Who is Irene Adler?

Irene Adler is the woman.  She is the only person to ever successfully beat Sherlock Holmes.  She outwitted and out-tricked Holmes in the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "A Scandal in Bohemia."

Dr. Watson narrates, "To Sherlock Holmes she is always the woman. I have seldom heard him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses and predominates the whole of her sex" ("Bohemia," 209).

In the canon, Adler is an "adventuress" who has a photograph that could possibly be used to blackmail the king of Bohemia (Doyle and Crowder, 47).  Holmes's job for the case is to find and retrieve the photograph back to the king.  Because Holmes distrusts females in general, he did not take this case as seriously as he should have.

Holmes "used to make merry over the cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late.  And when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman" according to Watson ("Bohemia," 229). 

Paget, Sidney (1891)
"Good-night, Mr. Sherlock Holmes"
Image from:  http://www.victorianweb.org
/art/illustration/pagets/9.html

Adler portrays Holmes's ignorance of Victorian women.  Before being beaten by Adler, Holmes is distrustful of all Victorian women as a result of the female sex being looked at as inferior and weaker than the male sex.  As a result of this idea, Holmes made many assumptions that allowed Adler to outwit him.  For example, Holmes assumed that Adler would be sleeping at 8 a.m. which would allow Holmes, Watson, and the king to retrieve the photograph without Adler even being present.  Unfortunately for Holmes, Adler had left with her new husband, and lawyer, Mr. Godfrey Norton on a train at 5:15 a.m. that morning from Charing Cross to the European continent ("Bohemia," 226-228).  In fact, Adler had even disguised herself as a man and followed Holmes to 221B Baker Street after Holmes had called "Fire!" in her house ("Bohemia," 225).

In the canon, Adler intellectually outwitted Holmes.  The adaptations of Holmes have not shown this aspect.  Instead, the adaptations have given Adler a very sexual, feminine, and weak role.  Examples of two adaptations where this occurs is discussed below.

• In the first episode of the second season "A Scandal in Belgravia" in the BBC's Sherlock, Holmes first meets Adler naked.  Although Holmes cannot read Adler in the beginning as a result of her not wearing any clothing, this director's choice shows that Adler uses her body for power, something very feminine to do.  Adler's attempt to sexually persuade is depicted in this short video Who is She? (BBC's Sherlock).
• In the 2009 film Sherlock Holmes starring Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law, Adler wakes up on the bridge with handcuffs on, signifying that Holmes has beaten her.  Then, she admits to aiding Moriarty because physically involved with him.  Watch this scene using this short video Holmes/Adler Bridge Scene.

More examples of Adler's feminine role in these two adaptations are outlined below.

BBC’s Sherlock “A Scandal in Belgravia”	Feminine Characteristic	Sherlock Holmes 2009 film
The code to get into Adler’s cellphone is “SHER.”  Her cellphone then displays, “I AM SHER-LOCKED.”  This emotional love for Holmes is depicted even further with Holmes mentioning that her pulse intensifies greatly when getting close to him.	Adler beats Holmes as a result of her emotions.	Adler admits to helping Moriarty because she has a physical (most likely sexual) relationship with Moriarty.  Furthermore, it is suggested that Holmes and Adler have sexual relations with one another.
Adler is a dominatrix.  She is professionally and publicly known as “the Woman.”	Adler seeks power by using her body.	Adler uses her body to get Holmes to drink poison.  He wakes up handcuffed to a bed.
Holmes helps Adler solve the case of a man being killed in a field next to a highway by a boomerang.	Adler lacks independence.	Adler works with Moriarty.  She helps steal a piece of the machine that Lord Blackwood is using to kill all the members of Parliament who are against him.

Holmes successfully unlocks Adler's cellphone.
Image from:  http://thenorwoodbuilder.tumblr.com/
post/51715019733/i-am-sher-locked-so-bad-its-good

Holmes unable to read Adler as a result of her nudity.
Image from:  http://bakerstreetbabes.com/wp-
content/uploads/2014/05/irene3.png

Word count:  488 words (excluding title, picture captions, and table)

Works cited

“A Scandal in Belgravia.”  Season 2 of Sherlock.  BBC 2010-2016.

Doyle, Steven and Crowder, David A.  Part I:  Sherlock Holmes for Dummies.  Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis:  2010.

Doyle, Arthur Conan. “A Scandal in Bohemia.”  Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Novels and Stories Volume 1.  Bantam Books, New York:  1986.  pp. 209-229.

Sherlock Holmes.  Directed by Guy Richie, performances by Robert Downey, Jr., Jude Law, Rachel McAdams, Mark Strong, and Eddie Marsan, Warner Brothers, 2009.

The Lost Sherlockian.  "Who is She? - Sherlock:  The relationship between Sherlock Holmes and Irene Adler in 'A Scandal in Belgravia'." 15 Aug., 2016. https://youtu.be/7LpRA-kGJHU.