Why is irene adler the woman

Adler is not any kind of caregiver at all, instead she is an opera star with a successful career. She has goals. Like a real person. She also happens to use extra-legal strategies to protect herself from a former lover, which is why Holmes gets involved. Gone is the woman who makes a living off of skill, the new Adler is a prostitute. No longer driven by her career or by goals, this new Adler is motivated by romantic love for Holmes. Well, actually, she is.

Some of them are. In his eyes she eclipses and predominates the whole of her sex. She had a relatively successful career as an opera singer in Europe. During her tenure at the Royal Opera of Warsaw, she meets and becomes the lover of the King of Bohemia, who was staying in Warsaw. How can you bring in such an intriguing character for one short story, and then never use her again?!

Therein lies the problem. This was later anthologised in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes the following year. Since then, it has been a staple of most stage, screen, television and fan-fiction adaptations or extensions of the Sherlock Holmes … well, canon!

Now, the story. The King of Bohemia approaches Sherlock Holmes in disguise, and is soon unmasked. The lady realises his real identity and follows him back to Baker Street — again, in disguise!

She leaves behind a letter to Holmes that is a masterpiece of restrained gloating and a sort of feminist triumph. She has the letters and the photograph, but will not use them unless her erstwhile swain the King of Bohemia attempts to harm her. Irene Adler had thus recognised Holmes, outwitted him, vanished with the compromising materials and taken the moral high ground.

A most complete victory! The story operates on many levels. It establishes his indifference to wealth and titles — he refuses to accept a valuable ring from the King — and his innate fairness he brushes off the King once he is satisfied that Irene Adler is in the right. But what does it say about the lady? Or rather, about The Woman? That she is talented. She is an opera diva, having performed as a contralto at La Scala and at the Imperial Opera in Warsaw.

So far, almost run-of-the-mill. Every other Holmes story features a lady client whose appearance, or bearing, or both, inspire admiration in the very susceptible Watson. But wait, there is more to Ms. In , this term was closer in meaning to Fanny Hill than to Lara Croft. Whether the insinuation is true or not but what a douchebag the King is, for using the term!