Consolidating and Challenging the Cultural Worldview of the British Empire in Arthur Conan Doyle's 'The Sign of Four'

Seminar paper from the year 2014 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,3, University of Constance (Anglistik/Amerikanistik), course: British Literature and Culture II, language: English, abstract: This term paper analyses Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 'The Sign of Four' in the light of Juri Lotman's theories of space and boundary crossings. Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes novel provides a good example for the representation of both Britishness and the foreign, exotic other. It reflects a cultural worldview of imperial Britain at the closure of the 19th century and establishes a fixed moral order. Formerly clear-cut and well-defined notions of Britishness, however, are also challenged as a result of the colonial endeavour, and this invokes popular fears in Victorian Britain. The novel tries to re-establish order with respect to gender, race and space, while it cannot deny the increasing impact of foreign elements on Britain.