Watson that he believes that Spaulding is the fourth-smartestman in London. Holmes also tells Watson that he saw on the knees of Spaulding’s trousers exactlywhat he wanted to see. Even though Watson is mystified by these remarks, Holmes refuses toexplain them further and instead leads Watson around to a busy street behind Wilson’s shop.Holmes notices aloud that there’s a bank behind Wilson’s shop, and, finished for the day, he andWatson go to the concert.What is happening in this image?After the concert, Holmes asks Watson to meet him at his office at ten o’clock that night, sayingthat a serious crime is about to be committed. Watson agrees but is entirely bewildered byHolmes’s actions. Watson notes that he and Holmes have seen and heard exactly the sameinformation about the case but that Holmes seems to have arrived at some conclusions that hehimself has failed to draw.What is happening in this image?
That night, Watson meets up with Holmes, along with two other men—a Scotland Yard detectivenamed Peter Jones and a bank manager named Mr. Merryweather. Holmes says that the four menare about to have a run-in with John Clay, a notorious criminal. The men depart in carriages to Mr.Merryweather’s City and Suburban Bank—the same bank Holmes and Watson had discoveredbehind Wilson’s shop. The four men wait for an hour in the darkness of the cellar filled withFrench gold.What is happening in this image?Suddenly, they notice a light shining through a crack in the floor. The light gets brighter andbrighter, until the crack finally widens and a man’s hand breaks through. The man climbs out ofthe opening the floor and begins to help another man through when Holmes and Detective Jonesleap on the two men. They capture the first man, John Clay, also known as Jabez Wilson’shardworking assistant, Vincent Spaulding. The other man escapes through the crack in the floor.What is happening in this image?Later that night, Holmes tells Watson how he solved the case. Holmes realised from the beginningthat the Red-Headed League was simply too preposterous to be real and that it must thereforehave been a ploy to get Wilson out of his shop for a few hours every day. The fact that Spauldingwas willing to work for so little money and spent a lot of time alone in the basement suggested toHolmes that Spaulding was doing something illicit in the cellar. When he noticed the bank nearby,Holmes had suspected that Spaulding was digging a tunnel to the bank. Holmes pounded on thesidewalk outside Wilson’s shop to determine whether the ground was hollow underneath, and heknocked on the door for directions so that he could see whether the knees of Spaulding’s pantswere worn away. The fact that the league dissolved so suddenly suggested to Holmes that therobbery was imminent, and he was therefore able to prepare and capture John Clay.What is happening in this image?
CharactersSherlock HolmesWhat do we learn about this character?What key quotations show this?Dr WatsonWhat do we learn about this character?What key quotations show this?Jabez WilsonWhat do we learn about this character?What key quotations show this?Vincent Spaulding/John ClayWhat do we learn about this character?What key quotations show this?Peter JonesWhat do we learn about this character?What key quotations show this?
The Police in Victorian LondonBefore the policeBefore 1829, there was no proper police force in England. If someone wanted to investigate a crimeor find a criminal, they would have to do it themselves or pay someone to do it for them. If therewas a big problem with crime, then the army could be called up to help.By 1829, this system just wasn’t working, particularly in London. London was such a big place andso many crimes were being committed, that people realised there needed to be a better way ofinvestigating and preventing crime.The Metropolitan Police – the first proper police forceIn 1829, a politician called Sir Robert Peel came up with the idea of the Metropolitan Police, whichwould be a police force for London. The Metropolitan Police would be made up of paid policeofficers who would work together and follow rules about how they could investigate crime.People were worried that the police would act like the army. To help make people feel better aboutthe new police force, their uniform was deliberately made in blue, rather than red which was thenan army colour. Police officers were only armed with a wooden truncheon.London and the Police Force grow and growOver time, the Metropolitan Police became bigger and more important. They were set up in 1829,not long before Oliver Twist was written. At this time, the Metropolitan Police had just 1,000officers. By 1885 they had grown to have 13,000 officers. The police were still stretched though, asover the same period of time, the population of London had exploded from around 1.5 million toover 5 million.Crime in Victorian LondonEven though London now had a police force, people could still get away with crime. In 1888,people from across London were horrified by the Whitechapel murders, when eleven women werekilled gruesomely in east London from 1888 to 1891. The police investigated this crime, but despiteall their efforts, the killer – known as Jack the Ripper – was never caught, and the murder casesremain unsolved to this day.ForensicsUnlike today, the police of Victorian London did not have access to the type of criminal forensicinvestigative techniques we are used to. Instead they had to rely on simple clues, circumstantialevidence, and their experience to solve a crime.In the assessment, CHECK YOUR WRITING Are all your sentences accurate? Check that there are no run-on sentences or fragments. Have you used capital letters correctly? You must use them at the start of a sentence and forproper nouns. Have you used the correct tense throughout? Do the subjects agree with the verbs? Have you used apostrophes correctly? Have you used quotation marks correctly? Check your spelling, particularly common errors such as there/their and to/too
How to structure a paragraph:Point Evidence Technique Analyse LinkIntroductionThe primary purpose of an introductory paragraph is to identify the topic and purpose of the essay.In your introduction, include: The name of text you are studying: .Who wrote the text: A brief sentence saying what the text is about: .The purpose of the essay: (what character will you be focusing on) For the best introduction, try to: Include a bold opening statement Give a brief overview of the story List at least three points that will be analysed in the main body of the essayWriting a paragraph When you write a paragraph, it is important to make sure your point matches with yourexplanation. Your explanation must also match up with the evidence! You must also try not to repeat yourself. Your explanation shouldn’t say the same thing asyour first point.ConclusionWrite a conclusion where you sum up all the evidence and make a final judgment about thecharacter.
Sherlock Holmes Year 8 English Revision Guide A Scandal in Bohemia Plot Summary At the start of the story we find the newly-married Watson returning on an impulse to his old Baker Street quarters to see how Holmes is doing.
