Both "Lamb to the Slaughter" and "The Speckled Band" share some of the same characteristics of murder mysteries. Compare the murderers, victims and motives between the two stories.

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Russell San Felipe

  • Both “Lamb to the Slaughter” and “The Speckled Band” share some of the same characteristics of murder mysteries. Compare the murderers, victims and motives between the two stories.

  A stereotypical view of a murder mystery usually includes a killer, a victim, detectives, weapons, and alibis. Other important features are the language used, the suspense contained within and maybe twist in the tale. A good murder mystery would keep the reader interested and guessing what is to happen next.

 

   Obviously, each ‘murder mystery’ has to have a killer. Conan Doyle has made the character of Dr Roylott to be a typical traditional murderer. From the descriptions given by the characters in the book, the reader may already notice that he is capable of doing such crimes.

‘…a huge man’,

 ‘A large face seared with a thousand wrinkles and marked with every evil passion’,

 ‘…deep-set, bile shot eyes’,

 …‘high thin fleshless nose,  gave him the resemblance of a fierce bird of pray’

‘…violence of temper approaching mania’

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  He lived an isolated life once he moved. Instead of being friendly and sociable

 ‘he shut himself up in his house, and seldom came out, save to indulge in ferocious quarrels with whoever might cross his path.’

 After the death of his wife he obtained an enraged personality. Now he certainly had the ability to commit a murder.

 In Lamb to the Slaughter we find out early on that Mrs Maloney is the one who kills her husband and so the suspense is not who the murderer is, but if she gets caught or ...

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