Both stories begin in someone’s home. In The Speckled Band the beginning is at Sherlock Holmes’ rooms. In Lamb to the Slaughter in Mary Maloney’s home. “The room was warm and clean.” Immediately we get the impression that Mary Maloney is a typical housewife, that the room is cosy. This is a perfect setting for this type of story because it makes the murder unexpected. Here the stories begin to differ Lamb to the Slaughter takes place mainly in Mary Maloney’s home. Where as in The Speckled Band use is made of various settings, coach, countryside, lodge and manor. The manor in particular adds atmosphere to the story. “Two curving wings, like the claws of a crab...” “The manor house as I have already said is old and only one wing is now inhabited.” This gives an image a desolate ruin and it has the feeling of an isolated place. If anything would happen there no one would know. “…A picture of ruin.” This old manor house shaped like crabs claws is the perfect dwelling for a sinister character such as Dr Roylett.
Dr Grimsby Roylett is a very different character from Mary Maloney. Mary Maloney is a peaceful woman. “…Her sewing was curiously tranquil.” She is six months pregnant and smiles as she waits for Patrick Maloney to arrive home. She seems as though she is unusually calm and rational. The reader feels sympathy for her because she has an understandable motive and is pregnant. “…For this was her sixth month with child.”
Doctor Grimsby Roylett is a different character altogether. He is dangerous, “He beat his native butler to death”, and he has a bad temper “…he is a man of immense strength and absolute uncontrollable in his anger.” The reader feels dislike for him. His motive is greed, he should be caught. Both characters are clever. Mary Maloney because she knew that she had to believe her self to be innocent in order to convince others, “’hullo Sam’ she said brightly out loud” and Doctor Roylett was clever in his elaborate planning.
The victims are Patrick Maloney in Lamb to the Slaughter and Helen Stoner in the Speckled Band. Julia Stoner is also a victim but her death occurs before the beginning of the story and we do not know much about her. A similarity between Helen Stoner and Patrick Maloney is that neither victim was essentially a bad person, although the husband in Lamb to the Slaughter was quite callous to be leaving his devoted wife when she was six months pregnant. A difference is that in Lamb to the Slaughter there is not a danger of Mary Maloney killing again whereas in the Speckled Band Helen is still a potential victim. Helen is possibly suspicious of Dr. Roylett as she went to see Sherlock Holmes without him knowing. Helen is a secretive person,
“…Have you told me all?”
“Yes, all.”
“Miss Stoner, you have not.”
She tries to hide her bruises from Dr Roylett but Sherlock Holms is not fooled. Helen Stoner is scared, she looks as though she has been frightened for a long time. “Her features and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot will premature grey.”
The detectives in each story are very different in their attitudes and professionalism. Holmes character is calm and controlled as shown when Dr Roylett confronted him.
“Holmes Scotland yard jack-in-office.”
“Holmes chuckled heartily.”
We get the impression that Holmes is upper class because he has a maid and he does not always get paid for solving miseries. He has a maid called Mrs Hudson, “Mrs Hudson has been knocked up… “ He thinks things through and is very observant. “You have come in by train this morning I see.” He is very professional and is liked by readers because he is unbeatable. The police in Lamb to the Slaughter are in complete contrast. They are relaxed and not very suspicious. “They always treated her kindly.” They are very unobservant and gullible, “probably right under our very noses.” These detectives are unprofessional even though they had new technology to help them they do not catch Mary Maloney. Holmes’ intelligence is shown in the way he uses old-fashioned methods to detect a very clever and well thought out murder method.
Dr Roylett planned maliciously whereas Mary Maloney did not premeditate the murder of her husband. Although Mary Maloney did plot after the murder. Dr Roylett’s plan involved a lot of careful planning including buying and having knowledge of deadly snakes, training the snake and placing a vent and bell pull in the adjacent room. Dr Roylett chose his snake carefully so that the poison would not show up on a doctor’s examination. Mary Maloney an unusual and clever weapon, because the leg of lamb was easy to dispose of. Neither of the murders would like to be caught and they both initially fooled the authorities.
A further murder is to take place in The Speckled Band. As mentioned earlier the reader feels anxious for the safety of Helen and also at times for Holmes and Watson. “’The least sound would be fatal…’” In Lamb to the Slaughter the style of storytelling is more relaxed because the murder has taken place. In The Speckled Band the reader does not know the murderer. It is a more traditional style of storytelling. The reader is encouraged to follow the clues and become ‘active’ in solving the crime. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s style is sophisticated, descriptive and makes use of complex sentences. For example: “In glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I have over the past eight years studied the methods of my friend Sherlock Holmes…” His story is written looking back over to a previous case and is told by Watson (Holmes’ assistant). Whereas a narrator tells Lamb to the Slaughter it also looks back over “… was warm and clean.” Roald Dahl’s style of storytelling is simpler than Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s it is also more straightforward and less complex. “Mary Maloney was waiting for her husband to come home from work.” The ending of the story shows this.
At the end of Lamb to the Slaughter the reader is wondering what happens next unlike in The Speckled Band. The ending also adds a touch of humour. “Mary Maloney began to giggle.” This could indicate relief because she feels she has escaped capture. On the other hand it could be a response to the stress off the day. Or perhaps she felt that something was wrong in her marriage and was pleased that things worked out for her. She was not really pleased that her husband was dead. If she were the short story would have been too cold and sinister.
Lamb to the Slaughter and The Speckled Band were both enjoyable to read, and were well written. However Lamb to the Slaughter was more realistic than The Speckled Band —a snake in a safe? – A baboon and a cheeter on the premises? It was also easier to read and more humorous. Sherlock Holmes was infallible one feels that he would have solved the crime in Lamb to the Slaughter had he been on the case. However he is more prone to catching thorough villains rather than pregnant women who are being deserted by their husbands.
