Unlike in 'The Speckled Band' the murderer in 'Lamb to the slaughter' is just a normal house wife who is upset when her husband tells her he is leaving. She seems warm and kind, and she clearly loves her husband Patrick. She is very upset when Patrick tells her that he is leaving her and I can only guess that he is having an affair. Although he has told her the bad news she tries to make him supper which he insists he doesn’t want it. She is also persistent in the fact that she want’s to make his supper. She hits him with the frozen leg of lamb after he shouted at her ‘For God’s sake, don’t make suppers for me. I’m going out.’ this must have tipped he over the edge as she entered denial, she was insistent that he wasn’t dead and this must have challenged her psychologically as she still put the lamb in the oven for supper. She was still very clever in her times of trouble when she deliberately sets up an alibi with the grocer Sam. When she returns from the Sam’s store with the food for Patrick’s’ supper, she call out his name, although she know he is dead. There is still that hint of her psychological problems when she calls the police who, when they arrive, after a long search, eat the evidence of Mary killing Patrick. Mrs. Maloney did at the end giggle when she knew she had got away with it, this is another sign of psychological problems.
The detectives of the story are marginally different characters Jack Noonan of 'Lamb to the slaughter' and Sherlock Holmes of 'The Speckled Band' are both very intelligent and intuitive men. Although their methods of detection are very different as Jack uses forensic sciences, which were not yet discovered in Holmes’ times. Holmes’ methods are mainly his logical powers that he used to discover the bell pull and other vital clues. Both Noonan and Holmes seem very caring people, Noonan being very close to the family of Patrick and Holmes just being a caring person by nature. Holmes works on his own with his ‘intimate friend and associate Dr. Watson’, who Sherlock thinks a lot of, whereas Noonan works with a full team of detectives and police persons. Noonan has worked all day before he takes a drink from Mrs. Maloney, ‘Just a drop to keep him going.’ Holmes is a man of quite considerable money, ‘sharing rooms as bachelors’, unlike, maybe, Noonan who is just a normal police detective and on a little wage. Noonan didn’t solve his mystery unlike Holmes who solved his with quite little difficulty. This could mean that Sherlock is a better detective or that Mary is a better murderer, in that she can cover her tracks better.
The victims in both stories were related to the murderers, in 'Lamb to the slaughter' the victim was Patrick Maloney the husband of his murderer Mary Maloney, and in 'The Speckled Band' Julia and Helen Stoner were the step daughters of their murderer, Dr. Grimsby Roylott. The victims were very different people; Julia and Helen were sisters who had a very good life until their stepfather decided to be greedy. They were very close and when Julia died it affected Helen badly. She was very upset because her sister was to marry before she died, as was she when she visited Holmes. Helen is very clever and has a good memory as she remembered that her sister had noticed whistling noises out side. Patrick is a very normal man who was very successful at his job as a police detective. He was very well know in his work and was worried about his reputation if people found out that he had left his wife, ‘there needn’t be any fuss. I hope not anyway. It wouldn’t be good for my job.’ He was very kind hearted and promised to give his wife money to support he and the child.
The settings of both stories are greatly different. The Manor of Stoke Moran in 'The Speckled Band' is, I would have thought somewhere in Shropshire or the south of Britain. It’s old, derelict and neglected; it could be described as prison like as bars cover the windows. Wild animals roam around the acres of land and the building is discoloured and plain. The text describes it as ‘grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high central portion.’ The windows are all broken and some scaffolding has been set-up next to the building. The lawn was ‘ill trimmed’ and not cared for. The room in which Julia met her death was a very warm room; it contained a fireplace, bed and a dressing table. Under the window were two ‘wickerwork chairs’ and in the left-hand side of the room was a brown chest of drawers. There was an ‘unnecessary’ bell pull leading to the ‘housekeepers room’, it actually led no where, as it was fake. There was a ventilator above the ‘dummy’ bell pull and this led to another room instead of the outside. 'Lamb to the slaughter' is set in a small town in the south of Britain, I would guess. The house seems very homely, warm and secure. It has access to electricity ‘light switch, the deep freeze’, which shows that it is a modern story. It is very ordinary and no suspicious features about it, very tranquil and quiet. Outside the house there is a gravel drive leading to a garage and a car. There is no evidence of a lawn like at Stoke Moran. The little grocers shop that Mary visits is a local home from home store where the owner knows all his customers. It is post-war and stocks overseas produce, ‘Idaho potatoes’. Sam, the owner, knows just what Mrs. Maloney would want for Patrick’s supper so the town must be a small one where everyone knows everyone.
The atmosphere in both stories is very different although in both stories the atmosphere could have been cut with a knife. In 'Lamb to the slaughter' Mary has a large feeling of unease as the tension rises, when she asks Noonan to eat the leg of lamb. When the murder took place time almost slowed down as Patrick swayed from side to side. Mary is upset when she is question although this could have been put on it ads a sense of sadness to the atmosphere. Mrs. Maloney tries to act naturally all the time adding more unease to the atmosphere. In 'The Speckled Band' the atmosphere is more fearful and agitated than unease. Helen is scared of her stepfather when ever they’re alone together. She is very weary of him. She often shivers leading to a cold and horror-stricken atmosphere. The description of Julia writhing in pain adds a sense of terror to the already cold-hearted atmosphere, The soothing sound tranquillises the atmosphere a bit but the waiting brings tension to the story. As the murder gradually gets solved the atmosphere calms more and more.
The language of the two stories gives us evidence as to when they were set. The language of ‘The Speckled Band’ is very old and a lot of the words are unused in today’s society for example, ‘defray’, ‘dog-cart’ and ‘would fain’. Other words such as ‘Squire’ not only show us the time of the play but it also indicates the social background of the Roylott’s. The sentences are longer and more complex as are the words. The language used affects the way we look at the story in that it is more difficult to understand, but very old fashioned. 'Lamb to the slaughter' is very different, in-fact quite the opposite. All the words are used commonly in our society and the sentences and words are shorter and much easier to understand. This could show that people have become lazier and adapted the English language to suit us.
In conclusion I have found that both Roald Dahl and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle have achieved their target of creating riveting and exciting murder mysteries. I think that the better detective was Sherlock Holmes and that the best and most careful murderer was Dr. Grimsby Roylott because although he got caught his murder was devised and carefully planned out to succeed but unfortunately divine intervention got in the way. The overall better story was 'The Speckled Band' because although 'Lamb to the slaughter' was very exciting and gripping 'The Speckled Band' was written better. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle include red herrings and this just added to the excitement.
