In a passage taken from page 5 of the story “A Scandal in Bohemia,” by Arthur Conan Doyle, the author provides a series of descriptions about a mysterious masked man. Through the use of an allusion, evocative imagery, and contrasting diction, Doyle is able to argue that men are inherently an amalgam of both positive and negative traits by highlighting the mysterious man’s impressive physical appearance in the beginning of the passage while at the same time underlining his flaws afterwards. In the first sentence, Doyle implements an allusion to underscore his points in his analysis of the mysterious man. By introducing the man as one “who could have hardly been less than six feet six inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules,” Doyle is able to portray the powerful physical …show more content…
Certain phrases such as “man of strong character” and “straight chin suggestive of resolution” underscore the positive traits of the mysterious man, while phrases like “barbaric opulence” and “length of obstinacy” portray the negative aspects of the man’s personality as well. These conflicting descriptions of the mysterious man portray both the perfections and imperfections of the human nature. The mixture of both positive and negative traits into the same passage symbolize the combination of the physical perfection and emotional arrogance of the mysterious man, emphasizing the argument that men have a mixture of good and bad traits. Arthur Conan Doyle, in a passage taken from page 5 of the story “A Scandal in Bohemia,” uses a multitude of elements of literature, such as an allusion, an immense amount of imagery, and a unique diction, to describe the moral and immoral traits of a mysterious masked man. The mysterious man receives both positive and negative descriptions to show that in every person, there is not only good or bad traits, but a combination of