A comparison between 'Lamb to the Slaughter' by Roald Dahl and 'The Signalman' by Charles Dickens.

A comparison between ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ by Roald Dahl and ‘The Signalman’ by Charles Dickens

The opening scene of the signalman consists of wide-open spaces and lots of description to give you the feeling of desolation and isolation. This is emphasised by people on trains going past, getting on with their lives whilst he is stuck in a rut at this signal post. The signalman in the title is physically and mentally alone. He fills up his time with learning.

In comparison the opening scene in Lamb to the Slaughter is a domestic scene but still one of loneliness. The main character, Mary, is very much alone. In the book the author focuses in on things like the clock, to emphasise the passage of time or the curtains. This emphasises the passing of time and the loneliness that Mary would be feeling at this point waiting for her husband to come home. The signalman is set outside with huge fields and rain to emphasise the loneliness whilst Lamb to the slaughter is set indoors but both the characters of the signalman and Mary are very much alone.

The signalman is set in Victorian times. There is a certain amount of distance between the narrator and the signalman due to Victorian social structure of the classes. The narrator is middle class whilst the signalman is lower class. This is shown by the way the signalman calls the narrator ‘sir’ a lot. This is typical of Victorian times and it shows respect for different social groups. This is missing in Dahl’s story. Other clues that point towards a Victorian setting is the fact that it is set around trains. Trains were becoming fashionable in the Victorian times, as they were a relatively new invention. Just as when a new instrument is invented a lot of composers wrote for that instrument so did a lot of writers include trains in their stories when they were invented. The social difference enhances the sense of loneliness, as the narrator and the signalman don’t really interact very well. They are both cut off, socially from other people yet they have no connection to each other. The signalman is set in the west country. This is shown by the dialect used by the signalman. ‘True sir, true, precisely as it happened, so I tell it you’. It is in a rural outdoors setting. The setting for this story mirrors the way that the signalman behaves. By placing a train track through the country, man has tried to control it but the country still has control. Man does not have total control over events. This is shown by the crash and the spectre. This is mirrored by the way that the signalman feels that he is loosing control of the situation.

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Dahl does not give a certain place or time for the setting of Lamb to the Slaughter. This could be done on purpose as it is more a story of human nature than one of a place or time. The environment is domestic and Mary controls it. This is mirrored in her actions in the story because Mary is very much in control of the events going on around her in the same way as she has control over her environment. There is no difference in class between Mary and Patrick although Mary respects Patrick a great deal. There is no difference in class between Mary and Sam the shopkeeper, as they appear to speak to each other as equals. This could indicate a more contemporary setting as in Victorian times the shopkeeper would have been on a lower social footing than a police officers wife. This would have been shown in the language they use with each other. Mary uses the same manner of speaking with the police officers and the greengrocer this shows that the class system is not as present as it is in Dickens work.

The main character in the signalman I feel is the narrator as it is he who we know better. We know what he is thinking and what his opinions on the events are. The events in the signalman are undoubtedly of a supernatural nature.

In Lamb to the Slaughter Mary is very much in control of the situation. She manipulates the situation so that she comes out on top. She changes a lot during the short period of time covered by the story. She changes from a woman absolutely obsessed by her husband to a levelheaded strong woman determined to get her own way. I don’t think that she is a very evil person she just likes to keep out of trouble. I think that Dahl chose to represent Mary as a strong woman because there were not very, many women represented in literature. Women were only acknowledged as wives or secondary characters but were more often pushed into the background and not thought about or represented, as is shown in Dickens, as there is no mention of women at all. In Dahl’s story he, intentionally or not, takes the feminist strain by focusing in on Mary being the main character. In it she is laughing at authority and men. All important books are thought to have been written by men. Women only are really acknowledged to write children’s books or slushy romantic novels.

Both books seem to have a scorn for modern science. In the signalman this is demonstrated by the fact that although the train was the height of scientific development, it still crash. This shows a lack of faith in progress and science by Dickens. This is backed up by the narrator’s belief in the ghost even though he states that there must be a logical explanation. In Lamb to the Slaughter this is demonstrated by the way that Mary outwits all the modern forensic tests by cooking the murder weapon.

In conclusion, Lamb to the Slaughter by Roald Dahl and The signalman by Charles dickens both have similar points. In both the environment mirrors the control that the main character has over proceedings. They both seem to have distrust for modern scientific developments. However they both have many differences as well. The social structure differs as does the main characters degree of control. The overall theme of both the stories is also different with the main theme of one being the supernatural and the other being about human nature.