A comparison of two short stories from the murder mystery genre

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                                                                                                                                            Niroshun Nadesalingam

A comparison of two short stories from the murder mystery genre

“The Speckled Band” was written in 1892 by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

“Lamb To The Slaughter” was written in 1954 by Roald Dahl

A murder mystery is a narrative about a murder and how the murderer is discovered. The following things usually happen or are present in a murder mystery: murder, mystery, investigation, red herrings, tension, detective (seeks a solution and unravels the mystery), resolution and justice.

Both ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ and ‘The Speckled Band’ are detective murder mysteries. They share some resemblance to the genre but have many differences. In my essay, I will talk about these and say how they affect the story.

By reading both stories it is easy to say that the language styles have changed over the eras. ‘The Speckled Band’ was written in the Victorian period. It uses complex words such as ‘defray’ and ‘dog-cart’, which you would not use in the twenty-first century. Some of the sentences are very verbose and stretch from three to four lines long, which is unusual in modern stories. There are phrases like ‘said he’ which nowadays would be ‘he said’. Another example is ‘But have you told me all?’ A modern way to express this is ‘But have you told me everything?’ He also uses archaic language as the setting develops.  

In contrast the language Roald Dahl uses is more modern. He does not use many complex words. The sentences are fairly short and direct compared to the ones of Sherlock Holmes. They are more to the point and are easy to understand.  

‘The Speckled Band’ was written for the middle-upper classes. They were people who were educated, wealthy and wanted to be entertained. People like Doctors, Generals and people who had a reasonable education. These people wanted to read about similar sorts of people and be entertained by their antics.

However ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ was written in 1954 for the more ordinary people. It was set in a domestic setting where there was a less scope. This reflected the readership.

The setting creates the atmosphere for the stories. At the start ‘The Speckled Band’ is set in Baker Street, London. This already creates an image of wealth. Soon after the action moves to Stoke Moran in Surrey where the middle-upper classes live. Stoke Moran is the ancestral home and formed a gothic setting. It was a typical old mansion. Doyle uses phrases like ‘The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone’ and ‘a picture of ruin’ to show the age of the mansion. In this story, the setting is very important as it creates the suspense and atmosphere for the reader to keep reading on. They expect something malicious in return.  

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On the other hand Dahl uses phrases such as ‘The room was warm and clean’, ‘the curtains drawn’ and ‘Fresh ice cubes’ to create a warm domestic feeling, which works in harmony with the image of Mrs. Maloney and her feelings toward her husband. This causes the reader to feel relaxed without any suspicion that events such as a murder would occur but it might make you think, is it too perfect. He uses this kind of homely image to shock the reader later on.

‘The Speckled Band’ contains a man who is said to be ‘the world’s greatest ...

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