The victim in ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ is Patrick Maloney. He was married to Mary Maloney. He was killed when Mary Maloney hit him over the head with a leg of lamb. In ‘The Speckled Band’ the victim is the Stoner sister’s. When we first hear of the Stoners one is already dead. When we first see Miss Helen Stoner in the story, she was wearing black, veiled and grey haired. She was shivering and terrified “We could see that she was indeed in a pitiable state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with a restless frightened eyes, like of those of some hunted animal”, “ The lady gave a violent start”, “It is fear, Mr Holmes. It is terror.” This is also a very popular way the victim is introduced in traditional murder mysteries.
In ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ the murderer was Mary Maloney, who at the beginning of the story looks like a very innocent character. She was married to the victim Patrick Maloney. Mary Maloney was pregnant and looked beautiful “Her skin…for this was her sixth month with a child…had acquired a wonderful translucent quality, the mouth was soft and the eyes, with their placid look, seemed larger, darker than before.” Her motive for murdering her husband was because he has told her he would be leaving her for someone else, “Of course I’ll give you money and see you’re looked after. But there isn’t needn’t really be any fuss. I hope not anyway. It wouldn’t be very good for my job.” Mary Maloney didn’t want to get caught because she didn’t want her or her child to get killed and wasn’t going to take any chances “What were the laws about murders with unborn children? Did they kill them both…mother and child?” I feel sympathy for her that her husband was going to leave her for someone else, even though she was seven months pregnant.
The murderer in ‘The Speckled Band’ was Doctor Grimesby Roylott. He was a violent man who had a bad and short temper “In a fit of anger, however, caused by some robberies which had perpetrated in the house, he beat his native butler to death”. After his wife dies he shuts himself up and became very violent “But a terrible change cane over our stepfather about this time…he is a man of immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger”. His motive for trying to kill Miss Stoner was over money. His deceased wife left money for her daughters, but if they die he would receive the money. I do not feel any sympathy for Doctor Roylott because he’s a sick and twisted man. He is also very selfish, but a very dangerous man. He should have got capital punishment when he murdered his butler in India.
In traditional murder mystery genres there is a sense of mystery created by the setting and the characters themselves. In ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’, the scene of the crime is 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 tall glasses, soda water, whisky. Fresh ice cubes in the Thermos Bucket.” Although there is a calm and relaxed atmosphere, it is a little too calm, which creates tension. In this story it fit a traditional scene, which we expect.
However in ‘The Speckled Band’ Doyle used a very traditional way of describing the scene of the crime. It was set in an old house, 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 ruin.” This creates a spooky and scary atmosphere. The atmosphere makes me feel very cautious because it’s a typical description of a haunted house where anything could suddenly happen. You could relate this atmosphere to a typical atmosphere of a murder mystery. To add even more atmosphere of fear and horror were both a baboon and cheetah in the house.
In ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ the detective did not suspect Mary Maloney, put pressure on her, they didn’t make her leave the room, suspect a woman and didn’t solve the crime. These were things, which they should have done. Things they did do which they should not have done were discussing the crime with Mary, drinking, eating on duty and eating the evidence. The detectives were very ‘sloppy’ with the investigation “she could hear them speaking among themselves, their voices thick and sloppy.” This had a double meaning about the detectives and their investigation. They were unintelligent because they ate the evidence and they ran a ‘sloppy’ case.
In ‘The Speckled Band’, the case is run much more professionally because it is a well-known detective who is very responsible. Sherlock Holmes suspects Grimesby Roylott, treats Helen Stoner kindly, spots all the clues, recognises red herrings, takes personal risks and solves the crime. He does this by spotting all the clues “My attention was speedily drawn…to this ventilator, and to the ropes which hung down to the bed. The discovery that this was a dummy and that the bed was clamped to the floor, instantly gave rise to suspicion that the rope was there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me”. Initially I had an idea that Doctor Roylott had something to do with the murder, but after, when Holmes revealed it couldn’t be him I had a suspicion that it was an animal because he was known for keeping wild animals.
In ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’, the murderer, Mary Maloney gets away with killing her husband Patrick Maloney. She wasn’t suspected whatsoever. At first she was sad but eventually got over it. This doesn’t usually happen in murder mysteries. I think she was clever how she managed to get rid of the evidence. What is unusual is that the murderer was a pregnant woman. In ‘The Speckled Band’ the murderer, Doctor Roylott, ends up being killed by the snake he trained to kill his stepdaughters. I think that he deserves to die because he is a sick and twisted man to murder just for the inheritance of a will. I like ‘The Speckled Band’ the best because, I like my murder mysteries to have a twist at the end and that good always wins over evil.
The most exciting part of ‘The Speckled Band’ was when the snake killed Doctor Roylott. “His chin was cocked upwards, and his eyes were fixed in a dreadful stare at the corner of the ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his head. As we entered he made neither sound or movement.” Another part, which made me want to read on, was when Doctor Roylott followed Miss Stoner to Holmes office, “Don’t you dare meddle with my affairs. I know Miss Stoner has been here – I traced her! I am a dangerous to fall foul of! See here.” I also preferred ‘The Speckled Band’ because it went into detail about the investigation unlike ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’, which was a snappy story, and a quick investigation. Even though the language used in ‘Lamb to the slaughter’, I found it more enjoyable to read. Both stories have unconventional endings, which I liked and made both stories more interesting. I have always liked to read murder mysteries because they are interesting and they make you think about what will happen, and you have to work things out using clues, which you have been given.
You can tell that ‘The Speckled Band’ is set around a traditional murder mystery because of the following reasons it involves a calm, professional detective who is in control from the beginning, “you must not fear”, he said soothingly. We know nothing of the victim as they are dead from the beginning, “She was but thirty at the time of her death…she died just two years ago”. We do not find out what happened until the very end to maintain suspense and audience interest, the characters involved are wealthy, powerful and well known to the area “Well known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran.” The murderer is a man, and the murder was committed in order to gain an inheritance. The murderer was not a likeable character at the start as he was described as having “uncontrollable anger”. Gypsies were suspected to be the murderer at the beginning of the story due to secretive behaviour, however it turns out they are not connected to the murder. Finally the detective always gets his man and the baddie usually dies.
However in ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ the characteristics are very different from a traditional murder mystery. This is because firstly, the murderer is not a man. The murderer is the most unlikely character in the story, the quite, caring housewife. The detectives are also not very observant, as they hunt for the murder weapon the immediately expect it to be a heavy metal like object. It is completely different to a traditional murder story in every way.
By Stephanie Baker
Words = 2003
3-Mar-03
