Both "Lamb to the slaughter" and "The Speckled Band" shares some of the characteristics of murder mysteries. Explain the similarities and differences between the two stories and say which story you think is more compelling to read.

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Emily Rice 10Y1                        English GCSE coursework

Both “Lamb to the slaughter” and “The Speckled Band” shares some of the characteristics of murder mysteries. Explain the similarities and differences between the two stories and say which story you think is more compelling to read.

After reading both “Lamb to the slaughter” and “The Speckled Band” I intend to analyse the stories in detail showing their similarities, differences and success in fulfilling my expectations of a murder mystery story, taking into consideration that the two stories were written at very different periods in history. In order to do this I will make comparisons between characters, settings, language and overall story line, etc. I will constantly be considering how writing techniques and styles have changed through time and how this affects the story. Finally, I will attempt to come to a conclusion stating which story is generally most compelling to read.

Roald Dahl and Arthur Conan Doyle were very different authors with very different writing styles, but they shared the same love for writing stories with a twist and for pleasing their readers in their own unique ways. They were both born in different centuries, had dissimilar views and were very incomparable for their time. Arthur Conan Doyle knew what the public wanted to read, they wanted to be able to associate with and love the main character, Sherlock Holmes. In this age, crime was at an all time high and people lived in fear of crime; with knowledge of this is, he decided to create an appropriate character. So, Conan Doyle wrote of a character that could solve mysteries and counteract crime in such a way that amazed the Victorian public so much that they became dependant on the stories. This meant that Conan Doyle very much dominated Victorian Britain with his anecdotes. I believe that the same applied for Dahl.

Dahl, like Conan Doyle, knew exactly what his target audience wanted. They wanted tales of mystery, murder and stories with a dark, yet humorous tone. He was successful in creating this, again giving the public a series of stories that suited these criteria. In conclusion, even though both authors originated in different centuries, they shared the same knowledge of their audiences. This was very important because if The Speckled Band had been written in the 20th century it would not have been at all as successful as it was in original time. The same applies for Lamb to the Slaughter.

To fully understand about the authors, I have collected some information about both Roald Dahl and Arthur Conan Doyle and current affairs of their time. Roald Dahl was born in 1916 and died in 1990. When Dahl first started writing, he wrote stories to please people of all ages and backgrounds. His work was very popular; some even got televised to the British nation. At this time, people in Britain were living as part of a democracy, feeling more involved in their country and in a way feeling more freedom to have their own opinions. This meant that Dahl was accepted as a writer because he wrote stories that encapsulated the public’s views. The same concept applied with Arthur Conan Doyle, he knew that the public wanted to be heard, and so he incorporated some of this into his books.

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Both Lamb to the Slaughter and The Speckled Band have a strong story opening, giving the reader something to judge the protagonist and following key characters by. But, they use different techniques to do so. The Speckled Band starts with a short narration from the character, Mr Watson (the best friend and colleague of the protagonist, Sherlock Holmes). The author, Conan Doyle, chose to do this to let the reader take on and personalise an opinion of Sherlock Holmes. Since Mr Watson is a very good friend of Holmes, the reader takes on a good opinion of ...

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