Good vs. Evil
What character represents the forces of crime and evil in the story?
Professor Moriarty
Homes realizes that Moriarty has followed him to Switzerland for what specific purpose?
To kill him
The story's title suggests that Holmes and Moriarty's confrontation is not simply another case but is what?
Their final conflict
Holmes's fight against Moriarty is motivated not by personal revenge but by his responsibility to what group?
The public/society
Holmes and Moriarty's confrontation at Reichenbach Falls represents the culmination of what?
Their rivalry
The fact that Holmes admires Moriarty despite his crimes demonstrates what complicated relationship between hero and villain?
Mutual respect
Holmes's statement that he would "cheerfully accept" his own death if Moriarty were destroyed transforms his death from a defeat into what?
A sacrifice
The false story about the sick English woman serves what purpose in the plot?
To lure Watson away from Holmes
Holmes's statement that he would accept his own death if Moriarty were destroyed presents death as what rather than simply a defeat?
Sacrifice
What does Moriarty’s willingness to risk innocent lives reveal about his morality?
He values his own goals over human life
Watson's reconstruction of the events at Reichenbach Falls is important because it establishes what outcome for the reader?
Holmes's death
The story suggests that great intelligence does not determine whether someone is good or evil; instead, morality depends on what?
How that intelligence is used
By giving Holmes and Moriarty similar levels of intelligence but opposing moral goals, Doyle suggests that intelligence alone does not determine whether someone becomes good or evil; what does?
Moral choice
What disguise does Holmes use while traveling through Europe to evade Moriarty?
cleric (elderly Italian priest)
Why does Doyle have Watson discover Holmes’s final message only after Holmes has disappeared?
It makes Holmes’s final act feel deliberate rather than accidental