'As a murder mystery story, Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle's 'The Speckled Band' is far more effective than Roald Dahl's 'Lamb to the Slaughter'. Do you agree?
8th January 2002 Anthony Seymour 'As a murder mystery story, Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle's 'The Speckled Band' is far more effective than Roald Dahl's 'Lamb to the Slaughter'. Do you agree? The beginning of 'Lamb to the Slaughter' displays a warm atmosphere, with Mrs. Maloney knitting while relaxing and waiting for the home coming of her beloved husband. She then sets about her familiar routine of setting out a bottle of whiskey and a glass to welcome him home. She then happily awaits his return and seems to be content. It would appear the opening to 'Lamb to the Slaughter' leads the reader to believe she lives in a settled household, with no indication that Mrs. Maloney could later be capable of becoming so incensed that she should take such a drastic action as to murder her husband. 'Lamb to the Slaughter' has a more appealing beginning than 'The Speckled Band', as the reader is led to believe that the Maloney family live in a happy environment. Later the reader is shocked by the unexpected murder, to think a stable lady is driven to such violence. The 'Lamb to the Slaughter' is made effective as a murder story because it combines the element of surprise with a completely unsuspected murder. However this story is ineffective as a 'mystery' to the reader because it lacks the general layout of a typical murder mystery in as much as Roald Dahl describes the actions of the
Compare and Contrast "Lamb To the Slaughter" with "The Speckled Band".
Compare and Contrast "Lamb To the Slaughter" with "The Speckled Band" For this piece of course work I have been set the task of comparing the two stories mentioned in the title, "Lamb to the Slaughter" and "The Speckled Band". The popular and highly successful author Roald Dahl wrote the story "Lamb to the Slaughter". The story was first published in 1954. The author Roald Dahl is a famous author and he is most famous for writing stories such as "James and the giant peach" and "The Twits" but as not a lot of people know that he also writes more adult stories like "Tales of the unexpected". In his books he mostly rights about fictitious characters that are doing strange things with or strange things happening to them. The author of "The Speckled Band" was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the Story was first published in the year of 1892. In this story the main character is a detective called Sherlock Holmes. This character has been in all of this author's books and Sherlock Holmes is a purely fictional character. The character Sherlock Holmes is a Scotland Yard detective and he has a very good friend and partner in the police force, Dr Watson. The detective Sherlock Holmes is a very adept detective and he has had lots of famous cases, "Hound of the Baskervilles" keeping in mind that he is a fictional character, thus so are the cases. The fact that both of the authors wrote about
Compare ‘The Adventure of The Speckled Band’ and ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ referring to the structure, language and characterisation. In what ways are the stories typical of the detective story genre.
Compare 'The Adventure of The Speckled Band' and 'Lamb to the Slaughter' referring to the structure, language and characterisation. In what ways are the stories typical of the detective story genre. In this essay I am going to compare the two crime and detection stories 'The Adventure of The Speckled Band' and 'Lamb to the Slaughter' Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote 'The Speckled Band' in 1892. It was widely admired as one of the best written and most exciting Sherlock Holmes stories. 'The Speckled Band' is about a middle class family where a murder is committed and Sherlock Holmes is called in to investigate it. He successfully solves the case and we find out that the step-dad kills the daughter who is just about to get married because once the daughter gets married the step-dad wont be able to claim any money from the mothers will. Roald Dahl wrote 'Lamb to the Slaughter' in 1954. Roald Dahl specialised in writing short stories of the unexpected horror and surprise such as 'Kiss Kiss' in 1960. His children's books display a similar taste for the grotesque such as 'James and the Giant Peach' 1961 and 'Charlie and the Chocolate factory' 1964. . 'Lamb to the Slaughter' is about a woman who kills her husband with a leg of lamb and then when the police come to investigate the murder she cooks the leg and lamb and fools the police into eating it. Both stories are Crime and
Compare and contrast the two short stories ‘ Lamb to the Slaughter’ and ‘ The Speckled Band’ In this essay I’m going to compare and contrast the two short stories, ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ and ‘The Speckled Band
Compare and contrast the two short stories ' Lamb to the Slaughter' and ' The Speckled Band' In this essay I'm going to compare and contrast the two short stories, 'Lamb to the Slaughter' and 'The Speckled Band'. 'Lamb to the slaughter' was written in 1954 and is a fairly 'modern' crime story. It's about a woman called Mary Maloney killing her husband with a large piece of meat and getting away with it very cleverly. 'The Speckled Band' was written in 1892 and is very different to 'lamb to the slaughter' It's about a mad doctor who kills one of his step daughters and wants to kill the other because they will cost him money when they get married. In 'Lamb to the Slaughter' there is a 'third person' narrator. In this story it is the author Roald Dahl that narrates and comments on Mary Maloney's feelings. It is taken very much from Mary's view and the narrator tells you what is going on in her head. It makes you feel sorry for Mary because you know what she's feeling and how hard it must be for her. I think this is a good way of narrating but it does lose quite a lot of suspense that there would be if it were told by one of the characters. In 'The Speckled Band' the narrator starts off to be Dr Watson and her is the omniscient and tells most of the story. He helps to build up the suspense by starting by saying "There are parts of the story where Dr Watson needs another
Compare and contrast The Signalman and A Lamb To The Slaughter
Compare and contrast The Signalman and A Lamb To The Slaughter A Lamb to the slaughter is based on the relationship of a married couple that we assume are expecting a child. "Her skin...for this was her sixth month with a child" We also assume that her husband Mr Maloney is having an affair. "Of course I'll give you money and see you're looked after. But there isn't needn't really be any fuss. I hope not anyway. It wouldn't be very good for my job." This makes Mr Maloney appear to be very selfish and uncaring towards his wife and his own child. This is Mary Maloney's motive for killing her husband. Her weapon is one she didn't really think about using. It was just happened to be there. It was a frozen leg of lamb, which is later fed to the investigating officers. This is very amusing and is a very interesting twist because it is not something you would expect to happen. After Mary kills her husband she goes to the local shop to create herself an alibi. This is very quick thinking and it makes us wonder if anyone will notice that anything is wrong. The story is opened using words such as 'warm' and 'clean' and the atmosphere seams very homely. "The room was warm and clean, the curtains drawn, the two table lamps alight - hers and the one by the empty chair opposite. On the sideboard behind her, two tall glasses, soda water, whisky. Fresh ice cubes in the Thermos
A comparison of modern murder mysteries against those written in the past.
Vicki Johnson A comparison of modern murder mysteries against those written in the past. Lamb to the slaughter was written by Roald Dahl in 1954. Roald Dahl is most famous for writing children's stories but when he did write stories for adults they tended to be about ordinary people in extraordinary situations with surprising outcomes or twists and 'Lamb to the slaughter' is no exception. From what we know of Dahl's style, when writing for adult, we can guess that the story is going to be untraditional to say the least, with an unexpected murder and victim and a surprising or shocking outcome or twist. 'The speckled band' was written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and was published in 1892. Doyle's books are famous for their lead character the fantastically analytical Sherlock Holmes. Holmes is a brilliant detective how takes on cases as a hobby to satisfy his inquisitive mind rather than as a profession. Holmes and his sidekick Watson, go around solving seemingly impossible mysteries using the powers of observation and analytical thought. One of Holmes's most famous lines is, "when all other possibilities have been discounted, whatever remain, however improbable, must b the solution". This prior knowledge of the author and the lead to characters suggests that the story is going to be a traditional murder mystery with the method so convoluted and unfathomable that only the
Both Arthur Conan Doyle and Roald Dahl cover the issues of crime and punishment. Discuss with reference to character, language and historical context.
Both Arthur Conan Doyle and Roald Dahl cover the issues of crime and punishment. Discuss with reference to character, language and historical context. Crime and Punishment being the common factor, the two stories we studied were 'The Adventure of the Speckled Band' by Arthur Conan Doyle and 'Lamb to the Slaughter' by Roald Dahl. Arthur Conan Doyle is famous for his stories featuring the fictitious detective 'Sherlock Holmes' of which 'The Adventure of the Speckled Band' is one. Roald Dahl is more commonly known for his excellent children's books like 'James and the Giant Peach' and 'The Witches', some of which have been made into films, he also wrote adult books and films like ' The Gremlins' and ' Tales of the Unexpected' which 'Lamb to the Slaughter' featured in. In 'Lamb to the Slaughter' Mary Maloney, a housewife, is at home waiting for her husband, Patrick Maloney, a local police officer, to come home. On arriving home in an unusually bad mood, he pours himself an extra whisky, as well as the one he usually has when he arrives home, -'the new drink was dark amber with the quantity of whisky in it'. Mary Maloney offers to make him something to eat when she stands up he tells her to sit back down and informs her that he has something to tell her. We are never informed of what the news is but we can only assume from their actions before and after the news that it was
How typical of the murder mystery story is “The Speckled Band” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl? Which of these stories do you prefer and why?
How typical of the murder mystery story is "The Speckled Band" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and "Lamb to the Slaughter" by Roald Dahl? Which of these stories do you prefer and why? These two stories were both written at different times in history. "The Speckled Band" was written in 1892 during the 19th century, whilst "Lamb to the Slaughter" was written in the middle of the 20th century in the 1950's. Immediately the reader can observe differences in style the way the stories are written, the words used in each and technique. The opening paragraph in "The Speckled Band" is written as a narrative, spoken by Dr Watson, Sherlock Holmes' assistant. He begins by talking of the past and the experiences he has enjoyed and endured with his friend. The sentences are longer and Watson speaks in a very formal way. He uses what is now archaic language, which adds to the formality and the way the reader perceives him as 'old fashioned'. The archaic words used are very rarely used in modern day language, but when sir Arthur Conan Doyle was writing they were common and in everyday use. A quote such as: "...Very sorry to knock you up Watson " Is used very rarely nowadays, but in its time meant to wake somebody up. When this is compared to the language used in "Lamb to the Slaughter" the language is quite the opposite. Shorter sentences and less formal language is a key feature in Roald
Critical Response – The Landlady.
Critical Response - The Landlady 'The Landlady' is a short story by Roald Dahl, which I recently read and enjoyed. The main features of the story that I enjoyed most were the setting, the plot, the author's clever characterisation and the brilliantly unexpected ending. The story is set shortly after The Second World War in a city called Bath. It is basically about a man called Billy Weaver who is going on a business trip to Bath. He is on his own when he arrives on the afternoon train, but he is due to meet his manager at the local bank the next morning. In an attempt to find somewhere to stay, he stumbles across a cosy-looking bed and breakfast and this is where the mystery begins. He looks in the windows of this B&B and notices a warm fire with a dog curled up comfortably in front of it. He also notices a parrot in a cage in the corner of the room. He thinks to himself that this seems a nice, friendly, warm place to stay and as it's deadly cold outside, he is tempted to stay there. The author begins the mysterious theme of the story by including an event, which breaks the normality of the events so far. He decides to go and take a look at a pub hotel further along the road that he is on, but as he turns to leave, he notices the B&B sign in the window and is held by it and forced to walk up to the door and ring the bell. This turns the story around from a
The Signalman by Charles Dickens and Lamb to the Slaughter by Roald Dahl
WIDER READING Comparison of 20th century and Pre-2oth century short texts By Kyra Hale From studying The Signalman by Charles Dickens and Lamb to the Slaughter by Roald Dahl, you can see noticeable differences between Pre-20th century and 20th century texts. Charles Dickens and Roald Dahl were both influential writers in their time; this is why I have chosen to study them. It's interesting to discuss differences between content, style and language in the stories. There are also major historical and cultural differences originating from the time difference at which they were written. The beginnings of the two stories are totally contrasting. In The Signalman the setting is described intricately though the reader is left baffled. We know that something strange is going to happen, since words like "Steep, trench, angry, violent, pulsation, rapid and clammy" warn us that we have "left the natural world". We learn from when the Signalman looks "down the line" instead of towards the sound that something peculiar is going on. All these elements contribute to the suspense of the story. Lamb to the Slaughter is different; the setting is tranquil, cosy and harmonious, there is nothing mysterious at all. The home seems idyllic as it is "warm and clean" with the "curtains drawn". Dahl uses words like "warm, clean, fresh, smiling, soft, blissful, rested, and silent" to lull the