Irene Adler

This article is about the Sherlock Holmes character. For the Marvel Comics character, see Destiny (Irene Adler). For the character who adopted the name, see The Club Dumas.

Irene Adler
Sherlock Holmes character
First appearance"A Scandal in Bohemia"
Created bySir Arthur Conan Doyle
In-universe information
GenderFemale
OccupationOpera singer
SpouseGodfrey Norton
NationalityBritish/American

Irene Adler is a fictional character in the Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. A former opera singer and actress, she was featured in the short story "A Scandal in Bohemia", published in July 1891. Adler is one of the most notable female characters in the Sherlock Holmes series, despite appearing in only one story. While not technically a criminal and bearing no malice towards Holmes, she outsmarts him and evades his traps. Sherlock Holmes refers to her afterwards respectfully as "the Woman".[1][2]

In the original Doyle story, Watson notes Holmes has no romantic interest in Adler or in women in general, pointing out the detective only exhibits a platonic admiration for her wit and cunning.[1] Despite this, some derivative works reinterpret Adler as a romantic interest for Holmes or as a former love who later regularly engages in crime.[3]

  1. ^ a b "A Scandal in Bohemia" by Arthur Conan Doyle. Published 25 June 1891 in the July issue of The Strand Magazine.
  2. ^ Rosemary, Herbert (2003). Whodunit? : a Who's Who in Crime & Mystery Writing. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. pp. 4. ISBN 0195157613. OCLC 252700230.
  3. ^ Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011), Warner Bros. Pictures.