Sherlock Holmes and Beau Peep

[Mince]

I often use the stories of Sherlock Holmes to explain the technique of viewpoint to my students.

The character of Watson is crucial to the Holmes stories. Doyle knows that his creation of Holmes is more intelligent than he is, and so he could not write the stories in first person from Holmes? point of view because this would allow us into Holmes? thoughts and deductions. Doyle knew that showing us Holmes thoughts would make them seem mundane and uninteresting. So instead he created Watson to ask Holmes questions about what he was doing and generally make Holmes seem mysteriously intelligent.

Cleverly, Doyle creates a detective who is a genius without having to be a genius himself. He creates a character who is cleverer than himself.

Anyway, all I wanted to point out is that in Beau Peep, Roger (like Doyle) has also cleverly created characters who are more intelligent than he is.

Well done!

[Tarquin Thunderthighs lll]

Elementary, my dear Mince.

[The Peepmaster]

No, he's created Holmes to be more intelligent than Watson, not himself. If the character was going to be more intelligent than the writer, the plots would never be connived, deduced and eventually solved in the first place.  :

One thing I have spotted in Beau Peep is that Beau is intelligent and quite articulate when together with Dennis or Egon, but when he is in other situations, with the Sergeant, Pierre, etc., he assumes the mantle of blithering idiot!

I wonder if Professor Baker's noticed this.

[Mince]

If the character was going to be more intelligent than the writer, the plots would never be connived, deduced and eventually solved in the first place.  :

What? Doyle could never be a detective like Holmes. And are you saying that the writers of Doctor Who must be more intelligent than a 900-year-old time-traveller to write Doctor Who?

[Mince]

You are also forgetting that Doyle "connived" the plots at leisure whereas Holmes solved them in real (well, story) time.

[Mince]

A STORY

Peepmaster, Roger and Tarquin were walking down the street when they noticed a coin on the floor, and they all instantly realised that it had been dropped by a peg-legged woman with a glass eye.


I am now officially smarter than all of you.

[Tarquin Thunderthighs lll]

No, you're not. I've got the coin!

[peter]

No, you're not. I've got the coin!

If you look closely you will see it is a fake. You have once again been foiled. Elementary my dear Tark's.
This post did not come from Peter. I am using his site whilst he is away.

[Vulture]

No, you're not. I've got the coin!

If you look closely you will see it is a fake. You have once again been foiled. Elementary my dear Tark's.
This post did not come from Peter. I am using his site whilst he is away.

Yup! He's right. Correct spelling AND punctuation. It can't be the real Peter.

[Tarquin Thunderthighs lll]

No, you're not. I've got the coin!

If you look closely you will see it is a fake. You have once again been foiled. Elementary my dear Tark's.
This post did not come from Peter. I am using his site whilst he is away.

Yup! He's right. Correct spelling AND punctuation. It can't be the real Peter.

It's good, but it's not perfect. The comma that should have followed "Elementary" has leaped forward to become a possessive apostrophe in "Tark's".

Devious!

[peter]

No, you're not. I've got the coin!

If you look closely you will see it is a fake. You have once again been foiled. Elementary my dear Tark's.
This post did not come from Peter. I am using his site whilst he is away.

Yup! He's right. Correct spelling AND punctuation. It can't be the real Peter.

It's good, but it's not perfect. The comma that should have followed "Elementary" has leaped forward to become a possessive apostrophe in "Tark's".

Devious!

Who the person who wrote the above diatribe, or me.

[Tarquin Thunderthighs lll]

Give it up, Moriarty. Your cover has been blown!

[Mince]

Moriarty and the Master on the same forum - who would have believed it?

[peter]

No, you're not. I've got the coin!

If you look closely you will see it is a fake. You have once again been foiled. Elementary my dear Tark's.
This post did not come from Peter. I am using his site whilst he is away.

Yup! He's right. Correct spelling AND punctuation. It can't be the real Peter.

It's good, but it's not perfect. The comma that should have followed "Elementary" has leaped forward to become a possessive apostrophe in "Tark's".

Devious!

You picked the coin up therefor you possessed. It was alimentary.

[Tarquin Thunderthighs lll]

Moriarty and the Master on the same forum - who would have believed it?

Oh, I think some of the regular contributors to these boards are far harder to swallow.