| Summary: | This thesis has conducted an extensive character analysis of Sherlock Holmes by comparing the original, authentic detective, as he appears in a corpus consisting of Conan Doyle’s collected works about Holmes, to the characterisation in three select period pastiches. The aim was to analyse to what extent the true characterisation of the famous sleuth has survived in contemporary adaptations, more specifically in the three texts, Sherlock Vs. Dracula (1976), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Holmes (1979) and Sherlock Holmes and the Angel of the Opera (1994), where the detective encounters equally well-known fictional characters. The novel approach of combining corpus stylistic quantitative methods of characterisation with a qualitative literary approach of identifying similar stylistic and narratological features of characterisation efficiently facilitated an illustration on how Conan Doyle’s round and complex character has endured through adaptations and reimaginings. The corpus investigation on the Sherlock Conan Doyle Corpus supplied an encompassing image of the character, and revealed characteristics absent from the inherent cultural perception. The subsequent cross-comparison between the original in contrast to contemporary characterisations presented clear deviations to the character and further demonstrated a tendency to exaggerate select, generic features that complement the narrative and plot of the integrated novels. Overall, this study concludes that Sherlock Holmes remains the character who travels over time and genres, albeit with a reduced complexity as the respective characterisations in each of the pastiches to various degrees have modified core characteristics significant to the mind-modelling process. That is, through the process of adaptational alterations, the detective has become a flat character. Enough features persist for him to be recognisable and compelling, yet Sherlock Holmes in his entirety subsists merely as a caricature of his original self.
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