Chapter 10 - Quotations

English Lit: AQA GCSE The Sign of the Four, topic 6.2.10

Key Quotations from Chapter 10

Here are three key quotations from Chapter 10:

‘I did not think him capable of anything in the nature of delicate finesse. That is usually a product of higher education’ (Sherlock Holmes).
Holmes adds more of a sense of danger to the character of Jonathan Small before we really meet him – he is not only nasty and murderous, but he is also dangerous and calculating.
This makes him more menacing to the reader, as Small is capable of thinking his actions through intelligently and forming premeditated plans.

‘We must catch her… If we burn the boat we must have them!’ (Sherlock Holmes).
Holmes is usually quite calm and collected, but we feel his excitement here as he becomes obsessed with catching the criminals and solving the case.
His desperation is shown through his use of the repeated imperative ‘must’ and his use of an exclamation mark.
He also disregards the safety of everyone on the boat as he suggests that catching the criminals is more important than their own lives.

‘Bestiality and cruelty’ and a mouth that ‘chattered at us with half animal fury' (Tonga, the accomplice).
Tonga is repeatedly described as if he is an animal, suggesting he is savage and dangerous.
When this creature turns on the police boat and tries to kill the men with poisoned darts, the animalistic side of him helps to build hatred from the reader and support for the protagonists.
This also adds to the Victorian viewpoint that people from other cultures were dangerous.