Similarities and Differences between "The Speckled Band" and "Lamb to the Slaughter"
Similarities and Differences between "The Speckled Band" and "Lamb to the Slaughter" In the following essay I am going to look at two stories "The Speckled Band" and "Lamb to the Slaughter" and examine their similarities and differences. I shall start by looking at "The Speckled Band" analyze its qualities and then contrast it with the second story "Lamb to the Slaughter". "The Speckled Band" is structured in a very traditional way, with the whole story building up to a violent climax at the end. All through the story tension is gradually built up to the violent climax, for example when the characters Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson were in a dark bedroom at the end of the story references are made to the time. "Far away we could hear the deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of an hour. How long they seemed those quarters". This is repeated in all the Sherlock Holmes mysteries. Conan Doyle always wrote Sherlock Holmes stories to a formula that is the same in every one. The three stages of the formula are the statement of the case, the investigation of the case and the climax which is normally exiting and violent. The author makes the climax exciting by suddenly releasing the tension in a burst of violence. "Quote p187". The characters in "The Speckled Band" are all two dimensional, we do not get the chance to see their thoughts and feelings, they
Comparing 'Lamb to the Slaughter' written in the mid-twentieth century, and 'The Speckled Band' written in the 19th century.
Comparative Writing We have been reading 'Lamb to the Slaughter' written in the mid-twentieth century, and 'The Speckled Band' written in the 19th century. The authors both came from different time periods so different events at the particular time in which they were about would have had some influence on their writing. The stories are both about murders being committed, although one of the murders in a particular story until the end. Whereas, 'Lamb to the Slaughter' isn't a mystery at all. The murderer Mary Maloney takes us through it. I think it is like this because in the time periods that the stories are set in, reflect on what was appropriate in a story and what an audience would want from a story. When you think of a murder mystery type story, or a setting, they think of a dark and maybe a stormy night, a large scary looking house, a gunshot heard by all the characters but no-one actually seeing the gun being fired, that type of thing. Then at the end you expect a typical type ending and it all being figured out by the detectives, this is how these stories are very different from one another. The mood at the start of each story is one in which you wouldn't suspect a murder to be committed, although at the beginning of the Speckled Band you have the author giving the readers a background, it's then that we start to see what the story involves only not in too much
The Withered Arm The story, by Thomas Hardy
Wide Reading The Withered Arm The story, by Thomas Hardy is set in a small village where no one minds their own business. It was 1885 when this story was set the story is called The Withered Arm. Thomas Hardy was born on 1840 and died at 1928. He was a special he gained, and has kept fame both as a poet and as an author. His blend of nostalgic longing for a simpler past, together with a "modern" philosophical view of world, gives us distinct insights into the human condition and his sheer long life in terms of creative output is amazing in it self. He managed in all more than 70 years of writing novels, short stories, poems and the occasional theatrical exploit. He was published for more than 50 of those years. A man called Farmer Lodge and he was going out with a woman called Rhoda. He wouldn't marry her because she was a lower class than him. She had working lady hand so it made her hand very unattractive to Farmer Lodge. Farmer Lodge is now married to Gertrude. Farmer Lodge left Rhoda after she got pregnant with his child. Gertrude loved Farmer Lodge and Rhoda was jealous of Gertrude. Gertrude was a kind woman. Gertrude saw Rhoda's son without shoes so she brought him some new ones. One night Rhoda has a dream about Gertrude in the dream she saw Gertrude with a massive cut on her arm. Gertrude wakes up that morning with a massive cut on her arm just like in Rhoda's
In this essay I am going to compare two short stories called 'Lamb to the Slaughter' written by Roald Dahl in 1950. The second one is called 'The adventure of the Speckled band' written by Arthur Conan Doyle in 1892.
"From your reading of these two stories explain how they have each used the murder mystery genre to engage the reader. Which is most effective?" In this essay I am going to compare two short stories called 'Lamb to the Slaughter' written by Roald Dahl in 1950. The second one is called 'The adventure of the Speckled band' written by Arthur Conan Doyle in 1892. Both of these stories belong to the genre of murder mystery. 'The adventure of the speckled band' is a traditional, archetypal murder mystery; it is also easier for the reader to predict the ending of the story. 'Lamb to the slaughter' is also in the genre of murder mystery, but it has been modernized, and by this Rolad Dahl has subverted the conventions. This makes 'Lamb to the Slaughter' very different. 'The adventure of the speckled band' is set in a 1880s home. It is a deserted, big mansion in the middle of the country. With a Gothic setting it is also a very large and dilapidated. "Few acres of ground, and two hundred year old house" This quote then shows that the house is very old and ancient, so this is then where we would expect a murder mystery story to be set in. 'Lamb to the slaughter' is set in a suburban, ordinary, calm, normal, domestic 1950s home, this is then another one of the ways Roald Dahl broke the conventions because we do not expect a murder mystery story to be set in a normal house. The
Compare and Contrast two Murder Mysteries
Compare and Contrast two Murder Mysteries We read two murder mysteries; 'Lamb to the Slaughter' and 'The Speckled Band', which we were required to compare as murder mysteries. Murder mysteries are stories or films in which one or more murders have been committed and the characters are trying to find out who the murderer is. Usually the suspect is someone who is very close to the victim, but suddenly kills the victim, which makes it harder for the detectives to solve the mystery, as they would not think that the suspect was the killer. In most murder mysteries, the killer gets caught, but in some the killer escapes. 'Lamb to the Slaughter' The first story we read was 'Lamb to the Slaughter'. The story has a rather unusual name for a murder mystery because a lamb is an innocent animal and people would not link it with murders. In 'Lamb to the Slaughter', a character in the story named Mr. Maloney is murdered by his wife. Mrs. Maloney uses the closest heavy object near her, which is the leg of a lamb, as a murder weapon to kill her husband and this is how the title of the story is related to the mystery. In the story, Mrs. Maloney was a very loving and caring person before she killed her husband and she was also pregnant, which makes it more of a mystery for the detectives, because they would never think twice that the suspect was Mrs. Maloney. Mrs. Maloney kills her
Compare and contrast two murder mystery stories to assess how typical they are of their genre paying close attention to plot setting, character and language - Lamb to Slaughter by Roald Dahl and A Speckled Band by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Murder Mysteries Warrington, Birchwood CHS Wider Reading Essay Compare and contrast two murder mystery stories to assess how typical they are of their genre paying close attention to plot setting, character and language. The first story that we read was "Lamb to Slaughter" and it was written by Roald Dahl. The story that I expected Roald Dahl to write was a child's fiction and therefore the story wasn't very gruesome. My first impressions of this story were that I thought that it was going to be a children's murder mystery and it wasn't going to be very gory or scary and it would have simple vocabulary. The second story that we read was "A Speckled Band" and the writer was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This story was written for the Victorians and I think this affected the story in a big way. This is because the Victorians were very strict and if it were a murder mystery they would want the murderer to be caught and punished. Some of the popular murder mysteries are BOOKS: An Inspector Calls, The Ruth Rendall Mysteries: TV PROGRAMMES: Inspector Morse and Jack Frost. Television and Books differ in a big way. I prefer the television programmes and this is because they create tension in better ways because they make the camera shots dark and having parts in the plot where it makes you jump by scaring you with the scenery. Where as books just are quite boring unless you have an
The Landlady
The Landlady by Roald Dahl The story of The Landlady by Roald Dahl begins with a male character called Billy Weaver. Billy Weaver is a young, aspiring lad. He is only seventeen and has come from London to Bath to find a new exciting life as a worker in the Head Office. He looks for a place to stay and Bath and someone recommends the 'Bull and Gate', a pub with a mysterious old landlady... Billy Weaver dreams of being like the workers at the Head Office, with their swift and brisk movements and high success in life, he has even attempted being brisk any movements that he does! The landlady is a mysterious character; she comes across as an old helpless woman who seems like she wouldn't mind some company. She also owns the Bull and Gate, and enjoys stuffing dead 'pets', as she claims, "I stuff all my little pets myself when they pass away". Roald Dahl builds up the atmosphere of the story by setting the scene in a normal way but slowly increasing the tension level. Nearer to the beginning of the middle of the story, Roald releases some of Billy's thoughts about what he thinks about the Bull and Gate, "Beer and Darts in the evenings and lot's of people to talk to". By reading this quote we can see that Billy is social as he likes to meet and talk to new people and also have a round of friendly darts with someone. Roald makes the reader feel like Billy has been sort of,
The Lamb to the Slaughter and The Speckled Band - Why does Mrs Maloney get away with murder and why Doctor Roylott doesn't?
The Lamb to the Slaughter and The Speckled Band Question Why does Mrs Maloney get away with murder and why Doctor Roylott doesn't? Mrs Maloney Mrs Maloney was first described as being tranquil, calm, placid, doing things without anxiety and loved by her husband. She has big brown eyes and a bun in the oven, a baby. She is seven months pregnant, with the love of her husband. Mrs Maloney's violence towards her husband, Patrick Maloney, that caused his death, was not predetermined but instead only happened in a quick act of frustration. The act of death was caused by Mrs Maloney hitting Patrick over the head with a frozen lag of lamb that was later eaten by the investigators during a verbal investigation at dinner. She however gets away with it due to her swift idea and her so called innocent acting and her facial expressions. She realises that if she gets rid of the evidence she will obviously get away with the act of murder and so comes up with a plan to disguise her guilt. Cleverly, she invites the inspectors to dinner to carry out a verbal investigation, but whilst eating, they are destroying the evidence. Therefore, Mrs Maloney escapes being caught, not only due to her witty intelligence but also to the inspector's lack of quality investigation and mindless ignorance. Mrs Maloney has a cool head on her shoulders and maintains her composure throughout the investigation.
Miss Trunchbull One of the ways that Roald Dahl creates the character Miss Trunchbull is by her clothes
Miss Trunchbull One of the ways that Roald Dahl creates the character Miss Trunchbull is by her clothes. For example he describes her as wearing "a brown cotton smock which was pinched in around the waist with a wide leather belt fastened with an enormous silver buckle." He calls Miss Trunchbull's clothes "extremely odd." This tells you that the clothes she wore were very different to other ladies. The smock shows that she isn't a tidy and calm lady, but she is a rough and un-tidy lady. Another way that Roald Dahl creates the character Miss Trunchbull is by the way he describes her character and the way that people react to her. Roald Dahl's words show that no-one likes Miss Trunchbull. Also Roald Dahl compares Miss Trunchbull to other headmistresses and this shows you that she is very different. Miss Trunchbull is also described as hating children. We can also find out some more information on Miss Trunchbull by the way Roald Dahl describes her body. Roald Dahl describes Miss Trunchbull as having a "bull-neck" this makes her sound like she is big, bold, fierce and might even charge at the children. These are the type of thing a bull would do. The final way that Miss Trunchbull is described is by her voice. Roald Dahl describes her voice as "deep and dangerous." This also reminds you of a bull. You also associate deep voices with men this makes you think Miss
Both Mrs Maloney And Roylott Are Clever About The Way They Hide The Evidence Of Their Crimes. Why Does Mrs Maloney Get Away With It While Roylott Doesn't?
Both Mrs Maloney And Roylott Are Clever About The Way They Hide The Evidence Of Their Crimes. Why Does Mrs Maloney Get Away With It While Roylott Doesn't? In this essay I am going to analyse and investigate why Mary Maloney gets away with he crime of murder and Roylott doesn't. I will be comparing and contrasting the two stories, "The Adventure Of The Speckled Band" and "Lamb To The Slaughter". The two stories are written sixty years apart. "The Adventure Of The Speckled Band" was written by Arthur Conan Doyle in the 1880's, whereas "Lamb To The Slaughter" was written by Roald Dahl in the 1950's. "Lamb To The Slaughter" is about a typical marriage of the time. We can see this by the dominating role of the husband (Patrick Maloney). Patrick is the typical husband who brings the money. This shows male patriarchy. Whereas Mary tends to the house - making the food for when Patrick comes home and we can see this by the early line in the story, "She took his coat and hung it in the closet, she walked over and made the drinks, a strongish one for him, a weak one for herself". This shows that she wants to please him, or this could be the daily routine that Patrick expects to get when he comes home. "The Adventure Of The Speckled Band" was written in the late Victorian times; again in this story this is a strong male patriarchy. The story is based around the Stoner family. The