|
"You have probably never heard of Professor Moriarty?" said he.
"Never."
"Aye, there's the genius and the wonder of the thing!" he cried. "The man pervades London, and no one has heard of him. That's what puts him on a pinnacle in the records of crime."-Sherlock Holmes and Watson, in "The Final Problem"
"As you are aware, Watson, there is no one who knows the higher criminal world of London so well as I do. For years past I have continually been conscious of some power behind the malefactor, some deep organizing power which forever stands in the way of the law, and throws its shield over the wrong-doer. Again and again in cases of the most varying sorts -- forgery cases, robberies, murders -- I have felt the presence of this force, and I have deduced its action in many of those undiscovered crimes in which I have not been personally consulted. For years I have endeavored to break through the veil which shrouded it, and at last the time came when I seized my thread and followed it, until it led me, after a thousand cunning windings, to ex-Professor Moriarty of mathematical celebrity."-Sherlock Holmes, in "The Final Problem"
"He is the Napoleon of crime, Watson. He is the organizer of half that is evil and of nearly all that is undetected in this great city. He is a genius, a philosopher, an abstract thinker. He has a brain of the first order. He sits motionless, like a spider in the center of its web, but that web has a thousand radiations, and he knows well every quiver of each of them. He does little himself. He only plans. But his agents are numerous and splendidly organized. Is there a crime to be done, a paper to be abstracted, we will say, a house to be rifled, a man to be removed -- the word is passed to the Professor, the matter is organized and carried out. The agent may be caught. In that case money is found for his bail or his defence. But the central power which uses the agent is never caught -- never so much as suspected."-Sherlock Holmes, in "The Final Problem"
"'You crossed my path on the 4th of January,' said he. 'On the 23d you incommoded me; by the middle of February I was seriously inconvenienced by you; at the end of March I was absolutely hampered in my plans; and now, at the close of April, I find myself placed in such a position through your continual persecution that I am in positive danger of losing my liberty. The situation is becoming an impossible one.'"-Professor Moriarty, speaking to Sherlock Holmes in "The Final Problem"
"'Danger is part of my trade,' I remarked."
"'That is not danger,' said he. 'It is inevitable destruction. You stand in the way not merely of an individual, but of a mighty organization, the full extent of which you, with all your cleverness, have been unable to realize. You must stand clear, Mr. Holmes, or be trodden under foot.'"-Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty, in "The Final Problem"
"Now I have come round to you, and on my way I was attacked by a rough with a bludgeon. I knocked him down, and the police have him in custody; but I can tell you with the most absolute confidence that no possible connection will ever be traced between the gentleman upon whose front teeth I have barked my knuckles and the retiring mathematical coach, who is, I dare say, working out problems upon a black-board ten miles away."-Sherlock Holmes, in "The Final Problem"
"He is a man of good birth and excellent education, endowed by nature with a phenomenal mathematical faculty. At the age of twenty-one he wrote A Treatise on the Binomial Theorem, which has had a European vogue. On the strength of it he won the mathematical chair at one of our smaller universities, and had, to all appearances, a most brilliant career before him.
But the man had hereditary tendencies of the most diabolical kind. A criminal strain ran in his blood, which, instead of being modified, was increased and rendered infinitely more dangerous by his extraordinary mental powers. Dark rumours gathered round him in the University town, and eventually he was compelled to resign his chair and come down to London..."
There's been quite a number of theories both published and unpublished. One is that Moriarty is a figment of my imagination, since my mind needed an equal adversary and thus created one. One story published was that the actual Moriarity was a harmless professor of mathematics and my 'drug-addled' mind made him out to be a horrendous criminal mastermind (the story went so far to say I received treatment from Dr. Sigmund Freud for my 'addiction' and paranoia).
I assure you, these are merely stories. Some were written on commission by the Professor himself to defame me, others written to 'cash in', as you Americans say, on my fame.
Moriarity is as real as I am and as great a threat to London as any seen before.
Mr. Holmes, I hope when you are done with the Moriarty case, you will find the real murderer of my two nephews. I am sure there's a Lancastrian behind it, if not Henry himself!
Mr. Holmes, I hope when you are done with the Moriarty case, you will find the real murderer of my two nephews. I am sure there's a Lancastrian behind it, if not Henry himself!
I'm not entirely sure you want use of my services, sir. The truth is seldom welcome by those who seek it.
Is it possible that Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty are the same individual (a multiple Personality)? Not being familiar with the books, do other people see both of them together?
Is this a case of Superman and Clark Kent with and without the glasses?
No, it is definitely not the case.
However, ...
- Go forth and read Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's excellent mystery stories!
- I can also recommend Jeremy Brett's interpretation in "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" series.
Is it possible that Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty are the same individual (a multiple Personality)? Not being familiar with the books, do other people see both of them together?
Is this a case of Superman and Clark Kent with and without the glasses?
No, it is definitely not the case.
** spoiler omitted **
** spoiler omitted **However, ...
- Go forth and read Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's excellent mystery stories!
- I can also recommend Jeremy Brett's interpretation in "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" series.
Another of the ridiculous theories is The Sever Per Cent Solution, a novel that was made into a movie starring that fine actor Sir Laurence Olivier. A truly great actor, able to portray that criminal as a harmless math professor...