‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ is slightly different. There is a slight twist to the story, which Roald Dahl has been known for in the past. The villain, Mary Maloney, a pregnant woman, would not have been suspected of being the villain, rather the victim. She is a housewife who seems to be a loving, caring person, and very attentive –
‘But darling you must eat’
- Who, in fact, turns out to be a scheming, intelligent woman who kills her husband. She kills him by hitting him over the head with a frozen leg of lamb. The victim, Mr Maloney, would have expected at the start of the thriller to be the villain and not the victim.
‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ is different because murders by women of men weren’t common also helps to hide the true victims and villains in the murder mystery. Gender roles played a big part in the story. In them days the men were the dominant force in the household. He would be the one who went out to work and ‘put the food on the table.’ Whilst all the women were good for was cleaning, cooking and taking care of the children.
‘The Speckled Band’ is slightly different. In the story, it is slightly obvious that it is 19th century literature again because of the gender roles, but also because of the aristocracy in the story. The characters seem to be rich, with a lot of power and land, which only began to disappear in the early 1930’s. Wealth plays a major part in the story. The reason that Sherlock Holmes is involved in a murder that took place at Stoke Moran was all due to the fact that Dr Roylott did not wish to pay out a sum of money that Helen Stoners mum had left her.
The different styles of writing are also something that should be mentioned. In ‘The Speckled Band’ the writing has words that are not as common in the present day conversation. E.g.-‘singular’ (extraordinary). Also, ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ seems to use more informal language in the conversations, As if they already know someone who they haven’t met. ‘The Speckled Band’ uses more of a formal style of conversation that, once again, indicates to you that it is was written in the 1900’s. ‘The Speckled Band’ uses many metaphors, alliteration and similes.
‘The dense darkness’
‘As swift as intuitions’
‘Frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal’
The settings are a very important part in the two stories. In the ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’, the homely, cosy background is a perfect setting to fool the reader in thinking that the story is not a ‘typical murder mystery’. Because in the story Mrs Maloney is pregnant, the fact that she could be a villain is taken away and the role of the victim is put into place. The husband would be the prime suspect of being the killer since he walks into the cosy house and seems to tell Mrs Maloney some news, which in turn agitates her greatly. We never actually know what Mr Maloney says to Mrs Maloney but my first thought was that he wished to split up with her because he loved someone else, or that he didn’t wish to have a baby. This adds to the mystery and suspense because you instantly think that something major is about to happen in the story.
I never expected Mr Maloney of being the victim, mainly because of his behaviour. The way he walked in the house sat down and told Mrs Maloney to ‘ Sit Down.’ That is however different to my first impressions of Helen Stoner. She instantly struck me as being the victim. First thing that convinced me was her comportment. They were very frigid and timid. The fact that she was of a rich background also helped me to think that she was the victim. Another big reason is that her sister died in the same place and heard the same things the night before her death.
However, the setting in ‘The Speckled Band’ is typical of a murder mystery story. The Mansion of Stoke Moran, which is old and mysterious, is such a common feature in a murder mystery that it was almost expected in the Sherlock Holmes story. Furthermore, the fact that there is a stepfather also increase the tension in the story as a new member to the family is always looked on as an outsider. Especially when he is a stubborn, narrow-minded person such as Dr Roylott.
Another very common characteristic in a murder mystery is the way the author makes you want to read on. In ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’, Roald Dahl uses the surprise in his story. No one expects Mary Maloney, the quiet, considerate housewife to kill her husband. So the reader wants to read on to find out if she gets away with it, or if she gets caught.
In ‘The Speckled Band’ the suspense is built up on how Helen Stoner’s sister is killed? Was it one of the gypsies camping in the estate? Or was it the baboon or cheetah that managed to kill Miss Stoner? All of these questions make the reader want to get to the bottom of the story.
The endings for both stories were very similar. In both stories, the victim and the murderer were very close. In ‘The Speckled Band’ the murderer was the victim’s stepfather. In ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ the murderer is the husband of the victim. The Speckled Band ending was slightly expected, as the stepfather was by far the prime suspect at the start of the story. However, in ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ the fact that Mary didn’t get caught was a surprise. She got rid of the evidence by cooking it and feeding it o the officers investigating the murder of her husband.
The story that seemed most successful to me was ‘Lamb to the slaughter’. No one expected Mary Maloney to murder her husband and then not get caught. The way Roald Dahl made the story into a mystery when reading the story was unique.