Jonathan small Flashcards
“I thought of the treasure, and my heart set as hard as a flint” Chapter 12 - his story
wealth and greed, crime, victorian fear, evil
this simile portrays the treasure as an evil temptation used as a motif to explore the destructive impact of the desire for wealth. by juxtaposing ‘heart’ with its connotations of peace, love and potents with ‘flint’ which is hard and callous with its destructive cold sounds indicates that the thought of wealth made small greedy: a slave to the idea of wealth and the concept of money buys happiness
flint is associated with weaponry which indicates that smalls heart became a weapon which from his perspective seems to be attacking him rather than working for him
this evokes a sense of sympathy as the reader is made to feel as though Jonathan was pressured by the treasure to kill and be callous. Doyle does this to serve as a warning to the victorian era conveying the evil demeanor of the Agra treasure.
Doyle ends the phrase with such a negative painful ‘t’ sound to accentuate how egregious desire for wealth is. By portraying Smalls’s greed and coupling it with his acts of malevolence we can infer that Doyle is demonstrating its destructive nature all the more steering the audience from the concept of riches.
“A hundred times I have killed him in my sleep”Chapter 12 - revenge, evil
‘sleep’ has connotations of peace and quiet. by interrupting something so serene with negative the negative plosive ‘k’ sounds from ‘kill’ to create immoral distressing images accentuates the extreme levels that small was willing to go in order to get justice for the four. Doyle epitomizes the antagonistic views of Jonathan small as ‘a a hundred’ is a large number indicating that he has been engulfed by negative feelings.
although small is just trying to show his loyalty to the four perhaps Doyle is conveying that the belief of punishing people severely to get justice is not needed and that we need to be more logical in our methods.
‘wild cruel eyes and an expression of concentrated malevolence’
victorian fear and beliefs, crime and evil
Conan Doyle uses physiognomy when he describes the criminal smalls ‘wild cruel eyes and an expression of concentrated malevolence’ - ‘cruel’ and malevolent’ are synonyms for evil, and ‘wild’ conveys how small passions make him uncivilized. he does not fit into civilized society: ‘concentrated’ accentuates the strength and power of his will to do evil. all of this can be clearly seen on small face
but the sikh nows the englishman, and the englishman knows the sikh
imperialism, victorian fear, walth, crime
intresitingly smalls loyalty to empire is evident when he says ‘but the sikh nows the englishman, and the englishman knows the sikh’ he uses singular nouns ‘the sikh’ and the ‘englishman’ to represent two different entities and he binds them together linguistically through parallelism which perfectly balances the two groups, like an equation. he is saying that both groups ‘know’ each other because of their shared history through empire. smalls use of the present tone ‘know’ gives the statement sense of timelessness which indicates for him this is an accepted fact or truism rather than opinion
“I don’t like that wooden-legged man wi his ugly face and outlandish talk”
victorian fear, evil, crime
.the boat keeper talks about him this way framing him as a villain from the outset. this key clue leads sherlock holmes to deduce that it is Jonothan small that needs to be found. the negative adjectives”ugly” and “outlandish” make us almost have to vomit the words out emphasizing how unworldly small and immoral Doyle wants us to view
small as.
this quote is said from a comical caricature of Mrs. Smith. Doyle does this to further downgrade Smalls appearance as the dirty tone used aligns him with evil and immediately makes the reader see him in a negative light.
using negative adjectives to describe smalls face links to victorian attitudes and prevalent victorian beliefs such as Physiognomy. as it suggests that he has a terrible soul indicating to the reader that small is the typical criminal which is implied through his “ugly face” this negative portrayal throughout the novella indicates to the reader that small is the perfect antagonist for this story and strongly //suggests that Arthur Conan Doyle is using Jonothan small as a foil to sherlock holmes as his evil characteristics allude to his embodiment in crime.
‘The wooden-legged man’
victorian fear, crime, evil, victorian beliefs
the noun phrase ‘the wooden-legged man’ is used as a motif throughout the novella and is emblematic of the evil and mystery within the novella. this is further accentuated by the adjective ‘wooden’ which connotes smalls aloofness and his calculating malevolence which doyle does to convey small as the typical antagonist. not only is he a typical antagonist but he conforms to the conventions of physigonomy as his ‘ugly’ face indicates that he is an evil and immoral person.
However, smalls ‘wooden’ leg is a small part of him used to support him and give him balance. by doing this Doyle divulges that small aloofness and immorality is used to give him balance as the immense levels of pain and suffering he has gone through.
this serves to criticize the conventions of physiognomy as Doyle undermines the entirely immoral perception of Small by making him seem more disadvantaged by the end.
‘I found that he was devoted to me and would do anything to serve me’(
Adding to his character being a madman, Small shows that he is very calculating and manipulative. He deliberately used Tonga for his own, selfish needs – he even used Tonga as an attraction he could gain money for. He shows that he does not care about other people, but will use them to get what he wants.
the contrasting pairs of pronouns is emblematic of the power imbalance between Jonothan small and tonga which reflects the victorian attitudes towards foreign people as at the time indicating that Dolye intends to critique imperial and racial attitudes
the adjective ‘devoted’ is quite a powerful way of depicting tongas attitudes towards jonathan small. this indicates that tonga almost loved small and small used this love to manipulate tonga which emphasises his evil nature
“My heart softened to him, but again the thought of his treasure turned me hard and bitter” Chapter 12 - his story
evil and victorian fear, wealth and greed
Jonathan was originally a kind-hearted person which reflects his role within the army as they were meant to be loyal and good people indicating that the thought of wealth turned him nasty which is why he felt the need to kill. the metaphorical phrase suggests that he despises the reasons for which he committed crimes and dislikes talking about his former self.
as venomous as a young snake
victorian fear,
although tonga was useful to him, small says tonga was ‘as venomous as a young snake’. this simile shows that small knew tonga had an instinct for violence- he is wild dangerous and uncomfertable, like a poisonous snalke. the use of the adjective ‘venoumus’ is apt because tonga lethal weapon is a blow pipe loaded with poisoned darts. traditionally, snakes are seen as untrustworthy and so small here indicates that he never did fully trust tonga, even though, later, tonga showed him more loyalty than anyone
to him it brought murder, to major sholto it brought fear and guilt ,to me it has meant slavery”
wealth and greed, evil
when he is talking about the effects the Agra treasure had. the repetition of to and the listing the destructive effect that greed can have by using the Agra treasure as a metaphor.
This quote comes as Jonathan Small tells his life story and fills in the gaps that Sherlock Holmes was unable to figure out. He has led a hard life, though there is no suggestion really that he deserved anything less. The “half a million” would have been a life-changing sum, equivalent to over 53 million pounds in modern money. This quote demonstrates the misfortune that has visited all those who have been involved in the Agra treasure; it has acted more as a curse than a liberation. Small himself has actually never been in possession of the treasure, making the wider point that not only is the treasure itself cursed but its pursuit is too. Small has dedicated his life to the treasure, and has been left with nothing. His entitled claim on the treasure glosses over the question of the original ownership—the jewels actually belong to an Indian prince. In this way, Small’s sense of entitlement mimics that of the British colonizers towards India more generally (though this is not a deliberate criticism on Doyle’s part).
the reflects how the Agra treasure was used as a Motif throughout the novella to symbolize the destructive impact of desire for wealth. the way Small describes the treasure also relates to how it is a microsome of British imperialism as the treasure is removed from India by a currupt official -major Sholto- even though he has no right to it. the theft of the treasure symbolizes Britain’s exploitation of the empire’s resources in the 19th century. perhaps doyle does this to insinuate that British imperial attitudes will only prevoke more chaos as their desire for power is destructive just like the agra treasure is in ‘the sign of four’
“I lived only for vengeance”Chapter 12 “It became an overpowering, absorbing passion with me”Chapter 12 - revenge
wealth and greed
the list of three accentuates small vicious behavior as he was determined to avenge the four. By listing this Doyle depicts the magnitude at which revenge destroyed him and turned him into this uncontrollable immoral character whom when he reminisces upon is almost devilish to himself. this indicates that revenge is an evil thing to desire as his tone is now one of regret, not happiness or fulfillment. he is ashamed that he became engulfed by the idea of revenge.
Doyle makes the reader steer away from ideas of revenge as it has destroyed a once noble man who was previously in the army. By making such a person fall down a virtuous ladder the Victorian reader is left aghast and are more likely to refrain from egregious thoughts and acts
“more sorrow than anger in his rigid and contained countenance” Chapter 11 - Watson’s narrative
victorian fear, evil, crime and justice
chapter eleven opens with a description of small who is the horrid ‘wooden legged man’ through out the novella creating mystery and suspense. but the tension is released in the fallen action when small is humanised which encourages the reader to feel sympathy for him.
watson balances the view of jonathan small as he uses the hard ‘c’ and ‘t’ sounds from ‘contained counternance’ to depict that small still has these evil and inhumane characteristics foreshadowing good and bad aspects of small. this makes the reader interested in small as we are unaware of small is this devilish person he has been proclaimed as within the book. this also creates a sense of mystery which makes the reader want to find out more about small.
the metaphor ‘more sorrow than anger’ accentuates Watson’s emotive views. he sees the good in people which puts Watson in a positive light as even though small deeds caused his beloved mary moran pain and suffering he still manages to see the good and human side to small. this makes the reader connect with Watson even more and prepares them from a more sensitive approach and dilutes the diabolical acts that small has done.
‘whose loot is this if it is not ours’
wealth and greed
small justifies his claim to the treasure, ‘whose loot is this if it is not ours’ and his use of a rhetorical question shows that he is trying to persuade his audience of his point of views. he refers to the treasure informally as ‘loot’ s if to remind the listerners that he knows as well as they do that the treasure was stolen. implicit in this is smalls view that, because the four stole the treasure it rightfully belongs to them
’ a pretty justice whose loot is this if it’s not our’
‘i have earned it’
crime and justice, wealth and greed, evil, imperialism
the exclamatory phrase implies that small feel as though the readers and the characters will never understand the pain and suffering that he went through which accentuates his selfishness as he only cares about his feelings. the reader is forced by smalls exclamatory to view him as disadvantaged which implies that his goal is to be seen as a weak man who did what was necessary to get what he deserved. but this negative powerful violent tone just makes us view him as a criminal as his dialogue throughout is most aggressive.
the plosive ‘t’ sounds pretty contrasts with what he is actually saying which suggests that small believes that it looks as though people are serving justice but it’s so bitter and painful that it makes a man do things that are immoral. this emphasizes his suffering as the negative and exclamatory sentences used to relate to justice divulge that small believes justice has already been lost when there are immense amounts of pain reflecting why he thinks he should have the treasure. Notably, the plosive ‘t’ sound is embedded within the positive adjective ‘pretty’ in this context Doyle is insinuating that the idea of a justice system seems nice but really it ois curropt and adds to the pain and suffering of others.
‘curious hieroglyphic like four crosses in a line with their arms touching’
this is the first appearance of ‘the sign of four’
briefly explains the title which clears up the Mystery. However, Doyle introduces new characters which intensify the mystery
‘arms touching’ connotes loyalty, which we would find peculiar to be found next to a dead body. this is accentuated through the number ‘four’ showing that the four are emblematic of equality
‘hieroglyphics’ makes it sound foreign which adds to the mystery and exoticism
