Meeting Minutes - Dec 2024 - Charles Augustus Milverton
joh...@comicsworthreading.com
Meeting Minutes
Notorious Canary-Trainers
Next Meeting: Annual Birthday Luncheon
Noon, Sunday January 12, Great Dane Fitchburg
Jim and Vicki will provide the cake, as is traditional (thank you!) but are welcoming suggestions or ideas for how to decorate it.
Announcements
Max reported on his attendance at the Norwegian Explorers dinner and had several items to circulate, including the publication, where he contributed a poem.
Johanna brought Shirley & Jamila’s Big Fall, a graphic novel that is a loose adaptation of the story, in which villain Chuck Milverton is blackmailing other kids at school.
Story Notes
This story is a favorite for some, due to the fantastic villain and strong narrative. Others didn’t rank it as highly, although enjoying the variety. It’s a different type of story and ending, an adventure for the two men instead of a mystery, and there are several distinctive scenes. There are parts some enjoy, and parts some don’t.
The primary scene in the latter category was how Holmes treated the maid he was engaged to. That wasn’t in keeping with some visions of the character, and the bit about a rival treats the woman as property, handing her off to another man. However, it also shows how capable Holmes is in making that relationship happen so quickly. A working class woman is not treated as important as the upper class woman Holmes is trying to help, but the servants are also possible sources for Milverton. Would a breach of promise suit have been possible or likely? It’s unlikely to be taken seriously against Holmes, a gentleman, if she could even find Escott the plumber.
The story involves vigilante justice of multiple sorts. Holmes was hired as a negotiator, not an investigator. What would have inspired a woman of that class to finally take such drastic action?
Did Holmes and Watson make up the killer woman? Convenient coincidence that the woman visits the same night Holmes & Watson do. This led into much discussion on the nature of “game playing” and levels of fiction and how people interact with the story. Why do we need to rewrite the story? Can’t we just approach it with what we’re given? Watson says at the beginning he’s lying to us; how far does that go? There are lots of springboards here, including what motivated the woman? What’s her story? How did she get away?
Holmes being so anti-bully, anti-blackmail is what makes a lot of people love him; so key to his character. And the bit tweaking Lestrade “that could have been Watson!” Is enjoyable.