“Copper beeches” is the story of an English writer whose main character is the notorious detective Sherlock Holmes. The author of the work is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This story is included in the collection entitled "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes." The stories “Union of Redheads”, “Blue Carbuncle”, “Noble Bachelor”, “Identification” and some others have a similar plot and structure. Most of the works in this collection were written by Conan Doyle at one time, so they are all similar in some ways. In this article, we will take a closer look at Arthur Conan Doyle's story, Copper Beeches.
About the author
However, the story of this work should begin with the presentation of its author. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born in the second half of the 19th century in the city of Edinburgh. From early childhood, the future writer began to manifest his many talents.
Despite the financial difficulties of the family, Conan Doyle managed to get a quality education. He graduated from a local college and entered the prestigious University of Edinburgh. There he received a medical education, which allowed him to engage in medical practice.
First works
In parallel with his medical activities, the young doctor continued to compose stories. Already in 1886, the famous Sherlock Holmes appeared in the story "Study in Scarlet." However, the author published other works that were very popular with readers.
In 1891, Arthur Conan Doyle made the final decision to make literary activity his main occupation. Already in 1892, the story "Copper Beeches" was published. Prior to the release of this work, such masterpieces as The Sign of Four, The Adventures of Micah Clark, Trading House Gerdleston, Opening of the Rafles Howe and The White Squad became available to a wide audience.
At that time, other authors had some influence on the writer's work. Such, for example, was Charles Dickens. In addition to the detective genre, Conan Doyle was also interested in the historical one. Therefore, in the list of his works you can find many stories, such as “The Shadow of a Great Man”, “Rodney Stone”, “Uncle Bernak” and others.
Now consider one of the many works on Sherlock Holmes - “Copper beeches” (1892).
main characters
In almost all the works of Conan Doyle about Sherlock Holmes, you can find two main characters. This is Detective Sherlock Holmes himself and his best friend, Dr. Watson. In addition to them, the stories include the notorious Mrs. Hudson, Greg Lestrade and Jim Moriarty. But almost every work has its own special characters.
So, the main characters of the story "Copper beeches":
- Sherlock Holmes;
- John Watson;
- Miss Violet Hunter;
- Jeffro Rukesl;
- Mrs. Rucklesl;
- Alice Rukesl;
- Servant Toller and his wife;
- Mr. Fowler.
Now we turn to the description of the summary of the story.
Summary
This work, written in 1892, is read quite easily and quickly. However, sometimes you need to look at it in a summary. In "Copper beeches" the plot is developing rapidly, forcing readers to admire the unsurpassed skill of Sherlock Holmes.
So, the story begins with a friendly conversation between the detective and Dr. Watson. They discuss their recent adventures. However, their conversation is interrupted by the arrival of a young girl, Violet Hunter, who has an unusual problem. She meets with Mr. Holmes and tells him about her difficulties with finding a job. Miss Hunter doubts whether she will agree to the offer of Mr. Jeffro Rucla or not. And although Sherlock is skeptical of such a proposal, Violet gives a positive answer.
Plot development
Next, we see the development of the storyline of the story "Copper beeches." Miss Hunter asks for an urgent meeting with Holmes and tells him about the problems. The girl is scared by the behavior of her new owners, members of the Rukesl family. Although all of them, with the exception of the servant of Toller and his wife, do not arouse her hostility, she is still uncomfortable living with them in the same house. Every day, the owners of the house asked Miss Hunter to put on a special dress, sit down by the window and laugh at Jeffro Rukesla's jokes.
In addition, Violet was very afraid of the dog Carlo living in the house. And once she found her scythe, which she cut off before moving to the estate. Also, the girl realized that a terrible secret was being hidden in the house, about which she should not know anything. All these events greatly confused Miss Hunter, and she decided to turn to a famous detective.
The denouement of history
After these events, Conan Doyle’s story “Copper beeches” is approaching its denouement. Sherlock Holmes and John Watson with the help of Miss Hunter conduct a dangerous investigation. They encounter Jeffro Ruchelle, who somehow found out about their intention to secretly enter the house. As a result, Mrs. Toller, the wife of Rukaslov’s servant, helps Sherlock understand the essence of the crime.
It turns out that Mr. Rukesl was hiding in the house his daughter Alice, whom Mr. Fowler wanted to marry. Such a union seemed to Jeffro Rucklasl very financially disadvantageous, because he had to give his daughter part of the inheritance. He persuaded Alice to abandon this idea. She became ill and began to look too bad, in addition, she was no longer able to think about her marriage. Mr. Fowler did not give up and wanted at all costs to get his beloved. To scare him away from his home, Mr. Rukesl invited a governess. She was supposed to play the role of his daughter.
However, with the help of Toller, Miss Alice managed to escape with her lover and marry him. And Mr. Jeffro Rukesl after this story was completely disabled.
Finally
So, we examined the summary of the main characters of the story “Copper beeches”. Three films were shot for this work: in 1912, 1985 and 2000. They gained wide popularity both among fans of stories about Sherlock Holmes, and among ordinary viewers. Along with the works “Union of Reds”, “Five Seeds of Orange”, “Motley Ribbon” and “Scandal in Bohemia” this story is considered one of the best in the collection “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes”.
Almost all the works of the English writer Arthur Conan Doyle deserve the attention of readers around the world.