Pet Dogs, Masculinity, and the British Empire in Sherlock Holmes Fictions by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

This thesis discusses the presence of metaphorical and physical forms of pet canines in Sherlock Holmes fictions by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, focusing on the cases at the turn of the century, which are A Study in Scarlet (1887), “The Adventure of “The “Gloria Scott”” (1893), and The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902). It argues that the myth of canine loyalty leads to the symbolisation of the canine to represent loyalty to imperial, patriarchal ideologies in the texts, and yet the physicality of pet canines in Sherlock Holmes fictions disrupts the myth of the unconditional love of the canines. Humans’ physical engagement with the canines can lead to the revision of dichotomous logic of imperialist patriarchal regime, as humans and pet dogs stay closer together in the context of nineteenth-century England, and the love of dog started to exceed the myth of canine unconditional love.