The references used in ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ for example ‘She heard the tyres on the gravel’ and ‘Everything’s in the freezer’ suggest this story was set in recent years, with the use of a car and freezer. Also the names ‘Mary Maloney, Patrick Maloney, Jack Noonan and O’Mally’ sounds as if they were all Irish, however phrases such as ‘That’s the hell of a big club the ‘guy’ must’ve used to hit poor Patrick.’ And the word ‘doc’ instead of doctor makes me feel that the story was set in America.
The clues in ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ I feel are effective because they only scratch the surface and do not go into much detail about where the story is set and when. This makes it more effective as a murder mystery because it does not give the reader much to toil with and leaves the reader in a curious frame of mind. There is no mention of any place and some people may take for granted that the story is set in Ireland due to the Irish names, but in fact the occasional American phrase suggests that the story is set in some area of the U.S.A. The reader does not find out much about the surroundings of the story, however this is not significant because there were no particular aspects of the story that tied in with the surroundings. Most of the story took place in the house, which could have been set in any location and still not affected the outcome.
The roles of Holmes in ‘The Speckled Band’ were to listen to his client and observe. He noted that his client Miss stoner wore gloves and on closer inspection he noted the concealed bruises on her wrist. After this he needed to inspect the client’s home. Once he was satisfied that no one could enter the bedroom through the window and with the knowledge that the twins locked their rooms he came to the conclusion that the murderer was an insider.
Holmes had wondered how Dr. Roylett’s cigar smoke could have entered the girl’s room and after surveying the room closely he had found a small ventilation. Holmes knew if anything was to happen to Helen Stoner it would be in the near future because she was to be married just like her twin sister had intended to be. He realized the only the only person who stood to gain from the twins death was the stepfather, Dr. Roylett, and after meeting the man at his lodging he knew he was an unsavory character with an uncontrollable temper. Holmes could see he was capable of murder and after waiting in the room that night, he was able to establish how he had done it. In fact, the final evidence was the death of him.
Holmes was a traditional detective and very thorough in his detection methods. ‘The Speckled Band’ has a far more detailed story line than ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ which is more effective as a murder mystery because the reader can marvel in Holmes excellent detection work and other aspects of the complex plot. However in ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ the lack of detective work and the conclusion to the story is almost comical and because of this ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ would not be considered by a reader as a brilliant murder mystery more of just a murder story because it does not actually involve any mystery about finding the murderer because the reader already knows who it is.
The role of Jack Noonan in ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ was to investigate the murder of a man in his own home. He had been a fellow detective and knew the victim’s wife quite well. The fact that she was a gentle, tranquil and petit woman, who was expecting a baby, clouded their judgement. Her ‘kind’ behaviour towards them by offering them a drink and then later a meal was enough to prevent them from detecting her guilt. In fact not only was the evidence lying right under their nose but also they ate it. This twist in the tail is quite strange because until then even though Mary had murdered her own husband, the reader maybe understood why she was so incensed, however to make the policemen eat the murder weapon may have seemed a bit out of character.
Jack Noonan featured in ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ very briefly and for that reason he is quite hard to compare to Holmes, however Jack Noonan did not investigate the murder deep enough and showed no signs of thorough investigation. The detection methods used in the story were not the dominant feature and the murder was the major aspect. The murder was cleverly staged by having a harmless pregnant housewife with child as the murderer, however the story was not focused around a detective and therefore the detection sections are not very effective on the reader as a murder mystery because the reader is expecting a murder mystery to have some really tense detection work taking place as in ‘The Speckled Band’. The detection parts also show no real originality unlike Holmes who chooses intentionally unusual cases to investigate to bring out some of his best detection techniques.
Roald Dahl describes the murderer, Mary Maloney in ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ as gentle, caring, trusting and a woman who is happy with her marriage and is expecting a baby. Then all of a sudden she becomes incensed by her husband’s betrayal. She becomes a victim of adultery and her crime is one of passion. She is able to succeed with her crime, because no one suspected a woman of her status to perform such a devilish deed. I do not think the reader’s attitude towards Mary Maloney changes, in fact the reader may feel compassion for her and consider what kind of a life could she lead housebound carrying a child and on her own. This made the story more effective as a murder mystery because it made me understand why the murderer did what she did and even made me a little sad for her. The reader might be a little proud of her strategy she used fooling the detectives.
In ‘The Speckled Band’ from the outset Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle gives the impression to the reader that the murderer is a man with a cruel uncontrollable temper, feared by everyone he meets. He is described as though he has a motive for killing the twin sisters. This tells the reader that the murderer plans the crime and makes him sound as though he is a stereotypical murderer. The readers attitude towards the villain stays the same throughout the story for he murders out of greed because he does not want to pay the amount stated in his late wife’s will. Possibly why the reader is more sympathetic for Mary Maloney than Dr. Roylett is that the reader has a chance to understand Mrs. Maloney in her thoughts and actions, but Dr. Roylett is only described by other characters and there is no chance to find out his private thoughts so he gains a poor reputation.
Mrs. Maloney in ’Lamb to the Slaughter’ is presented as very doting. I think Roald Dahl has decided to give her this image because the impression of a first time reader is not to suspect her because she conveys a calming feel doing her knitting. In fact she was the murderer and her deed was quite well concealed. She obviously cared very much for her husband, so much that she had to do something to stop her being parted from him.
In ‘The Speckled Band’ Helen Stoner tries to hide the bruise given to her by her stepfather from Holmes, this must mean she cared enough for Dr. Roylett not to make matters worse or maybe she was just scared of what he might do to her. I think she was scared of what he would do. She is similar to Mary Maloney because they both have feelings for people who have hurt them. In a way they are both victims.
In ‘The Speckled Band’, Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle has written in a formal style with frequent cases of complicated wording and vocabulary. An example of this is ‘I presume that it is something very pressing which they have to communicate.’ Although this not a considerably complicated sentence it shows wording that may not be used today. Compare this to ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ where Roald Dahl has focused more on an interesting murder rather than the way it has been written, however the simplicity of the language could be done deliberately because he would rather cater for all ages rather than just a selected age group. He has used personification in the story and this has been left out in ‘The Speckled Band’. An example of Roald Dahl’s use of metaphor is ‘when the clock said ten minutes to five.’ This sentence is about the time and shows personification because it says ‘the clock said’. A similar sentence about time, which does not show personification in ‘The Speckled Band’ is ‘it was a quarter past seven.’
In ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ the husband is very disgruntled and does not want to be fussed over by his wife. This may also help the reader understand why Mary Maloney killed him. In ‘The Speckled Band’, Holmes is shown to be affectionate and troubles over Miss Stoner’s dilemma. The difference between this and ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ is that Patrick Maloney in ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ is not bothered about his wife’s feeling and tells her the dreadful news in a callous attitude and in ‘The Speckled Band’ Holmes shows consideration caring for Miss Stoner and making sure she feels secure. The effect of this on the reader is that Holmes is a good, honest man.
The way I would have expected ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ to end was with Mr. Maloney arrested for murder and thought of as sadistic and evil by the police for killing her own husband and their colleague. However, she got away with the killing and I feel the reader would probably be pleased that she escaped the questioning of the police.
From the way ’The Speckled Band’ began I knew it was a traditional mystery and I knew it would end like all traditional mysteries, with the villain being caught. I feel the reader would enjoy the ending, for the villain is caught and I do not think anyone would want a man like Dr. Roylett to get away with such a crime. I do not however feel that ‘The Speckled Band’ is all that realistic because a real detective would find it much harder and longer than Holmes to pin point the exact means in which was used to kill the sister. However this does not make it any less effective as a traditional murder mystery.
The style of writing was easier to understand in ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ because it was a more modern story. ‘The Speckled Band’ used some difficult terminology but the reason for that was so a complex story could be condensed.
I actually preferred ‘The Speckled Band’ style of writing. Even though phrases were harder to understand, once understood, they contributed greatly to the story.
‘The Speckled Band’ was far more compelling, for the crime was obviously well planned and was quite unpredictable. The ’Lamb to the Slaughter’ was not actually much of a mystery because the reader was aware of the killer due to the story being mainly about the murderer and not the detective.
I think ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ fails as a murder mystery because it lacks actual ‘mystery’ for the reader even though the detectives never solved the case. From the point when the murder took place - which is where the tension started to build – there is no detection work for the reader to do and therefore the reader can then only become curious about whether Mrs. Maloney will succeed.
‘The Speckled Band’ succeeds as an effective murder mystery because for one it involves Holmes, so a reader familiar with him already knows that it will be a excellent mystery. Also the story actually leads the reader to keep following because it gains tension as each little piece of the mystery unfolds.
Overall I enjoyed and found ‘The Speckled Band’ more appealing due to its complex structure and excellent detective content, which was lacking in ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’.
I do agree with the statement that Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle’s ‘The Speckled Band’ is more effective as a murder mystery than Roald Dahl’s ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ because it has a more interesting plot and has a wider range of interesting characters to liven up the story. Also ‘The Speckled Band’ was an actual mystery for the reader to work out, whereas the only mystery in ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ was whether Mrs. Maloney would succeed or not.