The Sherlock Holmes Experience: Imagining the Criminal

Sherlock Holmes came to life during the Victorian era. In the Red-headed League, Sir Conan Doyle expresses what it was like to be a detective in a time where technology was limited, and crime rates were high. Crime was a major issue in the slums of London, where drugs, theft, prostitution and murder were common occurrences. However, police lacked many of the resources, such as surveillance cameras and DNA sampling, that they have available today, making it much more difficult to solve crimes and left many criminals roaming the streets. William Holman Hunt’s painting from 1864, London Bridge on the Night of the Wedding of the Prince and Princess of Wales was the first form of surveillance and accurately represents London’s increasingly urbanized atmosphere which provided even more opportunities for crime to take place, specifically theft at large public gatherings. Although, pick pocketers were the least of the police’s worries in this period. The police were almost never successful and didn’t have many requirements to become qualified, which caused corruption and the public to lose faith in the police force. On the contrary, all classes of Londoners praised Sherlock Holmes. Sherlock was known as a true Victorian man, as he resonated with the upper-class by always solving his crimes looking polished and posh and the lower-class by giving them protection from the high-volume of crime near their homes. He acted as a hero because he was able to solve every crime through his wit and education.

Our trip through the Sherlock Holmes experience created the perfect representation of Victorian fantasy and its technical implications. The experience began by leading us through the dark cobblestone of Baker street and into rooms that accurately represented London in the 19^th century. The hallways that mimicked streets where crime was taking place were dark and eerie, only being illuminated by gas lamps. In one room we saw a half a leg laying in the middle of the street, showing lack of cleanliness in the crime-ridden slums and then were immediately taken into a morgue that didn't seem sanitary or well-regulated.  The actors throughout the experience added to the Victorian culture through their actions, occupations, and attire being similar to various classes of Londoners in the 19^th century. It also showed how detectives had to combine ideas of scientific methodology with Victorian imagination to place themselves in the minds of the criminals to find clues and solve crimes. Although some parts of the experience may have been over dramatized and didn’t align exactly with what took place in the Victorian era, they enhanced my understanding of the culture, atmosphere, and implications of detectives and members of the public at this time.