British Empire & Imperialism
English Lit: AQA GCSE The Sign of the Four, topic 4.1.4
The British Empire and Imperialism
The story was set in Victorian England, at a time when the British Empire was at its height. A central aspect of the story is British rule over India.
Wealth of the Sholtos
- The Sholtos are a very wealthy family, partly due to their possession of the stolen Agra treasure. They have residences filled with ‘Indian curiosities’.
- Victorian readers would likely have associated foreign, exotic items which could not be found in Britain as symbols of wealth and status.
Characters from other countries
- Ironically, the people from countries under British rule were not viewed as highly – Thaddeus Sholto had an Indian man as his servant, and Tonga (from the Andaman Islands) is presented as inherently evil, ‘savage’ and vicious.
Tonga and Victorian views
- The fact that Tonga is presented as uncivilised echoes Victorian beliefs that anyone from another culture, who had different life experiences, was inferior and dangerous.
Abuse of Tonga
- Jonathan Small uses Tonga not only as an assassin but also as an exhibit that people could pay to see – he exhibited ‘Tonga at fairs… as the black cannibal’ to gain money.
- Conan Doyle’s selection of a character such as Tonga as one of the key villains in the story really highlights Imperialist Victorian attitudes.
Victorian readers' view of Tonga
- Audiences may enjoy having Tonga as one of the main antagonists in this novella, as they would share the belief that people from other countries were horrible and dangerous.
- Having him as the murderer would make sense to them, as well as adding to their fear of the unknown (i.e. by encouraging these stereotypes, it would have only made Victorian attitudes towards other cultures worse).