The Greek Interpreter

Want to read this along with me? This essay is part of The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, published in 1894. I used the epub version found on Feedbooks.com.

This story is most noteworthy for being the story in which we learn more about Sherlock’s family, and especially the introduction of Sherlock’s brother, Mycroft Holmes.¹ Aside from his brother, we learn that Sherlock’s ancestors were country squires, and that his grandmother was the sister of the French artist Vernet.

Let me take a moment for a bit of research. There are actually several French painters with the last name of Vernet, but Emile Jean Horace Vernet seems to have lived at the right time, so I assume it’s him. While the story of Sherlock’s family ends there, some research on Horace Vernet shows that he was primarily a painter of battles and portraits in a very accurate, detailed style that showed what was really there, not idealized versions. While Sherlock claims that “Art in the blood is liable to take the strangest forms,” it seems that the Holmes family may have inherited a combination of artistic flair and attention to detail that perfectly describes both brothers. I’m inclined to think that this was an intentional choice by Doyle, if only because it so neatly explains the growing conflict in Sherlock’s character: that bizarre marriage between his love of the purely analytical and the flair for the dramatic.

By Sherlock’s own words, Mycroft has more intellect in exchange for less energy. Mycroft is the elder and more intelligent brother, but is disinclined to put in the energy to confirm his own theories. And yet, while Sherlock chides Mycroft’s lassitude, in many stories we’ve seen Sherlock lying in a stupor when a case isn’t engaging him – an echo of his older brother. It’s also telling that Sherlock faults Mycroft’s lack of interest in bringing enough evidence for the British legal system, when in multiple stories he himself has destroyed evidence or let criminals go to suit his own sense of justice. But the parallels go both ways: as Mycroft speaks with Sherlock and Watson, he pulls out a snuff box, showing that both Holmes brothers are casual drug users.

It is impossible to talk about Mycroft without talking about the Diogenes Club, that strange establishment in which men go to be social while simultaneously remaining in absolute silence. Mycroft’s and the club’s connections to the British government are only hinted at in this story, but it comes up again in future canonical references. The idea of the Diogenes Club has taken such a hold on later writers that it has not only shown up in other Sherlock Holmes pastiches, but also generated its own pastiches that don’t even include any of the characters for the Holmes canon!

Before we meet Mycroft, though, Watson waffles somewhat in his previously warm perception of Sherlock’s emotional state.

“[S]ometimes I found myself regarding him as an isolated phenomenon, a brain without a heart, as deficient in human sympathy as he was pre-eminent in intelligence.”

However, it’s possible that this could just be hyperbole, an attempt to paint a picture for the audience to contrast Sherlock before and after the revelation of his family. I’m inclined to believe this, as we do see Sherlock becoming far more emotional over the course of this story and the rest of the stories in this book.

Sherlock also mentions bringing Gregson in on the case, continuing to cement that Sherlock considers him to be the most talented detective in Scotland Yard… not Lestrade.

Even though Sherlock himself makes for a rather poor showing here, both Mycroft and Watson really shine in this story – indeed, they do just about all of the work in the case! As such, this is a great story for background and information, but isn’t one of the best stories in the canon for showcasing Sherlock’s abilities.