The opening scene of ‘The Speckled Band’ has a very different atmosphere to that of ‘Lamb To The Slaughter’. It has a very formal atmosphere, more businesslike. This is accentuated by the way in which Sherlock Holmes and Watson are Presented and also the Dialogue. An air of excitement is introduced very early on by the fact that a lady with a possible case has awaked the household early.
‘A young lady has arrived in a considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me.’
Sherlock Holmes and Watson immediately strike the reader as passionate about their work.
‘I had no keener pleasure than following Holmes in his professional investigations’
This builds up the enthusiastic and excitable tone to the story. The atmosphere of ‘The Speckled Band’ differs greatly from that of ‘Lamb To The Slaughter’ as there are far more references to the outside world such as London, Surrey and India and there are also more people involved. This means that the atmosphere is far less enclosed and intense. This is a way of distracting the reader from what is going on in the room at the moment. A lot more things are given to the reader for them to think about
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and give them a bigger picture of the scene. Pathetic fallacy is used when describing the Roylott’s house.
‘It was a wild night. The wind was howling outside and the rain was beating.’
‘The building was of grey…stone…with…two curved wings, like the claws of a crab… The windows were broken.’
The house is described as the typical haunted house. We immediately associate it with bad things. This is Doyle’s intention.
We are only introduced to two characters in the opening scene of ‘Lamb To The Slaughter’ and indeed through most of the story. They are Mary Maloney and her husband Patrick Maloney. Mary Maloney is introduced first. She seems to be diligently waiting for her husband to arrive. Everything is prepared and she is sat down content.
‘There was a slow smiling air about her’
She seems to be completely devoted to her husband and everything she seems to do is for him. It is revealed that she is pregnant.
‘For this was her sixth month with child’
Immediately we sympathize with Mary. She seems delicate, tranquil and warm. Her physical description reflects this.
‘Her skin…had acquired a wonderful translucent quality. Her mouth was soft’
We do not associate her with any evil at all and from this first description we believe that she is the ‘goody’ of the story and that she could not possibly murder anybody. The fact that Mary is so devoted to her husband now makes us believe that he is a good man also to be the husband of this woman and that they are a perfect couple. Patrick Maloney then enters and is welcomed affectionately by his wife however he does not return the affection and appears cold and no caring.
‘Hullo, darling, she said.’
‘Hullo, he answered.’
No physical description is given of Patrick Maloney. He simply comes across as increasingly annoyed and troubled. He answers Mary abruptly ‘sit down’ and ‘no’. Mary persists on pampering her husband. It is then Mary is told by Patrick that (we can only guess) he wants to break up with her. Mary is left confused at the end of the scene and decides to make tea for something to take her mind off the shock. We are left feeling sorry for Mary and hating her husband. We believe Patrick is the ‘baddy’. This is cleverly done by Dahl. We have attached ourselves to the wrong character. He has done this with his passive use of language.
‘And he told her. It didn’t take long,’
Here a section of the text is purposefully missed out. He gives us false hints leaving us to draw a conclusion from the little information he has given us. Dahl has given us false impressions of the characters for a reason. It will make the truth even more shocking and exciting for the reader.
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Conan Doyle uses more characters in his tale than Dahl. They immediately come across as the conventional detective story characters. Holmes is the detective. He comes across as friendly and a safe person to be around. He controls the matters and his authorative figure and superior detective qualities show through when he describes Helen Stoners journey to his home without being told a thing. We warm to his character and trust him. Watson is Holmes’ friend and associate. He takes on the reader’s role in the play being clever but not nearly as assertive and as experienced as Holmes. He is presented with the same picture of Helen Stoner as Holmes but he does not recognise the details as Holmes does. We, as the readers are reading along with Watson so we are limited to the facts of the story in his eyes. Mrs Hudson is Holmes’ housemaid. She is only briefly mentioned as the one who awoke Holmes and also lit the fire in the sitting room. The fact that Holmes has a housemaid suggests that he is well of which means he must have been paid well in his jobs and also had a lot of success. This increases the trust of the reader towards Holmes. Helen Stoner is the typical distressed client seeking aid from Holmes. She is immediately categorised as the victim within the case and then proceeds to explain the trouble that she is in giving the first clues of the case. Conan Doyle, unlike Dahl, gives us in the opening scene the typical characteristics and roles of the characters within the story. The characterization of both stories will be covered in more depth later on in this essay. It is much easier to predict what each character is going to do next whereas Dahl manipulates the reader purposefully on the characteristics of Mr and Mrs Maloney. An example of the unpredictable nature of Dahl’s story is when Mary Maloney kills her husband. Nothing up until then prepared us for what she was going to do. It shocks us greatly especially the way in which she carries on so calmly after the murder. In ‘The Speckled Band’ the appearance and subsequent violent outburst of Dr Roylott is almost expected from the description given to us previously by Helen Stoner.
STRUCTURE AND PLOT.
The plot of a detective story plays a very important role. It is there to carry the reader along, making sure that they are fed everything that they are expecting from the story. It needs to enrapture the reader with suspense, drama and excitement. Clues and red herrings should be laid out for the reader to dwell on and attempt to solve the story along with the detective. There is a traditional configuration for the detective story genre. It should begin with an introductory scene to set the mood and path for the story to unfold out onto. The detective’s sidekick usually narrates the story or somebody involved in the story but who isn’t presented with all of the facts so that we in turn do not have all of the facts. Then comes the mystery. The clues are presented to the reader along with red herrings to trick the reader and prove the detective more
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intellectual and worthy of his title when he dismisses them. Then the confrontation takes place after sufficient suspense. This is traditionally very dramatic leaving the reader in the dark until the final moment. Then the solution of the case takes place with the unravelling or denouement of the case from start to finish. This is usually done by the detective. It reveals the true events to the reader so at the end of the story nothing is left to be questioned and the case is truly closed.
‘The Speckled Band’ is typical reflection of this basic structure but ‘Lamb To The Slaughter’ is not. It uses a daring and modern approach to the genre but doesn’t stray far enough to fall into a different genre. To begin with, both stories create a plausible mood for the story however we later find out that the mood of ‘Lamb To The Slaughter’ was false, to trick the reader. ‘The Speckled Band’ is written with the sidekick Watson reminiscing over an old case that he has recorded. He then proceeds throughout the story as the narrator along with Helen Stoner. We see the case and its clues through their eyes so we are restricted by the author to only the clues that Watson and Helen are presented with. If Holmes were narrating the story, the reader would too easily pick up the solution of the case as his mind works differently to that of Watson’s. The result of having both Helens and Watson’s accounts of the case means that we can get a wider picture of the case and also relate to Helens fear and need for help. The use of flashbacks helps give a wider picture of the case when Helen is reliving the memory of the death of her sister. It helps to keep the reader interested in the plot. In ‘Lamb To The Slaughter’ the 3rd person narrator is Mary Maloney. We are shown inside the mind of Mary and all of her thoughts feelings and actions.
‘She couldn’t feel anything at all’
This kind of chronological narration makes us feel closer to Mary so when she murders her husband we are shocked as me have been inside this woman’s head but we did not get even a slight hint that she was going to do something like this or even be capable of it. After the murder has taken place we are rapt to finding out how this woman is going to handle what she has just done and if there are any more surprises waiting for us. It is unusual and unconventional for a detective story to be narrated by the murderer themselves.
In ‘The Speckled Band’, clues and red herrings are introduced to us in the traditional way. The gypsy’s Bandana is used as a red herring for the speckled band. In ‘Lamb To The Slaughter’ the characterisation and whom the reader relates to is manipulated to create one big red herring. It creates shock and surprise when the reader realizes the truth instead of simply realisation.
The suspense and tension of both stories is a vital ingredient. It engages the reader. Both the authors have different intentions when considering suspense. They go about it in different
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manners. The tone of ‘The Speckled Band’ it that of adventure, thrill excitement and danger,
‘Your very life may depend upon it’
The plan of the pre-arranged signal at midnight and the threat of Dr Roylott realising their plan also helps to create this atmosphere and then the silent wait for the murderer to be revealed creates suspense. Intrigue is built up when the clues are revealed in the bedroom, we start to attempt to figure out who the murderer is and how he did it and there is a feeling that you have to find out which makes you read on. This is there to build up the reader’s angst and expectations for the confrontation of our hero Holmes and the murderer of Julia Stoner. The high point of the drama is when Holmes fights off the unknown murderer defeating it. This shows Holmes as the public like to see him, triumphant over evil. ‘Lamb To The Slaughter’ does not follow the typical suspense of a detective story pattern. The tone is questioning and surprising. The audience is not captivated by the want to find out the murderer or how the murder was carried out because we already know. The suspense is there as we are hoping that Mary Maloney will escape the murder sentence and get away with it. We want to know how she is going to do it and will it be successful. There are two high points of suspense, when Mary Maloney murders her husband and also at the build up to the end when we are questioning whether she will get away with the murder.
The ending of ‘The Speckled Band’ again conforms to the traditional way. It results in Holmes unravelling the case and enlightening the reader to the remaining facts. We are left with a rapt sense of good winning over evil. And it is in a triumphant and ironic way that Dr Roylott dyed by the very venom that he murdered with. In ‘Lamb To The Slaughter’ we are not left with an unravelled case, it has already been unravelled as the story went on. We are left with evil triumphant over good and questions unanswered such as what was the real reason that drove Mary Maloney to murder her husband? Is she mentally stable? It does not reflect a detective story. Detective stories are those in the narrative of the detective’s side, accounting the case. This is a murder story with narrative from the murderer. It does not conform to the detective story pattern. It is again reflective of the times the way each author tackles the structure. Conan Doyle focuses on the solving of a case. The Victorians were more interested in this. They wanted a heroic detective figure. Dahl deals more with the crime than the investigation. This reflects the modern view of causes for murder and more complex trials so as to not convict the innocent, people’s attitudes had changed and the punishment had lessened for murder.
CHARACTERIZATION.
Archetypal detective stories habitually use a stereotyped, traditional cast of characters. This consists of a detective and his
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sidekick. This becomes notable when you examine other novels and television dramas and some well-known detective partnerships are Inspector Morse and his sidekick Lewis, Hercule Poirot and Hastings and Jonathan Creek and his unwilling partner Maddy. The detective is always depicted as wise and superior to his sidekick who represents the audience who are not as experienced in solving cases as the detective. The detective is always made to solve a case frequently in a triumphant and majestic way with good defeating evil. Also there is a client, villain and other people involved to act as false suspects to divert the reader.
In this particular category it is apparent that Dahl does not follow this typical cast for the genre at all. In this aspect he has, again rejected the readers expectations of a classic detective story. His cast consists of only two main characters, Mr and Mrs Maloney. Mary is revealed as the murderer and Patrick Maloney, the victim. Mary seems an almost disturbed character, it is hard to interpret her intentions or if she has any at all. One conclusion is that she could be insane but another more believable solution is that Mary is angered by the thought that Patrick wants to leave her and her baby so she acts on impulse with only the thought of protecting her child in her mind. It is also unusual to see a female murderer. This is not a completely new idea however it is uncommon to have a woman murderer. Convention convinces us that women are not capable of such atrocious acts as this so, again the story portrays the change in times and the beginning of ‘girl power’. The detectives appear later on in the book after the murder had taken place. Here we have, very unconventionally, a group of detectives, not simply one and they seem to have no superior. They come across as not very intelligent and do not even go as far as to solve the case. They seem to give themselves boundaries for solving the case and seem to give up before they are anywhere near finding out who the murderer is. He comes up with false assumptions that lower the reader’s opinions of him and his ability to do his job.
‘Get the weapon and you’ve got the man.’
‘The four men…seemed to be growing weary and a trifle exasperated.’
In fact they manage to blunder the case in a most ironic manner, by eating the murder weapon. Unusually Dahl chooses to end the story with bad standing triumphant over good, again far from conventional.
Conan Doyle’s cast however can be paralleled to the stereotypical characters of a detective story. The detective and his sidekick are Sherlock Holmes and Watson. Throughout the story Holmes fill our every expectation of a successful detective, assessing evidence, confronting danger, drawing fascinating but accurate conclusions that we as a reader feel as though we could never have interpreted and coming out as the hero at the end. He seems to give himself no constraints as to who the murderer is and how he did it. Compared to the careless methods
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and assumptions of the detectives in ‘Lamb To The Slaughter’ Holmes comes across as having an almost prodigious mind. Watson proves a most satisfying sidekick. He accompanies Holmes at all times, is presented with the same clues but does not achieve the same conclusion as Holmes as he is less experienced however we admire him as Holmes sees him worthy of escorting him on his cases. The client in the case is Helen Stoner. She arrives traditionally, troubled and scared seeking Holmes’ advice and help. She proceeds in informing Holmes of what she knows of the case herself leaving many questions unanswered and from this we can predict the actions that Holmes will in turn take upon hearing Helens story. We are told that Helen has been troubled for a long time,
‘Her features and face were those of a young woman of thirty but her hair was shot with premature grey.’
Dr Roylott is apparent as the obvious villain of the story. He comes across as extremely stereotypical. A number of things give us this impression, his behaviour,
‘He hurled the local blacksmith’
This makes us feel that he is capable of violent outbursts. His strange interests,
‘He had a passion for Indian animals’
We are told of the strange and daunting creatures that he keeps enclosed within his house such as baboon and cheetah. These help to create an impression of both the peculiarity of his house and Dr Roylott himself. Also the language used to capture the Dr,
‘Cunning’
‘He was a huge man…face…marked with every evil passion’
‘Bile shot eyes’
This creates a typical villain air about him however his motives are not clear until the end. This causes the reader to find a substitute villain who in this case is the gypsies. One of the clues points to the guilt of the gypsies, the reference to the speckled band mentioned as one of Julia Stoners last words. They are also mentioned as Dr Roylott’s only friends,
‘He had no friends at all, save the wandering gypsies.’
In this story they are used as the other suspects, the red herring. Dr Roylott at first strikes us as more likely to get away with the murder as his method is more calculated and he is an altogether more complex and cunning character. Mary’s sudden impulse to murder her husband seems awkward, but towards the end of the story it is clear that Mary’s cover up is much more convincing, her motive is not obvious unlike Dr Roylotts and she acts innocent unlike Dr Roylott. Mary has a quality that Dr Roylott doesn’t posses and it this that enables her to get away with her murder. It’s the ability to manipulate those around her such as the police. Dr Roylott tries manipulation but his method is force and it doesn’t have the same effect on fearful Holmes as Mary’s did on the police.
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LANGUAGE.
I am going to look at both the general and specific use of language within both stories and its significance to the atmosphere and meaning of the story and it’s characters.
The language used and the style of both these stories reflect the era in which they were written as the writers had to take into consideration the attitude of society. The Victorians, whatever the subject of the story expected high standards of vocabulary and quality from their authors. In ‘The Speckled Band’ all characters use faultless English. This reflects the educative value that the Victorians expected from their literature. Vocabulary of the period is used such as ‘dogcart’. ‘The Speckled Band’ uses altogether very a complex language and structure. Compared to ‘Lamb To The Slaughter’, ‘The Speckled Band’ uses rather long paragraphs and sentences. This, along with the demanding vocabulary used throughout proves it to be a more challenging read. This dialogue makes me feel that the story is aimed at more of an older audience. Some examples of this dialogue are,
‘The manifold wickedness of the human heart.’
‘Of a dissolute and wasteful disposition,’
In most cases it is the intense descriptions of events and objects in this story that proves it to be complex, as shown above. Care has been taken over sentence structure with elaborated use of techniques such as similes and metaphors,
‘Folks would fly at his approach.’
‘A…soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping continually from a kettle.’
The entire structure and content of this story work together to give serious tone, this is what captures the reader, giving a sense of danger,
‘Your very life may depend upon it’
and making it more realistic.
In ‘Lamb To The Slaughter more general, realistic dialogue is used. There is evident American influenced dialogue used such as ‘I’ll fix it.’ Vocabulary and objects common for the time it was written are used such as ‘thermos flask’. The content of the dialogue is much less demanding in Dahl’s story. We are faced with two separate language styles, the first occurs only in the opening scene. It is very descriptive, the language is clear yet slightly embellished,
‘Her skin…had acquired a wonderful translucent quality,’
This, I believe gives the intended effect of a calm and straightforward atmosphere with no hidden dark sides to the story, helping to tempt the reader into a false sense that everything is fine. The sentences are long but not embellished with metaphors and similes. This also adds to the straightforward language. After this opening scene and the atmosphere of the story changes, the language changes along with it. It becomes less descriptive and more informative. Everything is shown as face value. The
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sentences become shorter so far easier to take in. This gives the effect of making Mary’s actions seem more shocking as they are just thrown at us one after the other. In contrast to the serious tone of Conan Doyle’s story, ‘Lamb To The Slaughter’ has the readers almost laughing to themselves by the end. Dahl uses an ironic tone to cause this reaction. The story is not written to be taken seriously. A few ironic and contradictive events take place during the story, the homely, tranquil character of Mary Maloney murders her husband, the police eat the murder weapon and, contradicting convention, the villain gets away with their crime. We laugh at the far-fetched ideas and at the stupidity of the police, throughout the story we have been manipulated to follow and believe in Mary Maloney’s actions, the murderer. We are given a new angle to a murder mystery altogether so we can laugh along with her when she gets away with it in the manner that she does, when the police eat the murder weapon,
‘Mary Maloney began to giggle.’
And we giggle.
Language is used in both stories to reveal characteristics of the cast however in ‘Lamb To The Slaughter’ it is used to give out false characteristics for Mary Maloney. Holmes comes across as a typical Victorian icon in his speech, with impeccable manners and speech. He is valiant in the way that he rescues Helen and always reassures her by saying the right thing. He presents himself as superior but in a moderate way as to not seem pompous.
‘Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official detective force!’
Mary Maloney originally uses her language to show her affection to her husband with the incessant use of ‘darling’. Later on her conversation becomes a tool of manipulation of the police and the grocer. By putting on a false front she can get her own way and escape conviction. She uses good acting skills to bluff the detectives.
‘Is he dead? She cried’
ENDINGS.
In a typical detective story, the function of an ending is to act as a conclusion, to tie up any loose ends, denouement. And possibly come to a satisfactory resolution.
These two stories present us with two very different endings. Again they reflect the era in which they were written. During the Victorian era people’s expectations of a detective story were that it had to contain a sense of morality, effectively with good defeating evil. Dr. Roylott gets his retribution by dying from the same means that he murdered with. Justice has been victorious. This contrast the views of Dahl’s era, the public’s view of crime have changed over time. At this time people are not as serious about it as they were, they are not as stubborn to take the view of a criminal compared to Conan Doyle’s era. Dahl picks
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up on this and creates this controversial ending to this story, the murderer escaping with her crime. In the 1950’s people were embracing originality so Dahl’s story was a success. ‘The Speckled Band’ follows tradition in it’s ending, this is what makes it predictable. The one twist put in to appeal to the reader is that Dr Roylott dies. We are not expecting this but it follows the structure of tradition by concluding the story in a sufficient way as to satisfy all the reader’s queries and tie up any loose ends. The issue of the speckled band is revealed to be a snake other than the gypsies. The fixed bed whistling at night and dummy bell pull are revealed as necessities of Dr Roylott’s murder method and justice wins. In ‘Lamb To The Slaughter’ questions are left unanswered such as what were the reasons for Mary Maloney’s sudden murder? Justice is not taken, this is the twist but instead of simply interesting the reader it shocks them, as it is so unconventional. A conclusion is not come to. Both the main characters, Mary Maloney and Holms have the last words in each of the story. They can be used as an example of how individual the two stories are from each other. Holmes’ last words are,
‘I am in no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr Grimsby Roylott’s death, and I cannot say that it is likely to weigh very heavily upon my conscience.’
Mary concludes with a giggle. They leave the readers thinking very different things. In Holmes’ case we are left with a satisfied feeling, our hero has won. We look up to him, as he is so passive towards the fact that he has just indirectly murdered someone and he seems an ideal figure of authority. When reading the final comment on Mary Maloney we become questioning towards her sanity, questioning of whether she will stay clear of blame and questioning of her motives. We are also questioning ourselves as to if we are correct in believing Mary should have got away with the murder. We are left thoughtful of the story and unsatisfied that a conclusion has not been given to us.
The two titles of the stories contain references to the main objects or events of the stories, lamb, slaughter and the speckled band. At the end of the story the full meaning of both titles is revealed. ‘The Speckled Band’ is in fact a reference to the murder weapon, lamb is also the murder weapon and the whole book orientates around the slaughter of Mr Maloney however the indication of this title is that the lamb goes to slaughter but in actual fact it is the leg of lamb, under influence by Mary Maloney that does the murdering. ‘Lamb To The Slaughter’ is the more intriguing title. It is an incomplete and irregular sentence. The reader is not used to this style format and it makes the reader read on with the speculation that the whole story may follow the same individual style and it does. ‘The Speckled Band’ is a more conventional title, a complete sentence but the reader is still enticed to read on to find out the significance of the speckled band within the story.
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Dahl’s story, ‘Lamb To The Slaughter’ is more appealing to me. I liked the ideas within the story and I liked the fact that the plot was so individual and enrapturing that it didn’t need elaborate language to satisfy the reader. I found it satisfying to read this new angle of a detective story and that Mary Maloney outwitted the police and got away with the murder. I also liked Conan Doyle’s story and attempting to solve the murder along with Holmes. I believe that it would have been more characteristic to the time rather than now, the plot seems too conventional and Dahl’s story is more on the level of readers today.
In conclusion I believe that ‘The Speckled Band’ conforms to all aspects of the traditional detective story. It can effortlessly fit into this genre. ‘Lamb To The Slaughter’ can controversially fit into this genre however I think that it would be more suitable to class it as a murder mystery. The two stories show how people’s views have changed over time. In the Victorian period people liked predictability. They had criteria for their stories to conform to and anything outside these boundaries was likely to be rejected. Modern populations like the air of originality and impulsiveness about their stories. This encourages authors to explore and push boundaries of people’s views such as Dahl in this piece.