Dexter Morgan and Sherlock Holmes, both being fictional characters in crime stories, share many characteristics even though they lead extremely different lifestyles. Dexter Morgan is a blood spatter analysis in Miami during his public life, but in his private life he is a schizophrenic serial killer. Sherlock Holmes is a very well known consulting detective who is known to be very intelligent and successful in solving criminal cases. Both characters are emotionally separated from humanity, mystify the police with their efficient and effective methods of solving cases, and both men believe that they justifiably break law when it is suited for their purposes. One may argue that there could not possibly be any similarities between a serial killer and a triumphant detective, but after comprehensive comparison of characteristics and lifestyles the fact is proven that Dexter and Holmes are much more alike than dissimilar.
Both Dexter Morgan and Sherlock Holmes have professed that they are unable to feel the regular emotions that they rest of humanity feels. It is unknown why Holmes is unable to have feelings and emotions for those around him and situations he encounters, but for Dexter it is explained in detail why he is unable to love or feel. Dexter’s mother was brutally murdered with a chainsaw which he and his brother both witnessed. Dexter
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and his brother were locked in a storage container surrounded by his dismembered mother and her blood. This is an obvious reason for Dexter’s schizophrenia and ability to love. Both Dexter and Holmes are uninterested in sex and any sort of romantic relationships, but carry a relationship on for the normalcy and possible beneficial aspects. Holmes and Dexter share careers that involve brutal, horrific crimes, which they are unfazed by ad even attracted to. Dexter is much more engrossed with blood and death and committing murder, while Holmes is interested in solving murders. The inability to love and feel emotions or love others is one of the strongest characteristics that tie Dexter and Holmes to one another. Not only do they share the inability to feel emotions, but they also share the belief that their actions of breaking the law are justifiable when it suits their own purposes.
Sherlock Holmes and Dexter Morgan have both committed many crimes of which they feel they can justify. Holmes breaks laws such as lying to the police, concealing evidence, burglary and housebreak and believe they are committed nobly because they are committed for the purposes of preserving a woman’s honour or a family’s reputation. On another level, Dexter Morgan is a blood thirsty murderer, but only kills those who serve it, examples being murderers that have slipped through the criminal justice system. From a very young age Dexter enjoyed killing living things, so his adoptive father taught Dexter to channel those urges and only kill those who deserve it, turning the negative urge into that of a positive action. Although Dexter’s criminal actions are much more intense than Holmes, the idea that they are committed under justifiable reasons is shared.
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Likewise, both Holmes and Dexter have very high intellectual abilities and a love for solving crimes.
Sherlock Holmes is the perfect illustration of a detective in a crime story. He solves crimes using intense observation, deductive reasoning, and inference. It can be predicted that in every case Holmes will draw large conclusions from small observations, as well as hold back his reasoning for the solution until the very end where he will explain all of his deductions at once. Dexter shares the methods of solving crimes that are committed by his victims by observation, scientific methods, logical and physical evidence. Dexter also uses the method of revealing all his deductions at once just before he kills his victim. Contrasting conclusions are Holmes deductive reasoning resulting in unknown crimes being solved, where as Dexter’s deductions result in a murderer being killed at Dexter’s own hands and a blood sample added to the collection he keeps.
Overall, it is evident that Sherlock Holmes and Dexter Morgan are very similar characters in crime stories/ television shows. Being so comparable it is believable that their similarities are more than coincidence. It is possibly a reach to ring back a modern day version of the detective Sherlock Holmes.
