Adam Wright 15th September 2001
Comparing Lamb to the Slaughter and the Speckled Band
The Two works that I am comparing for this essay are Lamb to the slaughter by Roald Dahl and the Speckled Band by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The Speckled band is a stereotypical Sherlock Holmes murder mystery written in 1892 and Lamb to the Slaughter was written some 60 years later by Rhoald Dahl in 1954. We can therefore safely expect their to be many differences in plot and language and some themes, but both share the common themes of murder.
Both texts are murder mysteries but there is a single important difference. In TSB we are encouraged to find the solution to the murder by assembling our evidence from the text and drawing conclusions as we see fit. There is, though, a red herring clue included to throw the reader, the most obvious example being the presence and the close association of the Gypsies with Dr Roylott. In LTTS we know who has committed the murder and the details, but the fun is in seeing if she will get caught. Both pieces of text have unusual murder weapons but this is a norm with murder mysteries which continues to this day; the Jonathon Creek series being a popular notable example.
The characters in both texts are well worth a mention. In TSB the characters are predictable. The strong, brutal male, Dr Roylott is the murderer and the emphasis is less on who and more on how. I don't think that Sir Arthur Doyle would be allowed to get away with this in either the present day climate or the climate of 1954. Just as Dr Roylott is an obvious murder suspect Helen Stoner is the obvious damsel in distress. The dragged out description of her and her features describe " a woman with a figure of thirty" but starting to sprout "premature grey" hair.
Comparing Lamb to the Slaughter and the Speckled Band
The Two works that I am comparing for this essay are Lamb to the slaughter by Roald Dahl and the Speckled Band by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The Speckled band is a stereotypical Sherlock Holmes murder mystery written in 1892 and Lamb to the Slaughter was written some 60 years later by Rhoald Dahl in 1954. We can therefore safely expect their to be many differences in plot and language and some themes, but both share the common themes of murder.
Both texts are murder mysteries but there is a single important difference. In TSB we are encouraged to find the solution to the murder by assembling our evidence from the text and drawing conclusions as we see fit. There is, though, a red herring clue included to throw the reader, the most obvious example being the presence and the close association of the Gypsies with Dr Roylott. In LTTS we know who has committed the murder and the details, but the fun is in seeing if she will get caught. Both pieces of text have unusual murder weapons but this is a norm with murder mysteries which continues to this day; the Jonathon Creek series being a popular notable example.
The characters in both texts are well worth a mention. In TSB the characters are predictable. The strong, brutal male, Dr Roylott is the murderer and the emphasis is less on who and more on how. I don't think that Sir Arthur Doyle would be allowed to get away with this in either the present day climate or the climate of 1954. Just as Dr Roylott is an obvious murder suspect Helen Stoner is the obvious damsel in distress. The dragged out description of her and her features describe " a woman with a figure of thirty" but starting to sprout "premature grey" hair.