44 pages • 1 hour read
Arthur Conan DoyleThe Sign of the Four
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1890A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 1-3Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary: “The Science of Deduction”
Content Warning: This section depicts recreational drug use and contains outdated and offensive language and racist stereotypes.
Narrator Dr. John Watson observes his colleague and flat-mate Sherlock Holmes as he prepares a syringe of a “seven-per-cent solution” of cocaine and injects himself. Watson objects to the physical and mental effects of the drug; however, Holmes finds the “artificial stimulants” necessary due to his current lack of work. He states that his mind “rebels at stagnation” and he “abhor[s] the dull routine of existence” (2-3). He needs a constant flow of work, puzzles, and intricate analysis, which is why he created his own profession as the “only unofficial consulting detective” (3).
Briefly, Holmes shares with Watson his correspondence with a Frenchman who considers Holmes his mentor in investigative work and speaks of his recent studies in various “minutiae” such as the differences in ash between different kinds of cigar, cigarettes, and pipe tobacco, and his study of the impressions left by footprints. Watson then asks Holmes to demonstrate his prowess in examining evidence and deductive reasoning by giving him a watch and asking him to determine who owns it.
Quickly, Holmes determines that the watch belonged to Watson’s older brother, who had financial and drinking problems before his death. Watson is shocked and impressed by the details and deductions that bring Holmes to this correct conclusion. Holmes then complains of his lack of work again, just as a young lady named Miss Mary Morstan enters the parlor with a case.
Chapter 2 Summary: “The Statement of the Case”
Mary Morstan is a young blonde woman who is well dressed and dainty but not especially beautiful. Watson remarks that “her expression was sweet and amiable, and her large blue eyes were singularly spiritual and sympathetic” (11). Priding himself on years of experience with women across “many nations and three continents” (11), Watson declares that he has never seen a face that revealed such a “refined and sensitive nature” (11).
Mary explains that she has come for Holmes’s help on the recommendation of her employer, Mrs. Forrester, who received help from Holmes in the past. She then states the facts of her situation.
Ten years ago, her father, a captain at a penal colony in the Andaman Islands (off the coast of India), disappeared. He had just returned to London from his post and sent for Mary to join him there. However, when she arrived, he was gone. With police assistance, she searched for him and contacted his friend and fellow retired soldier, Major John Sholto. However, Sholto had not seen Morstan. Four years later, she began receiving anonymous gifts—she has received a single pearl once a year for the past six years. Now she has also received a letter asking her to meet her anonymous benefactor, informing her that she is “a wronged woman” and the letter writer can give her justice. The letter allows her to bring two friends, if she is afraid for her safety. Mary has come to Holmes for advice, and to ask him to join her at this meeting.
Holmes is excited for a new case and agrees to join her, along with Watson. They plan to meet in the evening to go to the meeting together, and Mary leaves. Watson remarks how attractive she is, but Holmes hasn’t noticed. He views clients as “a mere unit, a factor in a problem” rather than as individual people (16), so that he will remain unbiased. He adds that it is dangerous to judge a person’s character based on their physical appearance. Holmes then goes to investigate a few ideas, leaving Watson to his thoughts.
Chapter 3 Summary: “In Quest of a Solution”
Holmes returns in the evening with some new information. He has found in the newspapers that Major Sholto died in April 1882, just one week before Mary began receiving the pearls. Because Sholto was the only person whom Morstan could reasonably have visited before his disappearance, and the pearls began to appear just after his death, Holmes concludes that Major Sholto must have known something about Morstan’s disappearance. Sholto’s heir must have discovered this, and now wishes to make amends.
Shortly after, they meet Mary so they may all ride in a carriage together to the meeting with the anonymous benefactor. Watson finds Mary uneasy but composed and is impressed with her self-control.
Mary gives Holmes one more piece of possible evidence. Among her father’s papers, she found a strange diagram. Holmes determines the paper is from India. The diagram depicts a building floor plan and includes a strange symbol of “four crosses in a line with their arms touching” (21), beside which is written “the sign of the four—Jonathan Small, Mahomet Singh, Abdullah Khan, Dost Akbar” (21). Holmes does not know how it pertains to the case but decides to keep it in case it becomes important later in their investigation.
They reach their destination, where a nameless man ensures they have not brought police with them. Then the man takes them through London until they reach a “questionable and forbidding neighborhood” (24), where they enter a house and are greeted by an Indian servant.
Chapters 1-3 Analysis
Chapter 1 establishes the two main characters, Sherlock Holmes as the primary protagonist and John Watson as the narrator and secondary protagonist. Though The Sign of Four is the second Sherlock Holmes novel, three years had passed between the first and second books, and the first, A Study in Scarlet, had not been an enormous success. It is also worth noting that the “The Science of Deduction,” the title of the first chapter, was also the title of the second chapter in A Study in Scarlet. This indicates that Watson, as the narrator, believes it necessary to reacquaint readers with Holmes’s methods of investigation and his eccentric personality.
From the first scene, Watson paints a clear picture of Holmes as obsessive, meticulous, and brilliantly observant. He is also prone to “dark moods” for which he relies on drugs such as cocaine. Importantly, at the time of publication, these drugs were legal, and some were quite popular. There were, for instance, opium dens in London where the bored and wealthy could indulge. However, there was already evidence of their danger to physical and mental health, which Watson, as a doctor, is clearly concerned about. In defense of his drug use, Holmes states, “[M]y mind rebels at stagnation” (2), which is one of his most iconic and oft-quoted lines.
The plot truly begins in Chapter 2, with the arrival of Miss Mary Morstan and her strange case. Most of the Holmes stories follow this same basic formula: Holmes and Watson are sitting together in their shared flat when a new client arrives and relates the facts of their problem. This formula reflects the fact that much of the information is conveyed through dialogue and stories between the various characters. Mary’s arrival helps to highlight the importance of Watson’s point of view as the narrator. Holmes is, in Watson’s words, an “automaton” with no interest in people as individuals. The same qualities that make Holmes an excellent detective would make him a poor narrator. If the story were told from Holmes’s point of view, the reader would learn nothing about Mary’s looks, personality, or feelings (or Holmes’s, for that matter). It is only through Watson’s eyes that these particulars emerge.
The principal points of the mystery are laid out in Chapter 2, with additional elements included in Chapter 3. Several important pieces are already present, though they will not become coherent until much later. This includes not only the basic facts of Morstan’s disappearance and the possible involvement of Sholto, but also news of Sholto’s death, as well as the details on the strange diagram Mary gives to Holmes. Holmes himself is not certain of this diagram’s significance. Despite Holmes’s brilliance, he is not a magician, and does not know every answer immediately. Still, the phrase “the sign of the four” as well as the four associated names, are important clues to be addressed later. This is apparent not only because of the attention Holmes gives them, but also because of the title of the novel.
The first three chapters do not deeply explore the possible themes of the novel, though brief references hint at later developments. The details of Morstan’s life gesture to the theme of British Imperialism and Its Impact, specifically in relation to India. Morstan was stationed in the Andaman Islands, a series of islands off the coast of India where the British military had taken control over the native population. Furthermore, Holmes determines that the strange diagram was made in India and includes several identifiably “Hindu” and “Mohammedan” names, which further connects the case to India and colonialism. At that time, India was not a unified nation, but a loose collection of kingdoms often identified by their Hindu or Muslim religious following. Though “Hindu” and “Mohammedan” are now outdated and offensive terms, they were widely accepted at the time. The connection to colonialism in India is reinforced when they arrive at the house of Mary’s anonymous benefactor and are ushered in by an Indian (“Hindu”) servant dressed in “a yellow turban, white loose-fitting clothes, and a yellow sash” (24). These details suggest that India will be relevant to the mystery.
Related Titles
By Arthur Conan Doyle
