Irene Alder: Incongruent for Her Time in History
The expected role of Victorian women was limited to the responsibilities of caring for the home and family while catering to their husband, a highly restrictive existence, where life centered around their spouse and subsequently their children. However, Irene Alder does not fit into the social expectations of the 1890’s because she is an intelligent and powerful woman, who is independent and capable of existing outside the environment of home and family. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “A Scandal in Bohemia”, challenges traditional social perceptions and gender assumptions toward Victorian women with his characterization of the female character, Irene Alder, which creates social tension between her …show more content…
According to Sherlock, she is an elegant and talented opera singer from New Jersey living in Victorian London. Doyle characterizes her as a strong woman with an adventurous spirit, a “soul of steel…and the mind of the most resolute of men,” (Doyle, 3). Irene is a stunningly beautiful woman with above average intelligence able to wield power over the men around her. She is dissimilar to other women who fit the traditional social perceptions and gender assumptions of Victorian women because she is focused on herself, not home or family, and has the ability to survive and thrive outside the home. Doyle’s characterization of Irene as a woman who is a rival to men sets up social tension based on the fact that she is a woman functioning in a man’s world and not existing in what is considered to be her sphere, the …show more content…
However, upon returning to the home of Irene the next morning, to save The King’s reputation and retrieve the photograph, he finds that she has outwitted him. She fled with the photograph and left a note for Sherlock behind, along with a different photograph of herself as a parting shot. Irene’s actions are not socially traditional and so unlike any woman Sherlock has met or analyzed and it shocks him to his core. Irene plays to his ego when she writes: “You really did it very well. You took me in completely … I had been warned against you months ago,” (19). She then proceeds to tell him how she outsmarted him and has fled the country with the photograph he was seeking. The Woman, Irene, explains her actions to Sherlock, “I keep [the photograph] only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a weapon which will always secure me from any steps which [the King] might take in the future,” (19). Thus, Irene retains the power over Sherlock and The
The expected role of Victorian women was limited to the responsibilities of caring for the home and family while catering to their husband, a highly restrictive existence, where life centered around their spouse and subsequently their children. However, Irene Alder does not fit into the social expectations of the 1890’s because she is an intelligent and powerful woman, who is independent and capable of existing outside the environment of home and family. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “A Scandal in Bohemia”, challenges traditional social perceptions and gender assumptions toward Victorian women with his characterization of the female character, Irene Alder, which creates social tension between her …show more content…
According to Sherlock, she is an elegant and talented opera singer from New Jersey living in Victorian London. Doyle characterizes her as a strong woman with an adventurous spirit, a “soul of steel…and the mind of the most resolute of men,” (Doyle, 3). Irene is a stunningly beautiful woman with above average intelligence able to wield power over the men around her. She is dissimilar to other women who fit the traditional social perceptions and gender assumptions of Victorian women because she is focused on herself, not home or family, and has the ability to survive and thrive outside the home. Doyle’s characterization of Irene as a woman who is a rival to men sets up social tension based on the fact that she is a woman functioning in a man’s world and not existing in what is considered to be her sphere, the …show more content…
However, upon returning to the home of Irene the next morning, to save The King’s reputation and retrieve the photograph, he finds that she has outwitted him. She fled with the photograph and left a note for Sherlock behind, along with a different photograph of herself as a parting shot. Irene’s actions are not socially traditional and so unlike any woman Sherlock has met or analyzed and it shocks him to his core. Irene plays to his ego when she writes: “You really did it very well. You took me in completely … I had been warned against you months ago,” (19). She then proceeds to tell him how she outsmarted him and has fled the country with the photograph he was seeking. The Woman, Irene, explains her actions to Sherlock, “I keep [the photograph] only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a weapon which will always secure me from any steps which [the King] might take in the future,” (19). Thus, Irene retains the power over Sherlock and The