Watson "bookends" the story with two paragraphs which he writes in the guise of omniscient narrator telling us about Sherlock Holmes -- and, interestingly enough, tells us mostly about Holmes' attitude toward women. After a second paragraph bringing us up to date with his own acquaintance with Holmes, we enter Act I, Scene 1 proper, in which Holmes and Watson perform what will become their familiar pas de deux, Holmes first amazing Watson with his deductions, offering a small lesson in observation, and then testing Watson with an artifact from (or for) the immanent case. (This last yielding a line that might have been written for Nigel Bruce: "The paper is from Bohemia."
What Watson missed.
Scene 2 may be said to commence with the entry of the (hereditary) King of Bohemia, whose costume surely takes us into comic-opera land. Here we have the interview with the client, in which Holmes proves to his satisfaction, and ours, that the client is a dolt (the Q and A with the King is compressed essence of Holmes). It appears that the King is about to be blackmailed by one Irene Adler, who possesses a somewhat indiscreet photograph of herself with the King (the indescretion appears to simply be that both are in the photograph). At the conclusion of the scene, Watson is bundled off home (Holmes perhaps still smarting a bit over Watson marrying?) with instructions to return the following afternoon.
The first scene of the second act opens as Watson returns to Baker Street and, after Holmes returns, he is regaled with Holmes' tale of his morning’s activities, which commenced with a skulk round Briony Lodge, in the guise of a drunken groom, and ended with his witnessing (and witnessing at) the marriage of his quarry. Surely one of the great comic scenes in the Canon comes from the moments when three carriages, one after the other, depart for St. Monica's (I always hear strains of " . . . get me to the church on time").
The second scene commences with Watson being inveigled into assisting in a criminal act -- something he would show himself astonishingly willing to do in the stories which followed -- after which he and Holmes set out for Irene Adler's residence at dusk, Holmes having assumed the guise of a non-conformist clergyman in order to play his part in the upcoming brouhaha. When they arrive on the scene -- and quite a scene it is for a quiet London suburb -- Irene returns from her carriage ride, and a struggle (over who can 'help' the lady out of her carriage) ensues in which the gallant clergyman is "injured" and, apparently near death, is carried into Irene's villa.
Once inside Holmes calls for air, the maid opens the window, and Watson proves that the Jezail bullet did not injure his throwing arm, simultaneously launching a 'rocket' into the room and raising the cry of "Fire". Irene rushes to save the photograph from the fire (thereby showing Holmes where she keeps it), and Holmes (as clergyman) exposes the ruse, recovers from his wounds, and leaves, thinking to come back for the photograph on the morrow. As he and Watson return to their doorstep, a mysterious slim youth in an ulster passes by and wishes "Good Night" to Sherlock.
The third act has but a single scene: the King arrives as Holmes and Watson breakfast, and they depart for Briony Lodge to recover the photograph. Wonder of wonders, they are greeted by a maid and find that the songbird (Irene was a singer, after all) has flown, leaving behind a note for Sherlock and a different photograph for the King. In a set of rude actions (Sherlock rude? -- Ha!) Holmes refuses the King's ring, all but demands the photo left for the King, and ignores the final handshake the King offers, instead setting off for Baker Street with Watson, no doubt making many remarks about the perfidy of women on the way back.
*
Curiously enough, William Gilette's play, Sherlock Holmes, has the identical five-act structure, and A Scandal in Bohemia is one of the three stories given as bases for the play (although Scandal's contribution seems to have been quite well hidden). Also, one has to wonder if the fact that the scenes are distributed in the pattern 2 - 2 - 1 is the coincidence it would seem to be.
