The typical murder detective has to be Sherlock Holmes, this is because of the way in which he finds the murderer by searching for clues. This is the way people would expect someone to find a murderer. The police officer in Lamb to the Slaughter Jack Noonan however, is more like a family friend, as he does not do much but just comforts Mary Maloney.
“Would you rather go somewhere else”.
Then him and his officers end up eating the murder weapon. This adds humor to the story as the police officers do not suspect Mrs. Maloney to have killed her own husband.
The murder is not solved in Lamb to the Slaughter as they do not have any clues, to what might have happened. Where in Speckled Band Sherlock Holmes has looked for clues and has in the end found Dr. Roylott. The police officer in Lamb to the Slaughter acts more like a family friend rather than a police officer,
‘(no quote as I do not have the sheet with
it on there)’.
Sherlock Holmes however acts more aggressive to Dr. Roylott, but he is kind towards Helen Stoner. He listens to her story and from that he goes out to find some clues which will help solve the murder. Doyle wants us to see Sherlock as a good detective who looks for the clues thoroughly. Sherlock is a calm detective and never loses his temper, he always keeps his cool. Dahl however has a police man that knows the Maloney family well. This means that in being a family friend, the police man will not see that Mrs. Maloney could be a murder suspect. We can understand that the police man knows the family well and wants to help. Where in Sherlock we admire the way he works. The Way in which he makes sure he’s got the full story, so he asks many questions,
‘One moment, are you sure about this whistle
and metallic sound?’
Noonan has a constraint as he does not suspect Mrs. Maloney to have killed Mr. Maloney. Noonan is a friend to the Maloney’s he acts as one while doing his job. He offers comfort to Mrs. Maloney while the other police men do the job and ask the questions,
‘She fell right into Jack Noonans arms’,
while the other officers say,
‘What happened?’
Sherlock does not have these constraints, he wants to solve the mystery, and then maybe even get another mystery after.
Holmes dominates the story as the book is based on him and how he works. He is the main character, as we want to know how he works and solves his mysteries. The attitude that comes into the story of Holmes is mainly adventure. As he is a detective and the story is on him. When Noonan comes into Lamb to the Slaughter Mrs. Maloney breaks down, and uses him to comfort her. So it makes him leave the police man look, and enter a friendly style look.
The Speckled Band is set in the mid 18 hundreds, I think this because of the way in which Sherlock speaks would match that of that time. Also the in which they dress gives a clue of this. The story is set in England in Stoke Moran. Lamb to the Slaughter however is set in the early half of the 19 hundreds. We get this feeling because again of the way they and dress. Also the way the police men act and ask questions and address people. This is set maybe in the London area but we can not be very sure, as it is not mentioned.
The setting for Speckled Band effects the reader by making them adjust themselves to the time of which the book is written in, and also make them imagine what is happening. By telling us the setting the characters stand out a bit more, and become fixed in our mind. In Lamb to the Slaughter the effects are just the same, we imagine the area and the time. Then this makes the characters stand out again, with a bit of a personality as the police men know the family well.
The settings in both stories fit in clearly and well with the story. The setting in Speckled Band are obvious as it is a big house out in the open, and would be expected to be haunted. Whereas in Lamb to the Slaughter it is just a plain house in a street and would not be expected to be a place of murder. The Maloney house is an unexpected place for a murder as it is in a town and there are many other houses around. Also the soft feeling as we look at the residents we could say it would not be expected.
Mrs. Maloney’s alibi is secure as she goes out to the grocers, and acts very normal, the grocer can not tell she just killed her husband. The way in which she acts at home when no one is there is as if she does not know what is going on, when she calls for her husband when he is dead,
‘Patrick!’ she called. ‘How are you darling?’’
the setting described in Lamb to the Slaughter is, ‘The room was warm and clean, the curtains drawn, the two table lamps alight - hers and the one by the empty chair opposite. On the sideboard behind her, two tall glasses, soda water, whisky. Fresh ice cubes in the Thermos bucket.’ This setting brings out a tense feeling as she is waiting for something. This makes us tense and want to know what is about to happen.
In the Speckled Band the Dr. house is described, ‘ The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high central portion, and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were broken, and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the stonework had been broken into, but there were no signs of any workmen at the moment of our visit.’ The atmosphere is that the house could be haunted and dangerous. As the scaffolding and broken windows bring out a danger. This tells us straight away that something could happen at any moment.
The two stories are put together as murder stories, one is what used come out in magazines, and came out with a new clue every week. The other however is a short story and the police do not have any clues to the murder at all. The Sherlock Holmes story is a classic ‘whodunit’ story because at first he does not know might have committed the murder. Also it is a classic sort of way the detective searches for the clues and then he/she, find the murderer.
The key points in the Speckled Band is when Sherlock finds a new clue, because then we can be detectives ourselves and we can think who it may be for our selves. The key point in Lamb to the Slaughter is when Mrs. Maloney kills her husband and then we see how she clears her name out of the way of being a murder suspect. Lamb to the Slaughter is only several A4 pages long and can be called a short story. Speckled band is a few more pages long and can also be called a short story. In Lamb to the Slaughter the reader does not have any clues to solve themselves, as it is a straight forward story. Speckled Band does have some clues, and are solved by Sherlock,
‘Well a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a
saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying
its wants, I daresay.’
Doyle uses flashbacks in his story at the beginning, where we are told the story from Helen Stoner. This is gripping as we are entered into he story and we start to imagine what the murder may have been like. Dahl has a plain story where only what Mrs. Maloney did was told. This was not very gripping and there are no points in the story that are gripping. Suspense is created in Lamb to the Slaughter were at the point in which Mary goes to hit her husband. This is a tense moment as we await what is to come. In Speckled Band suspense is brought in were Sherlock is in the Roylotts house for the night. We feel suspense as we want to know what will happen in the night. At this point we feel tension as well as when the noise is herd we want to know what it was.
I think that one story is based on crime, while the other is base on the investigation because, the two writers may have been trying to get the different points of view. Dahl wanted to get us to see the crime, where Doyle wanted us to see the investigation.
The Speckled Band is narrated by Dr. Watson who is Sherlock Holmes’ sidekick. Dr. Watson definitely knows the whole story as he was with Sherlock Holmes all the time. He is telling us the story as it happened, he has kept a diary of all the cases that he and Sherlock had solved. He is the only one that is telling us so there is no other point of view presented, besides when Helen Stoner is telling her side of the story. When this happens it does not make a difference as we get to know the story from the eyes of Sherlock and Dr. Watson.
Lamb to the Slaughter is not narrated by any body as it is written in third person. So we are presented to the story as it happens, following Mary’s reactions and movements. The effect on the reader is that we can see the crime from the criminals view. The readers are forced to fill in the gaps in the story where it is not told to them.
The Speckled Band was written in the mid 18 hundreds, we can tell this very easily, just by looking at the style of writing, and the way in which the characters talk. Lamb to the Slaughter is more modern compared to The Speckled Band and we can tell this by the way in which the characters talk and think. The two stories are only similar in the way that they are based on murders, otherwise they are two different stories. As one is looking at it in the eyes of the criminal, and the other is written in the way the investigators think.
In Lamb to the Slaughter there is not much speech at all, only the time when the police men are talking to Mary, asking her what happened. Speckled Band has a lot of speech as we are in the eyes of the investigator. So a lot of questions are asked, and the two detectives talk to each other about solving the mystery. The sentences in Speckled Band are mainly long and descriptive. As the Investigators need to know in great detail what happened exactly. Whereas in Lamb to the Slaughter the sentences are short to start with and then get longer. So at the beginning we feel a bit of tension.
The Speckled Band is a serious story, there are points in the story where Sherlock is in speech with someone and changes the topic. An example is when Dr. Roylott comes to his house,
‘ ’My stepdaughter has been here. I have
traced her. What has she been saying to
you?’ ‘
and then Sherlock replied as if never hearing it,
‘ ‘ It is a little cold for the time of the
year’ ‘
However Lamb to the Slaughter has some humor in it, where we would not expect it in a murder story. Like when she goes to the grocers to get her vegetables to cook. She acts very normal and we would expect her shake a little at least, as he just killed her husband. The most funny place is when all the police officers eat up the leg of lamb. The police men do not expect it to be the murder weapon.
( I can not add a quote as I do not have the sheet with
the quote on it )
The speech that Sherlock uses in Speckled Band is that of a gentleman. In the speech we may imagine in our minds the character is a posh man with lots of manners and someone who never makes a mistake. He always says the right things and he is also reassuring towards Helen. He talks as if he was a man of great stature, and great importance,
‘ ‘You must not fear,’ said he soothingly
bending forward and patting her forearm.’
This is said to Helen when Sherlock sees her for the first time at his house.
For Mary however in Lamb to the Slaughter, speech is not of that great importance. Mary only uses speech to manipulate the detectives, she acts afraid and scared as if she does not know what is going on. She gives them a short hesitant speech on what she did before she found Mr. Maloney dead,
‘She told how she’d put the meat in the oven-
‘it’s there now, cooking’- and how she’d slipped
out to the grocer for vegetables, and came back
to find him lying on the floor. ‘
The ending to Speckled band could have been foretold as the snake that attacked Ms Stoners sister attacked its master. This was because Sherlock had hit the snake and built up its temper. The only thing unexpected was the snake attacking Dr. Roylott. I expected him to get arrested and go to prison for the murder.
Lamb to the Slaughter’s ending however finished with the police finding no clues to solve the murder, and not finding the murder weapon bit eating it instead. This adds humor to the story.and once the police leave Mary Maloney starts to laugh as if she expected it to go the way it did. This ending is twisted and crazy, the ending could be expected, because of the way in which Mary was playing with the police.
The title ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’, is revealed to the reader as the murder weapon was a leg of lamb, and that it slaughtered Mr. Maloney. The title ‘The Speckled Band’, is revealed to the reader as a band of gypsies in the plantation, that wear spotted handkerchiefs over their heads. This is the only explanation that I can see is given for the Speckled Band. Speckled Band is an intriguing title as you might think the murder was committed by a band of people.
The title Lamb to the Slaughter is the only obvious title as we can tell, that there is something to do with a piece of lamb, in the murder. The Speckled Band however is an open title we do not know what a band has to do with a murder.
Holmes’ final comment is what he has drawn a conclusion out of the mystery and what he has found out. He explains to us what he found out and what he concluded out of it. Where in Lamb to the Slaughter all that happens is that Mary starts to laugh when the police leave the house. At the end of Speckled Band we are left to think that a very good detective has finished doing a very good job. At the end of the other story we think that murderer has got away with a murder, just because some police know a family and dont believe that she is capable of committing murder. Nowadays murder and crimes are thought about in more detail. They are investigated with no means of thinking of family, but there are still some cases were the wrong person goes in jail.
I think that Speckled Band is more appealing. This is because I think more people would want to know how detectives used to work. I enjoyed this piece as I like the Sherlock Holmes mysteries. Lamb to the Slaughter is a story that many people would not like, as it does not have a good story to it. I enjoyed solving the mystery myself as well with Sherlock in the Conan Doyle story. But I also found Dahl’s story enjoyable because of the humor in it. Dahl makes his story a funny story as Mary outwits the police in the murder.
Speckled Band is more compelling as it has a proper mystery behind it. We do not know who may have murdered Helen Stoner’s sister, so we have to work with Sherlock to find out. We enjoy this story as there are pieces of the puzzle given to us to work out for our selves. Lamb to the Slaughter however is a plain story, it does not have any clues to a murder and the police do not do their jobs properly.
The two stories are only similar in the fact they are murder stories. It all changes after that because one is written to tell us about a previous case two detectives have previously investigated. The other is a story where we follow the activities of the actual murder criminal. In the Sherlock Holmes story we are given clues to the murder, and in Mary’s story we are introduced to the murder straight away. Murder stories have changed a great deal since Victorian times, some are following the murderer while others are in the eyes of the police. Still Sherlock Holmes is the best murder stories as they give the reader clues to figure out for themselves.