This makes the reader think that something extremely important had taken place or was about to happen.
The way Helen Stoner was described confirms our previous thoughts.
“Frightened eyes like those of some hunted animal”
It makes us think of something evil and cruel.
We learn about the case from Helen Stoner. Miss Stoner is the potential victim. The story written from her perspective is more dramatic. It makes the reader feel more connected to the story. This makes us sympathetic towards the potential victim. Holmes using his extensive knowledge and observation skills and his brilliant method s of detection solves the case.
Conan Doyle engages the reader at the beginning of the story by opening with something unusual. Holmes breaks his routine. This makes us read on because we want to know what is so important to him. Conan Doyle builds up tension slowly dropping small clues throughout the story. However not enough for us to solve the mystery. This makes us think if we red on we could solve the crime.
The story ends with Holmes solving the crime. The villain is dead and the potential victim is safe. Then Holmes explains the whole thing to Doctor Watson who then explains it to us.
This is a typical detective story because the detective solves the crime and everyone is safe afterwards.
“Lamb to the Slaughter” is written in the third person, but mostly from Mary Maloney's perspective.
The story begins by describing in great detail the cosy pleasant atmosphere of Mr and Mrs Maloney's home. The story begins in this way because the writer wants to lull the reader into a false sense of security so the murder takes place it is more dramatic.
The most dramatic part of the story is when she kills her husband. It is dramatic because the reader would not be expecting it especially as a leg of Lamb was the murder weapon.
Ronald Dahl kept the readers interest even after the killer was revealed because we wanted to know if she would be caught.
Mrs Maloney’s husband was a policeman so someone would miss him.
The story ends with the detective eating the murder weapon and the murderer apparently getting away with it.
This is not a typical detective story because the detectives did not solve the crime and the murderer got away with the crime.
The language in the “speckled band” reflects the values and ideas of the era in which it was written. The language is very formal and archaic. It is also very melodramatic. There are very few abbreviations, everything is spoken or written in full. The characters in the book address each other using their full names or surnames. They also use titles; even Holmes and Dr Watson who are best friends call each other by their surnames.
“You are not adverse to this trip Watson?”
This suggests distance that familiarity was not acceptable. Helen Stoner even called members of her own family by their full name or in other formal ways.
“ When Dr Roylett was in India he married my mother, Mrs Stoner the young widow of major General Stoner, of Bengal Artillery”
The sentence structure is very elaborate. The word order of sentences is very different from today language.
“ I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his professional investigations and in admiring the rapid deductions as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a logical basis, with which he unravelled the problems which were submitted to him”.
This is a marker of nineteenth century writing. The story is full of melodrama. This is because in the nineteenth century people were not as knowledgeable as they are in the twentieth century.
Scientists had not yet discovered much about the world, therefore people were not as intelligent and needed things to be as extremely exciting keep their interest. When Watson is describing Miss Stoner it is very melodramatic.
“With restless frightened eyes like those of some hunted animal”
This is to interest the reader and make them read on.
The setting is also very melodramatic. It is early in the morning Stroke Moran is also shown as overly frightening.
“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 rain”.
This is to make the reader think that Stoke Moran is an evil place where nasty things happen.
The language is “Lamb to the slaughter” is informal it is more personal and familiar. The economy of language has changed abbreviations are now used. This reflects the social and cultural changes.
“Hullo Sam.”
Addressing the shopkeeper by his first name which is also abbreviated suggests familiarity. It is a different conversation style is different to “The Speckled Band. There is no formal language it is modern and relaxed. It is not as melodramatic as “the Speckled Band”. More is left for the reader’s imagination. There are many abbreviations. Mary Maloney addresses very important people by their first names,
“Will you do that, Jack, Thank you so much.”
This shows that in the twentieth century familiarity was allowed and used.
This makes the reader fell relaxed, like you know the characters well.
The sentence structure is usually quiet short. However Rold Dahl uses long sentences to give attention to detail.
“The room was warm and clean. The curtains drawn, the two table lamps alight- hers and the one by the empty chair opposite.”
This relaxes the reader by slowly letting them into the story. It lulls the reader into a safe sense of security because we think the whole story will be like that. Rold Dahl also uses short sentences when the police arrive, this builds up tension.
“No acting was necessary.”
We want to know if she gets caught in the end so we read faster with the short sentences.
Conan Doyle portrays Dr Roylott as a short tempered, evil, aggressive, huge man. He is a typical murderer. His own Stepdaughter is afraid of him.
“He is as crazy as he is strong.”
This makes us think that if his own family is scared of him then everybody else should be as well.
Dr Roylott is referred to a bird of prey.
“Resembled to fierce bird of pray.”
This makes us think of a massive bird hunting down a small helpless animal,
Helen Stoner is portrayed as a hunted animal. She needs to be protected from a huge evil man.
“Her eyes looked like those of a hunted animal.”
This makes us think of her as small and fragile the stereotypical woman of that time. Sherlock Holmes talks to her as if she were a child.
“Please give us every little fact.”
This makes us think that she is not clever and very delicate.
Helen Stoner was described a grey.
“We saw that her face was grey.”
This shows that she is not evil but she is not happy either. It is a mixture of light and dark. It signifies that she is a good person but something is bad and evil in her life.
Sherlock Holmes is described as a physically powerful and a typical detective. He solves his crimes using his intellect and not his power. He follows clues and deduces from there. When threatened by Dr Roylott he laughed and bent the poker back into shape.
“I might of shown him that my grip was not much more feeble than his own,”
This shows that he too is as strong as a huge man but he has intelligence to with it.
Holmes is a typical detective because he uses hid mind to solve crimes and not his strength.
At the beginning of the story Rold Dahl describes Mary Maloney as a seemingly innocent very famine woman.
“she loved him for the way he sat loosely in his chair.”
This makes us think that she could not possibly be a murderer. This lulls us into a false sense of security. So when the murder takes place it is more of a shock.
Rold Dahl tells us what Mary Maloney is thinking so we can understand more about the story from her perspective. It lets us into her state of mind when she committed the murder.
Mary Maloney starts off being a stereotypical housewife. She is sweet and a homemaker not a typical murderer. She then commits the murder on impulse. Mary now becomes calculating and cunning. This makes the story more shocking and powerful because there is an unexpected twist.
Patrick Maloney is seen as a strong masculine mane. A police officer so he is obviously strong. He could possibly be the murderer. We then see that he is murdered by a small sweet pregnant woman. This is a modern idea of the week defeating the strong.
The characters are like real people would have been at the time. Women were housewives that stayed at home and cooked. Men were seen to go out to very important jobs.
The two stories are very different. “Speckled Band” is completely typical of the genre. Where as “Lamb to the Slaughter” is not. In “Speckled Band the murderer is a huge man who pays for his crimes. In “Lamb to the Slaughter” the murderer is a small woman that gets away with the crime. I prefer “Lamb to the Slaughter” because it is more unusual and you would never guess what was going to happen from the beginning.
