The
Sign of the Four by Arthur Conan Doyle
Summary and Character
Sketch
The
Sign of Four: A Summary
The
Mystery: Miss Mary Morstan seeks Sherlock Holmes' help after receiving valuable
pearls anonymously every year on the anniversary of her father's death. Her
father, Major Sholto, served in India and passed away under mysterious
circumstances. The only clues are a map of a fort with the cryptic message
"The Sign of the Four" and four names: Jonathan Small, Mahomet Singh,
Abdullah Khan, and Dost Akbar.
The
Investigation: Holmes takes the case and soon discovers Major Sholto had died
after acquiring immense wealth during the Indian Rebellion. Mary receives the
pearls following the instructions hidden within the map, leading Holmes and
Watson on a thrilling adventure. They encounter Thaddeus Sholto, Mary's
estranged brother, and uncover a complex plot involving escaped convicts,
hidden treasure, and past betrayals.
The
Danger: Jonathan Small, the leader of the convicts, seeks to reclaim the
treasure with the help of his partners. Holmes and Watson find themselves in
perilous situations, including a tense confrontation in a foggy London house
and a daring escape from a booby-trapped boat.
The
Resolution: Holmes unravels the mystery, revealing how Major Sholto acquired
the treasure and the motives behind his death. He confronts Small and his
accomplices in a dramatic showdown, bringing them to justice and securing the
fortune for Mary and Thaddeus.
Key
Themes: The Sign of the Four explores themes of greed, justice, revenge, and
colonial legacy. It highlights Holmes' deductive reasoning and Watson's
unwavering loyalty, showcasing their iconic partnership.
Character Sketch
Jonathan
Small (The Wooden-Legged Man)
-Jonathan
Small is the wooden-legged man who seeks revenge on Major Sholto for the theft
of the Agra treasure.
-one
of “the four” original men who acquired the treasure.
-lived
a tough life, having lost his leg to a crocodile while serving as a soldier in
India for the British Army. –got engaged in a plan plan to acquire the treasure
with Abdullah Khan and Mahomet Singh, who were guards under his command (the
fourth man, Dost Akbar, was the foster brother of Abdullah Khan) While guarding
the Agra fortress during the Indian Mutiny,
-Small
was sent to a punishing colony on the Andaman Islands for his role in the
killing of the merchant who had possession of the Agra treasure.
-meets
Captain Morstan and Major Sholto, letting them in on the secret about the
treasure in exchange for help with his escape.
-Sholto,
however, double-crossed the others and fled to England with the treasure.
-Small
managed to escape the Andaman Islands with his companion, Tonga, and searched
for Sholto, eventually managing to recover the treasure from Pondicherry Lodge,
the Sholto family home.
-His
victory doesn’t last long, however, as Holmes soon catches up with him and
brings about his imprisonment.
-Small
scatters the jewels of the Agra treasure into the Thames to prevent anyone else
from enjoying their riches.
(Courtesy:
Litchart.com)
Miss
Mary Morstan:
Miss
Morstan comes to Sherlock Holmes to see if he can help her find out what
happened to her father, Captain Morstan, who disappeared a few years
previously. She has also been receiving a pearl once a year in the post and
been told to go to London’s Lyceum Theater in the evening of the day she comes
to see Holmes. She therefore acts as the catalyst for the entire story,
providing Holmes with a much-needed problem to solve. She is generally
portrayed as quite passive, but is also virtuous, especially in her apparent lack
of concern about her share of the Agra treasure (she is more interested in
knowing what has happened to her father). Over the course of the novella, Miss
Morstan falls in love with Dr. John Watson; at the end, she agrees to marry
him. She lives with Mrs. Forrester, serving as her governess. She is described
as beautiful and is around twenty-seven years old.
Dr.
John Watson
Dr.
Watson is the narrator of the story and Sherlock Holmes’ loyal assistant. He is
a doctor by profession and has a background as a surgeon in the British Army.
Over the course of the novella, Watson falls in love with Miss Morstan, finally
asking her to marry him. Watson aids Holmes throughout the story, though the
major breakthroughs in the case are always the result of Holmes’ brilliant
mind. Watson functions as a kind of counterpart to Holmes; the detective
frequently uses him as a sounding board for his ideas, and in his inability to
see problems as clearly as Holmes, Watson is representative of the general
reader. That is, Watson is a kind of everyman figure of decent—but not Holmes’
level—intelligence. Watson is more emotional than Holmes and is frequently
concerned for the latter’s wellbeing, especially when it comes to Holmes’ drug
use. But Watson is in awe of Holmes’ abilities, which is why he decides to
preserve them for posterity by writing them down. In his powers of observation
about the more emotional side of life, Watson actually possesses something that
Holmes lacks—an ability to understand people and the way that they feel.
Sherlock
Holmes
Sherlock
Holmes, the story’s protagonist, is the infamous detective and occupant of 221b
Baker Street. He has a supreme, almost superhuman intelligence that allows him
to solve difficult cases. This intelligence is based on his deeply held belief
in the power of rationalism—essentially, any problem is solvable if looked at
clearly and logically enough. Holmes’ mindset is distinctively Victorian,
showing an affiliation with the ideas of Charles Darwin and encompassing
certain elements of outdated pseudoscience that results in a discomforting
belief in the superiority of white people over other races. Because of Holmes’
intellectual and deductive abilities, Miss Morstanasks him to help her solve
the case of her missing father, Captain Morstan, which subsequently draws in
the mystery of the Agra treasure too. Likewise, Athelney Jones, the Scotland
Yard detective, is fully aware of Holmes’ abilities and relies upon him for
help in his own work (though doesn’t always give Holmes the credit he
deserves). Holmes, for his part, takes on cases for the thrill of it—not
because he wants fame or fortune. This thrill-seeking also contributes to the
darker side of Holmes’ character: his drug-taking. Holmes’ mind needs
stimulation and, when he doesn’t have a case to work, he turns to cocaine,
which greatly concerns his assistant, Dr. Watson. Ultimately, the entire
novella functions at the pace of Holmes’ thoughts. When Holmes is stuck on an
aspect of the case, the action slows to a halt; when he has a breakthrough, the
action picks up again.
Tonga
Tonga
is a native of the Andaman Islands who was aided by Jonathan Small when
suffering from ill health. This made him feel a sense of loyalty towards Small,
which explains why he accompanies him in attempting to recover the Agra
treasure. Tonga’s portrayal in the book is extremely problematic: he is
described as a savage “black cannibal,” painted more as an animal than a human
being. He thus represents the deep racial prejudices of the Victorian era.
Tonga uses poisonous blow darts as a weapon, killing Bartholomew Sholto with
one and almost hitting Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson too. Tonga dies when
Holmes and Watson shoot him during the boat chase. Notably, Tonga is given no
dialogue at all throughout the entire novella, again reflecting the racial
prejudice that his character embodies.
Thaddeus
Sholto
Thaddeus
Sholto is one of Major Sholto’s sons, brother to Bartholomew Sholto. He is an
eccentric character with an anxious manner. Thaddeus is the one who decides to
contact Miss Morstan, feeling that she has been treated unfairly and deserves
her share of the Agra treasure (a view also expressed by Major Sholto on his
deathbed). Thaddeus has been sending pearls each year to Miss Morstan and it is
him who contacts her to try and reunite her with her share of the riches.
According to Thaddeus, his brother would have preferred to cut out Miss Morstan
altogether.
Bartholomew
Sholto
Bartholomew
Sholto is one of Major Sholto’s sons and lives at the family home, Pondicherry
Lodge. Thaddeus Sholto, Bartholomew’s brother, takes Sherlock Holmes, Dr.
Watson and Miss Morstan to Bartholomew with the intention of dividing up the
Agra treasure. It transpires, however, that Bartholomew has been killed by a
poisonous blow dart. His face is locked in a frozen grimace when he is
discovered. Bartholomew differs from Thaddeus in that he disagreed with his
brother’s intentions to honor Miss Morstan’s share of the treasure—he would
have preferred them to greedily keep it for themselves.
Captain
Morstan
Captain
Morstan was an officer in the British army who served in India. He is Mary
Morstan’s father, and his unexplained disappearance is the catalyst for the
novella’s plot. He was friends with Major Sholto and had agreed with him to
facilitate Jonathan Small’s escape from the Andaman Islands penal colony—where
he and Sholto were working—in exchange for a share of the Agra treasure. Sholto
deceives him and takes the treasure for himself. According to Thaddeus
Sholto—which in turn is according to Major Sholto—Captain Morstan died from a
heart attack during an argument with Sholto. Sholto then hid his body to avoid
suspicion and the detection of the treasure.
Major
Sholto
Major
Sholto is the father of Bartholomew and Thaddeus Sholto and was a friend to
Captain Morstan, with whom he served in India. Jonathan Small relates how he
brought Sholto into the Agra treasure scheme, hoping to secure his release from
the Andaman Islands penal colony where Sholto was an authority figure. Sholto,
suffering from gambling debts, double-crossed Small and Captain Morstan and
took the treasure for himself. On his deathbed, he had a slight change of heart
and instructed his sons to share the treasure with Miss Morstan—but he died
before revealing the treasure’s location after seeing the face of Jonathan
Small at the window.
Sources:
1. Litchart.com
2. The
summary is based on information provided by Bard, a large language model from
Google AI.