Early in Arthur Conan Doyles story Sherlock Holmes is speaking to
Watson comparing Charles Augustus Milverton. Holmes asks, “Do you feel a
creeping, shrinking sensation, Watson, when you stand before the serpents in
the Zoo and see the slithery, gliding, venomous creatures, with their deadly
eyes and wicked, flattened faces? Well that’s how Milverton impresses me”(1).
These lines are salient to detailing the extent of Holmes loathing of this famous
blackmailer, which is also the only justification given for Holmes’ refusal to assist
in finding Milverton’s killer, “I considered him one of the most dangerous men
in London, and that I think there are certain crimes which the law cannot
touch, and which therefore, to some extent, justify private revenge”(8). In
these lines Holmes justifies his release of the case to inspector Lestrade,
however the last line foreshadows a mission that is to be carried out by Holmes
and Watson. In the last paragraph Holmes figures out who the killer is, thus we
can assume he and Watson will deal with her in their own way.
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