Irene Adler
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Irene Adler is a fictional character featured in the Sherlock Holmes story "A Scandal in Bohemia" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, published in July, 1891. She is one of, possibly the, most prominent female character in the Sherlock Holmes stories.
Name
Her surname is the German word for "eagle". Dramatizations and dramatic readings of "A Scandal in Bohemia" often use the British English pronunciation of "Irene" with a long final "e" (eye-REE-nee). (Granada Television's The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes used the French pronunciation with a schwa in the final syllable [ee-RAY-nə].)
Biography
She was reportedly born in New Jersey in 1858. She followed a career in opera as a contralto, performing in La Scala, Milan, Italy, and a term as Prima donna in the Imperial Opera of Warsaw, Poland. Adler retired in her late 20s from the operatic stage and moved to London.
Dr. Watson refers to her as "the late Irene Adler" at the time of the story's publication. The reasons for her death were not stated. It has been speculated, however, that the reason of both her early retirement and her early demise was a hidden health problem; alternatively, since Adler is stated to have been an "adventurer," it may be that she engaged in one more perilous adventure that cost her life. On the other hand, this may be a misinterpretation of the word "late," which can also mean "former." She married Godfrey Norton, making the name Irene Adler a former name. (Doyle employs this same usage in The Adventure of the Priory School in reference to the Duke's former status as a cabinet minister.)
On March 20, 1888, according to the story, Wilhelm Gottsreich Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein and hereditary King of Bohemia, makes an incognito visit to Holmes in London. (Actually, the Habsburg emperors were also Kings of Bohemia and there was no separate dynasty; Doyle chose to place an imaginary king at an existing country, rather than create a whole imaginary country such as Ruritania). The King's errand for the British detective is to secure a photograph from Adler.
The Monarch reigned from Prague but, in 1883, he reportedly paid "a lengthy visit to Warsaw" where he "made the acquaintance of the well-known adventuress, Irene Adler." The two became lovers, and Adler had kept a photograph of the two of them. The thirty-year-old King explained to Holmes that he intended to marry Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen (an unseen character), second daughter of the King of Scandinavia, a marriage that would be threatened if his relationship with Adler came to light.
It should be noted that Scandinavia was at the time actually divided between the domains of two different Kings: Oscar II of Sweden and Norway, and Christian IX of Denmark and Iceland. (Earlier in the century, a Pan-Scandinavian Movement had indeed been active in both countries, but it waned following Sweden's failure to help Denmark in its disastrous 1864 war with Germany).
Using his considerable disguise skills, Holmes traced her movements and learned much of her private life. He then set up a faked incident to cause a diversion that would let him discover where the picture was hidden. When he came back to snatch it, he found Adler gone, along with her new husband and the goods, which had been replaced with a letter to Holmes.
At a time when ladies were supposed to be ladies, Adler had "the face of the most beautiful of women, and the mind of the most resolute of men," according to the King. She had the wit to one-up Holmes, and he admired her for it.
Appearances
"A Scandal in Bohemia" is the Holmes short story that focuses on Irene Adler, but she also is mentioned in the following other stories:
- "A Case of Identity"
- "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle"
- "The Five Orange Pips" (possibly; see below)
- "His Last Bow"
Holmes's relationship to Adler
Adler earns Holmes' unbounded admiration, and even the King of Bohemia says, "Would she not have made an admirable queen? Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?"—a sentiment which Holmes treats with no attempt to conceal which of the two he thought to be on a higher level.
The beginning of "A Scandal in Bohemia" describes the high regard in which Holmes held Adler:
- To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable memory.
Later appearance in fan-fiction
A large body of Holmes fan-fiction theorizes that Holmes and Adler eventually became romantically involved, although a statement to the contrary was made in the original story. Some fans have even theorized that Holmes and Adler were the parents of Nero Wolfe.
Perhaps the most important post-Conan Doyle contribution to the Holmes/Adler canon is a series of mystery novels (presently eight) written by Carole Nelson Douglas featuring Irene Adler as the protagonist and sleuth, chronicling her life after her famous encounter with Sherlock Holmes and which feature Holmes as a supporting character.
Along with Professor Moriarty, Adler was the inspiration for Nicole Wallace, the archnemesis of Holmes-like detective Robert Goren on the NBC crime drama
External links
- ["A Scandal in Bohemia"] - in easy to read HTML format.
- [Sherlock Holmes Public Library]
- [The Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes]
Misc
- Irene Adler is also the adopted name of the beautiful heroine in the well known intellectual thriller The Club Dumas by Spanish writer Arturo Pérez-Reverte. The book has been made into the movie by Polanski, The Ninth Gate starring Johnny Depp.
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