Mary Maloney is not your typical villain, the murder that occurred in ‘Lamb To The Slaughter’ was obviously unprompted and unplanned. The murder that was committed by Dr. Roylott in ‘The Speckled Band’ was scrupulously planned. It was cold and calculated, Dr. Roylott is an orthodox villain, the reader suspects that Dr. Roylott as the murderer of Julia Stoner very early in the story.
Mary Maloney is submissive to her husband in many ways, it is not anticipated for her to commit murder. She is very eager to please her husband, which again is untypical of a villain but very conventional of women in the 1950’s.
The idea of a female killer would have been shocking to readers in the 19th Century, it was very much a patriarchal society. Yet it is to some extent a sign of the times to have a female killer.
The writer of ‘Lamb To The Slaughter’ permits us into the private thoughts of Mary Maloney, the writer of ‘The Speckled Band’ doesn’t provide us with any idea of
Dr. Roylott’s secret thoughts.
There is definite contrast between the settings of these stories. ‘Lamb To The Slaughter’ is set in the 1950’s, which very much an urban area. A domestic homely setting of an ordinary family, thus the reader will not expect a murder to occur here. ‘The Speckled Band’ is set in the 1880’s in London and in the home of an aristocrat in Surrey, Dr. Roylott's home is a place of passages and corridors. It is a very masculine style of home, there is no indication of a woman’s presence.
Jack Noonan, the investigator in ‘Lamb To The Slaughter’ doesn’t fit the concept of a detective. He is a kind, gentle man and doesn’t question Mary Maloney very thoroughly.
Sherlock Holmes, the investigator in ‘The Speckled Band’ definitely fits the idea of what a competent detective is akin to. He sets about solving the crime in a very meticulous manner. He uses basic implements such as a ‘lens’ and relies heavily on his observational skills. He questions Helen Stoner very directly, he is very accomplished at recapitulating the key points of a case.
With contrast to Sherlock Holmes, Jack Noonan relies on clichés ‘get the weapon and you’ve got the man’ and without the weapon he has no alternative method of solving the crime. Mary Maloney easily manipulates him, “she looked at him with her large, dark, tearful eyes.” Jack Noonan has a minor role in the story.
We do not feel confident about Jack Noonan, he easily assumes that Mary Maloney is innocent and his drinking is seen as unprofessional, he is very unrefined. Noonan is surrounded by a wide range of professionals to help him such as the crime scene photographer, the fingerprint specialist, the doctor and other detectives akin to him. This is typical in modern society, advanced technology means that a variety of experts can work together to solve a crime.
Sherlock Holmes dominates ‘The Speckled Band’ due to the fact that we are made to feel confident in Holmes from the beginning. Also the fact that he works alone and only Dr. Watson is there assist him adds supplementary confidence to the reader. In many ways, Dr. Watson's simple conclusions make Holmes seem even more amazing. Sherlock Holmes is very sophisticated within his manners and his speech.
An audience in the 1950’s would be more open to the idea of a murderer getting away with the crime. In the 19th Century, readers would have expected the murderer to be caught. They wanted to feel relieved that evil was punished. The concept of a murderer escaping would not have been popular with a Victorian reader.
‘Lamb To The Slaughter’ has an unusual format-focus for reader is how the murderer will conceal the crime. ‘The Speckled Band’ is a classic, traditional ‘whodunit’ detective novel format. It is a noticeably longer story than ‘Lamb To The Slaughter’, which is quite short. It is also written in a ‘flashback’ style with several narrators and not in chronological order. ‘Lamb To The Slaughter’ is written in chronological order, ‘in the third person’ – it follows Mary’s reaction.
The style of writing in ‘Lamb To The Slaughter’ conflicts with the style of writing in ‘The Speckled Band’. Sentences tend to be shorter, the vocabulary is simpler and the grammar is less complex. Whereas in ‘The Speckled Band’ the sentences are longer and most sentences are quite complicated, the grammar is also more complicated. The elaborate vocabulary and detailed descriptions are typical of 19th Century writing.
‘The Speckled Band’ has an expected ending but what is surprising is the intriguing way in which Dr. Roylott carries out the murders. ‘Lamb To The Slaughter’ has a twist in the ending when the detectives actually eat the murder weapon, eliminating the possibility of Mary Maloney being caught.
The title ‘The speckled Band’ is quite vague, the only link that is made with the title and the story is that the snake looks like a speckled band. ‘Lamb To The Slaughter’ has a double meaning, one being that Mary Maloney used a leg a lamb to slaughter her husband and the other being the detectives eating the lamb that Mary Maloney prepared.
Personally I prefer ‘Lamb To The Slaughter’ because it is more of a modern story, I didn’t really enjoy reading ‘The Speckled Band’ because it was quite long and tedious. Saying this, I still believe that both the stories in question are prime examples of murder mystery stories of their own time period. They are both competent as a murder mystery stories.
