We often feel distant from our supposed leaders and chosen Gods, restricted to hopeful prayer or desperate letters.

The interaction between Moran and Queen Victoria, especially in the context where the monarch is a Great Old One, indeed stirs our nerves and heart. Though he focused on theatre and wrote about cruelty long before A Study in Emerald was published, Antonin Artaud reinforces our line of thinking when he, regarding the theatre and cruelty, says, ‘At the point of deterioration which our sensibility has reached, it is certain that we need above all a theatre that wakes us up: nerves and heart.’ For, after all, cruelty is what leads Moran to bravery. Additionally, Gaiman also, regardless of whether he realizes it, taps into our expansion of Artaud’s notion of the Theater of Cruelty. Furthermore, Gaiman demonstrates how the brave among us are often unaware of, also unappreciated for, their courage and what it means to those around them through the Queen’s appreciative treatment of Moran.

The Queen then bestows upon him a healing touch which proves a moment that falls in line with Gaiman’s idea of bravery. In a sense, we can conclude the cruelty Moran suffered and dealt on the battlefield, yet survived, proved his courage to the Queen. Isz to be a companion.’Īfter a second reading, we spent time considering how the Queen’s touch relieved Moran’s pain and placed him on the path to recovery. Upon seeing Moran, the Queen places one of her tentacles on his wounded arm and says, ‘Isz not to be afraid. The Queen is revealed to be a deity, one of several related deities ruling as monarchs across the Earth, from H.P. They are meeting the Queen because she wants to know the status of their investigation into the murder of her nephew, Prince Franz Drago of Bohemia. The scene we want to focus on relates to the injury Moran sustained in Afghanistan and comes when he finds himself accompanying Moriarity to a conference with Queen Victoria. During his time on campaign in Afghanistan, Moran was touched by a creature that emerged from an underground lake while in combat with Afghani cave dwellers. Moran has a friend, who is hinted at being Professor James Moriarity, another of Holmes’s adversaries, who often acts as a consultant for Scotland Yard.

Among Gaiman’s short works, A Study in Emerald denotes this notion of bravery with great clarity.Ī Study in Emerald follows its narrator who we, as readers, are led to believe is Colonel Sebastian Moran, one of Sherlock Holmes’s central adversaries. The endurance of cruelty is what leads Gaiman’s characters to cultivate courage and act accordingly. Gaiman’s understanding of bravery is accurate and has its roots in the cruelty his characters endure. Neil Gaiman wrote his novel Coraline because he wanted his daughters to learn that bravery is being afraid and doing what is right regardless.

Gaiman a study in emerald