A Study in Scarlet is the novel that introduced the world to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson, two characters who would become the most famous detective duo in all of literature. Published in 1887, the story begins when Watson, a military doctor recently returned from the Afghan War, is looking for affordable lodgings in London. Through a mutual acquaintance, he meets the eccentric and brilliant Sherlock Holmes, and the two agree to share rooms at 221B Baker Street. Watson is immediately fascinated by Holmes’s extraordinary powers of observation and deduction, though he cannot yet understand what Holmes does for a living.
The mystery at the heart of the novel begins when Scotland Yard detectives Lestrade and Gregson summon Holmes to an empty house in Brixton, where a man has been found dead with no visible wounds but with an expression of terror on his face. The word "RACHE" is scrawled on the wall in blood. Holmes examines the scene with meticulous care, noticing details the police have overlooked — the height of the killer, the type of cigar he smoked, and the kind of cab he arrived in. A second murder follows, deepening the puzzle and raising the stakes.
The novel takes an unexpected structural turn halfway through, shifting from foggy Victorian London to the vast deserts of the American West. This second part tells the tragic backstory of John Ferrier and his adopted daughter Lucy, who are rescued in the wilderness by a group of Mormon settlers. Years later, Lucy is forced into a marriage she does not want, setting in motion a chain of events that leads to heartbreak, death, and a vow of vengeance that stretches across decades and oceans.
A Study in Scarlet is a gripping introduction to Holmes’s method of scientific detection, blending a locked-room mystery with a sweeping tale of love and revenge. It established many conventions of the detective fiction genre that writers still follow today, from the genius detective and his loyal companion to the dramatic reveal of the culprit’s motive. For English learners, Conan Doyle’s prose is clear and descriptive, making it an excellent bridge between simplified readers and full-length classic novels.
本から学ぶ英語のレッスン
1. ““There is nothing new under the sun. It has all been done before.””
それが何を意味するか: Holmes is saying that every crime follows patterns that have appeared before — nothing is truly original.
📝 英語のレッスン: "There is nothing new under the sun" is a famous English proverb originally from the Bible. "It has all been done before" uses the present perfect passive to describe past actions with present relevance. This is a great phrase to memorize for essays and conversation.
2. ““I consider that a man’s brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose.””
それが何を意味するか: Holmes compares the mind to a small room — you should only fill it with useful knowledge, not clutter it with useless facts.
📝 英語のレッスン: Notice the simile "is like a little empty attic." A simile compares two things using "like" or "as." "Stock it with" means "fill it with." "Such X as you choose" means "whatever X you decide on." This sentence teaches how to build an analogy in English.
3. ““Where there is no imagination there is no horror.””
それが何を意味するか: If you cannot imagine terrible things, you will not feel afraid. Fear comes from the mind, not from reality alone.
📝 英語のレッスン: "Where there is no X, there is no Y" is a powerful pattern showing cause and effect. It works like an if-statement: "If X does not exist, then Y cannot exist either." Try making your own: "Where there is no practice, there is no progress."
4. ““In solving a problem of this sort, the grand thing is to be able to reason backward.””
それが何を意味するか: Holmes explains that the key to detective work is starting with the result and working backward to find the cause.
📝 英語のレッスン: "The grand thing is to be able to" means "the most important skill is being able to." "Reason backward" means to think from the effect back to the cause. The infinitive pattern "to be able to reason" is useful: "The key is to be able to adapt."
5. ““It is a capital mistake to theorize before you have all the evidence.””
それが何を意味するか: It is a serious error to form a conclusion before you have gathered all the facts.
📝 英語のレッスン: "Capital" here means "very serious" or "major" — not related to money or cities. "To theorize before" sets up a time relationship. This sentence uses the pattern "It is a mistake to X before Y," which is excellent for giving advice: "It is a mistake to judge before you understand."
6. ““You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.””
それが何を意味するか: Holmes’s famous first observation upon meeting Watson — he deduces Watson’s military service in Afghanistan just by looking at him.
📝 英語のレッスン: "I perceive" is a formal way of saying "I can see" or "I notice." The present perfect "You have been" indicates a past experience with present evidence. This is Holmes’s signature style: stating a deduction as a calm fact rather than a question.
7. ““The scarlet thread of murder runs through the colourless skein of life, and our duty is to unravel it.””
それが何を意味するか: Crime is like a bright red thread woven through the dull fabric of everyday life, and it is the detective’s job to follow it and solve the mystery.
📝 英語のレッスン: "Scarlet" means bright red. "Skein" is a coil of thread or yarn. This is an extended metaphor: life is fabric, murder is a red thread, and "unravel" means both to pull apart thread and to solve a mystery. English often uses weaving metaphors: "the fabric of society," "unraveling the truth."
8. ““I ought to know by this time that when a fact appears to be opposed to a long train of deductions, it invariably proves to be capable of bearing some other interpretation.””
それが何を意味するか: When a new fact seems to contradict everything you have figured out, it usually turns out that the fact can be understood differently.
📝 英語のレッスン: "Ought to know by this time" means "should have learned by now." "A long train of deductions" means "a chain of logical conclusions." "Invariably" means "always." "Capable of bearing some other interpretation" means "able to be understood in another way." This sentence practices complex noun phrases.
These quotes from A Study in Scarlet showcase Holmes’s logical, precise way of speaking. Pay attention to how Conan Doyle uses formal Victorian English with clear sentence structures — excellent practice for building academic vocabulary and understanding logical arguments in English.
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