In ‘The Lamb to the Slaughter’ however the murderer is not so typical and predictable. Mrs Maloney’s Character would normally be seen a typical victim as opposed to the murderer. She is portrayed as being a meek and mild lady who know one would ever suspect. She seems like a loving and caring housewife devoted to her home and her husband. ‘Now and again…..would glance up at the clock… merely to please herself with the thought that each minute gone by made it nearer the time when he would come home’. Dahl uses word and phrases such as ‘curiously tranquil’, ‘her skin had acquired a wonderful translucent quality’, and ‘the eyes seemed larger, darker than before’. Another twist in the character is that Maloney is actually six months pregnant, this is making her unusual murderer material.
After the murders have been committed there are differences in the way the murders act. Miss Maloney acts totally innocent unlike doctor Roylott. She is able to manipulate the detectives into having a drink of whiskey and that slows down their thinking reasoning, making them not realise that when they are sat at the table, they are eating the murder weapon. She almost seems as if she has done this before. Her intelligence and ability to cover her tracks well make her more like a murderer.
The two characters couldn’t be more different. Roylott is a very typical murderer whereas you would never expect Maloney to be capable of the same crime.
The victim in ‘Speckled Band’ is a woman known as Helen Stoner, the step daughter to Doctor Roylott. The murder is a typical situation of over power-ment. The big, strong, violent man killing the weak, feeble and frightened girl. ‘It is not cold which makes me shiver, it is terror’. Stoner was killed mainly for her money. An agreement was made whereby all her mothers fortune was to go to doctor Roylott, ‘with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to each of us in the vent of our marriage’, so we have a scared woman just about to come into money who seems she is the type of woman who can’t put up much of a fight.
The victim in ‘The Lamb to the Slaughter’ is not a typical victim. At first we believe it to be the calm and tranquil Mrs Maloney, know one would suspect her husband, Patrick Maloney, to turn out to be the victim. Patrick doesn’t act like a victim. Despite being a police man he is quite aggressive, although this could be just the whisky and soda, or the news he’s about to break to Mrs Maloney. The motive to his murder by his wife was one of scandal rather than money.
Detectives are comparatively different than those mentioned in each story. Conan-Doyle’s story, ‘Speckled Band’ centres around the famous detective known as Sherlock Holmes whereas the ‘The Lamb to the Slaughter’ in Doyle’s story the detectives lead by Jack Noonan play a comparatively minor role in the story. Holmes the classis detective is assisted by fellow detective Dr. Watson. Holmes has a clear and sharp ability to solve even the most complex mysteries a gift which Dr. Watson admires. Holmes takes every chance to show off his abilities explaining in detail along the way what he thinks has happened. This form of detective is presented as an observant and intelligent detective that you would expect in a typical murder mystery genre.
In ‘The Lamb to the Slaughter’ the detectives could be described as unobservant unintelligent and uncommitted, whereas Holmes the detective in the ‘Speckled Band’ could be described as being intelligent observant and committed, in fact he is the exact opposite to the detectives in ‘The Lamb to the Slaughter’.
The detective in ‘The Lamb to the Slaughter’ known as Jack Noonan is persuaded by Mrs. Maloney to drink some whiskey while on duty, this shows that he is a weak character. Little did he know this was the first part of Mary Maloney’s cover-up. The whiskey makes him less observant since it is strong enough to dull the mind and the senses of the detective. He believes the murderer of Mr. Maloney to be a man, as the object used was large blunt and heavy and thinks a woman would be incapable of lifting such a murder weapon.
Jack also makes mistakes by not mentioning about a motive to Mrs. Maloney about how the murderer got into the house, what enemies if any Mr. Maloney had etc. When he starts asking her some questions, Mrs. Maloney plays the innocent by seeming upset and weeping. As Jack Noonan knows Mrs. Maloney he is therefore kind and considerate towards her which makes him overlook the possibility of Mrs. Maloney being the murderer. Another part to Mrs. Maloney’s plan was inviting Jack Noonan to have supper of roast lamb which he kind accepts unknowingly eating the murder weapon. Had he put together the facts that Sam the grocer probably had told him that Mary was cooking a leg of lamb from frozen and was shaped like a club he may have realised.
The setting in the ‘The Lamb to the Slaughter’ is described by the author Roald Dahl, as being very calm and a relaxed atmosphere ‘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 full glasses, soda water, whisky’. This atmosphere is a little calm, and so creates tension because you as the reader wonder what must suddenly happen that will cause the story to be a murder mystery; you know there must be a twist.
The setting for the ‘Speckled Band’ is of a typical type for a murder mystery, in this case an old manor house called Stoke Moran. The house is described as ‘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 a ruin’. This description creates a scary and spooky atmosphere, because it seems to me the writer is describing a typical haunted house, where anything could happen at any minute.
In the ‘Speckled Band’ the author makes us want to read on by creating suspense. For example suspense is used in the beginning, in this case it is created by the description of Roylott as such a dangerous character, and because of this we fear for the safety of Holmes, Watson and Sulia Stones. Therefore we see Dr. Roylott as a dangerous and violent man, this reinforced when he bends the poker with his bare hands and then hurls it into the fireplace ‘snarling’ at Holmes before leaving. This then has created suspense to the reader as you now know that there is a dangerous and maybe uncontrolled man living at the premises of Stoke Moran, who maybe is the killer of Helen Stoner. The author writes the story in 1st person, this makes you feel you are in the shoes of each and every charter involved, the language used in the ‘Speckled Band’ is in the type of old English, the sentences are longer more adjectives used compared to ‘The Lamb to the Slaughter’.
In the ‘The Lamb to the Slaughter’ the story is written with the use of pass tense or 3rd person. The story does make you want to read on because of the humour and the way Rohal Dahl writes it. Once you have read the first line you can’t put the story down, it’s like a catch it has on it. With the added twists amongst the story this is other ways in which it makes the reader read on. Tension is also built up in this story with the setting used as you knew something major was going to happen to fit in the murder mystery genre, this made you read on to find out what.
The story which I preferred the most was ‘The Lamb to the Slaughter’ written by Rohal Dahl. This was because I thought it was humorous and the plot wasn’t predictable. Comparing this to the ‘Speckled Band’ you could tell what was about to happen next and it was just too obvious. This meant the tension in this story could not be built up. Whereas in the ‘The Lamb to the Slaughter’ Rohal Dahl looked at writing the story differently to add a Twist that would build up the tension to the reader. My best bit in the story was where Mrs. Maloney talked to the detectives into eating the leg of the leg of lamb in the oven, which just happens to be the murder weapon. The story closes with Mrs. Maloney giggling while the detectives talk amongst themselves. ‘Here have some more Charlie?’
‘No. Better not finish it’
‘She wants us to finish it. She said so. Be doing her a favour’
‘Okay then give me some more personally, I think (the weapons) right here on the premises’
‘Probably right under our noses. What do you think Jack?’
And in the other room, Mary Maloney begins to giggle
I think this is an effective ending because the murder weapon will never be found as it has just been eaten by the very people that spent 6 whole hours looking for it.
I also think the ‘The Lamb to the Slaughter’ is better because Dahl has written this story on purpose to go against the traditional detective story, making the setting, plot and characters untypical. As well as that I particularly like the way in which Dahls characters develop as the story goes on. Mary Maloney goes from loving housewife and potential victim to possible psychopathic murderer. Patrick Maloney develops from potential psychopathic murderer to dead victim, and the way the detectives are the complete opposite to must stories, in this case a bit dim, not looking at the facts that are there.
While Dahl’s characters are flexible, Conan-Doyle’s stay rigid and static. Dr Roylott stays violent, Helen Stoner stays terrified, and Holmes stays as vigilant and observant as ever, the complete opposite.
