A comparison between Roald Dahl's

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Lee Welshman 11AJ

Murder Mystery Coursework -
A comparison between Roald Dahl’s “Lamb to the slaughter” and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Speckled Band

  For my Murder Mystery Coursework I am going to be comparing two Murder Mystery stories, “The Speckled Band,” and “Lamb to the Slaughter”

  “Lamb to the Slaughter” was written by Roald Dahl.  Roald Dahl is best known for writing children’s books, such as “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” “The Twits,” and “James and the Giant Peach.” Roald Dahl was born in Llandaff, Wales in 1916 and lived until 1990. Dahl was also an author of series short stories for adults, which were later made into a TV series. His stories were so popular because they were unusual.  They were called “Tales From The Unexpected.”

  One of Dahl’s more popular short fiction stories for adults is “Lamb to the Slaughter.”  I am going to be using this story in my comparison against another Murder Mystery called “Speckled Band” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is best known for his Sherlock Holmes stories.  Although he did many more, these proved to be the most popular to this very day.  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh in 1859 and lived until 1930.    The time in which Sir Conan Doyle lived, had a great influence on his work.  Doyle served in the South African Wars as a doctor.  This influenced him because when he returned to England he wrote “The Boer War,” and “The War in South Africa: Its Causes and Conduct” which justified England’s participation.  For these works he was knighted in 1902.  During World War I he wrote the “History of British Campaign in France,” and “Flanders” as a tribute to British bravery.  One of Doyle’s famous Sherlock Holmes story is “The Speckled Band.”  This is the murder Mystery I am using to compare to Roald Dahl’s “Lamb to the Slaughter”

  Murder Mysteries are stories that are written to intrigue you, make you wonder who has done it.  They certainly live up to the title “Murder Mystery” because there is a murder and you have to find out who has done it.  Typically a murderer is male, looks shifty, and has a motive that you don’t find out until the end.

  You usually are told the story through the eyes of an inspector.  They survey the evidence, but you do not always see what they do.  A good example of this is in “Speckled Band.”  We see the story through the eyes of Doctor Watson, with Sherlock Holmes as the inspector.  Holmes is a lot more cunning and dexterous, he spots things that Watson doesn’t, and because we see things through the eyes of Watson, we don’t always find those things out until the end when Holmes reveals all he has learned from his careful observation.

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  A murderer in a Murder Mystery usually uses a weapon, such as a gun, large blunt object, or knife.  But sometimes, these typical “rules” for a murder mystery are broken, which I think makes the mystery that bit more exciting, mainly because you don’t expect it.  There are cases of this in both “Lamb to the Slaughter” and “The Speckled Band.”

  In a murder mystery, the author creates tension.  He does this to make the story more interesting.  He can do this by using short sentences and in many cases, only having the inspector knowing everything ...

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