Analytical essay on Roald Dahl's 'The Landlady'.

Christina Sophonpanich 9L 16th September 2003 Analytical essay on Roald Dahl's 'The Landlady' During our past few lessons of English, we have read the story 'The Landlady' By Roald Dahl. A short, unusual and exciting story, it is about a seventeen-year-old handsome boy called Billy Weaver, who has been sent to Bath by his boss. It is his first time in Bath, and he is completely unfamiliar with the whole place. As he wonders about the dark, empty streets of Bath, looking for a pub to stay in, he is captivated by a very pleasant looking boarding house. Peering into the window, he sees animals sleeping in the cozy room and is compelled to ring the doorbell, even though he would rather stay at a pub, and allows himself to be persuaded to stay by a sweet, gentle-looking old woman who seems quite mad but harmless. The woman is so incredibly eager for Billy to stay, and keeps hinting about how she already knew he was coming and how everything was ready for him. Billy dismisses this as nothing but kindness, and reassures himself several times that the boarding house was fine and that the woman had probably just lost a son in war and never quite got over it. When he signs the guest book, he notices that there are only two other entries, and the last one was made over two years ago. Surprised

  • Word count: 2365
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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I am going to compare and contrast the two short stories "The Speckled Band" by Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle, and "Lamb to the Slaughter" by Roald Dahl, by pointing out techniques used which make it a typical or untypical detective or murder mystery story.

Speckled Band Essay In this essay, I am going to compare and contrast the two short stories "The Speckled Band" by Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle, and "Lamb to the Slaughter" by Roald Dahl, by pointing out techniques used which make it a typical or untypical detective or murder mystery story. Both "The Speckled Band" and "Lamb to the Slaughter" have parts for a detective story, i.e. they both have a murderer who is cold and calculating, and a little bit mad. On the other hand, they are presented to us very differently, making one story very typical of its genre, and making the other very untypical of the murder mystery genre. Both Conan-Doyle and Dahl use various techniques to make their stories more interesting; for example, in Dahls "Lamb to the Slaughter" the story revolves around the character of Mrs Mary Maloney, loving housewife and psychopathic killer. Whereas many stories concentrate on the detective or sometimes the victim, this story concentrates on the character of the murderer. This view helps with the telling of the murder, making it more unexpected. The story includes two major plot twists; the first is the murder itself, made unexpected by what we have seen of Mary Maloney's character, the setting, and the form the murder weapon takes among other things. The second plot twist is at the end, where the detectives eat the murder weapon. Conan-Doyle also used

  • Word count: 2926
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Comparison between the Lamb to the Slaughter And the Speckled Band

Comparison between the Lamb to the Slaughter And the Speckled Band I'm doing an essay on the comparisons between the Lamb to the Slaughter and the Speckled Band. I will be looking closely at how tension is developed in 'Lamb to the slaughter' and 'The Speckled Band' and how the author makes the reader want to read on. Roald Dahl wrote 'Lamb to the Slaughter' and it was first published in September 1953. Roald Dahl is also famous for writing other stories and auto biographies such as Going Solo and the BFG. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote The Speckled Band and it was first published in the 1890's. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle writes about a famous detective called Sherlock Holmes, who is accompanied by his famous assistant, the narrator, Dr Watson. I already know that Sherlock Holmes is a famous detective who solves crimes and that is why people call him to solve the crime or mystery. In the Lamb to the Slaughter the victim is Patrick Maloney and are led to believe something is wrong. When Patrick comes home, he instantly pours himself a strong drink and a weak one for Mary, 'knocks his drink back'. Also when the husband knocks his drink back and the sound of the ice cubes hitting the bottom of the empty glass. Then he pours himself another drink but stronger than the first one and when Mary hears the ice cubes clinking against the side of the glass. Also it says 'he gets

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  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Compare and Contrast Roald Dahl's Lamb to the Slaughter and Arthur Conan Doyle's The Adventure of the Speckled Band.

Compare and Contrast Roald Dahl's Lamb to the Slaughter and Arthur Conan Doyle's The Adventure of the Speckled Band While both stories are murder stories, Lamb to the Slaughter is not a typical murder mystery. A typical murder mystery would be one where a dashing detective saves the damsel in distress from the evil murderer in an old mansion. Quite simply, that describes the story in The Adventure of the Speckled Band. On the other hand, Lamb to the Slaughter is not a bit typical. It is set in a warm home where a woman is knitting and peacefully counting away the time before her husband comes home. It could be argued that Mrs Maloney would more likely be a victim in a story, rather than a murderer. In the early part of the play she is described as: "Her skin - for this was her sixth month with child - had acquired a wonderful translucent quality, the mouth was soft, and the eyes, with their new placid look, seemed larger, darker than before." Dr Roylott is much more sinister, and in that way the story was quite predictable: "Violence and temper approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the family" The character of Mrs Maloney is by far the more interesting of the two. She starts as a kind and loving housewife, and ends up as some sort of almost psychopathic killer. There are many cultural differences between The Adventure of the Speckled Band and Lamb

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  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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In this essay, I'm going to compare two short stories and these stories are

The Speckled Band and Lamb to the Slaughter In this essay, I'm going to compare two short stories and these stories are "The Speckled Band" by Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle, and "Lamb to the Slaughter" by Roald Dahl. I'm also going to be looking at the similarities and differences of the stories. The victim in 'Lamb to the Slaughter' is Patrick Maloney. He was married to Mary Maloney. He was killed when Mary Maloney hit him over the head with a leg of lamb. I started to suspect that there was something wrong when I read the following quote "on the evening of his death Patrick Maloney did an unusual thing. He finished his drink very quickly and then poured himself out another very strong one." Another clue that may suggest that there was really something wrong is that he takes a long time to reply to his wife "he didn't answer", "Her eyes waited on him for an answer, a smile, a little nod, but he made no sign." "He had finished the second drink and was staring down into the glass, frowning." In the 'Speckled Band' the victim is Miss Helen Stoner. We first see Miss Helene Stoner in the story wearing black, veiled and she has gray hair. She was shivering and terrified "we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable state of agitation, her face all drawn and gray, with a restless frightened eyes, like of those of some hunted animal", "the lady gave a violent start", "It is

  • Word count: 545
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Comparing 'Lamb to the Slaughter' to 'The Speckled Band'.

Wide Reading Comparing 'Lamb to the Slaughter' to 'The Speckled Band' 'Lamb to the Slaughter' and 'The Speckled Band' are both murder mysteries. Like most murder mysteries each of the stories have a murderer, a victim and characters acting in a suspicious or unusual way. 'Lamb to the Slaughter' is a 20th century story about a woman called Mary who kills her husband, Patrick Maloney, using a leg of lamb. This seems quite surprising at first as she seems quite loving and devoted to him- 'she loved to luxuriate in the presence of this man.' However a lot of Mary Maloney's behaviour in the first scene does seem quite worrying and peculiar. It seems that she is almost obsessed with her husband and this is shown by the way she is constantly trying to please him. Although the murder is a crime of passion Mrs Maloney manages to deal with it quite well. She is very calculating when realising quite what she has done and providing herself with a convincing alibi. When the detectives arrive to investigate the murder they seem to be taking it very seriously, however they don't really seem to consider Mrs Maloney as a real suspect. There is one point in the story where one of the detectives says '...acted quite normal...very cheerful...impossible that she...' but this is an idea which is soon discarded. After a while the attitude of the detectives becomes more relaxed and not so

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  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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The Lamb to the slaughter - Roald Dahl

Roald Dahl The Lamb to the slaughter story is about a couple who seemingly had a happy marriage. Until one day her husband comes home and discovers that the marriage is over. Incensed, she hits him over the head with a frozen leg of lamb! She is particularly concerned about the consequences if she is found out and she is worried about her unborn child so she proceeds to go shopping as normal. She comes home to find the dead husband. She calls the police and she pretends to be devastated. She then persuades the offices to stay and eat dinner the evidence! The landlady story is about Billy he comes from London to find lodgings Billy can't decide between the pub "The Bell and Dragon" and the "Bed and Breakfast". Billy seems to be 'drawn' to the "Bed and Breakfast" holding him, forcing him and compelling him to stay. The Bed and Breakfast was extremely cheap. There is the mystery of the only two previous guests. Billy think he recognize the names. She refers to them as a famous duo, company them to 'Dempsey and Tunney', 'Churchill and Roosevelt'... famous boxers and politicians respectively. Billy notices the stuffed animals and he starts to think the worst for the pervious guests. "There wasn't a blemish on his body" were they murdered? She even says there are "on the 3rd floor". Initially the theme of lamb to the slaughter is rejection because the husband tells her marriage is

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  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Compare and contrast the two short stories

Lamb to the Slaughter and Captain Murderer In this essay, I am going to compare and contrast the two short stories "Lamb to the Slaughter" and "Captain Murderer", picking out techniques used by the authors which make it different to a typical murder mystery. When one thinks of a murder mystery, one usually thinks of images like a large, stately home, a cunning butler, and a bloodstained candlestick, and an intelligent and observant detective with a comparatively incompetent sidekick. In the end, the detective solves the case, justice is done and the murderer is put behind bars. "Lamb to the Slaughter" and "Captain Murderer" both have the ingredients for a murder mystery, i.e. a murderer who is cold, calculating and a bit mad, but neither follow the traditional murder mystery style. "Lamb to the Slaughter" was written by Roald Dahl, in 1954. He is more famous for his children's books, but has also written many short stories for adults, compiled in books such as "Tales of the Unexpected" and "Switch Bitch". In these books he writes about strange things happening to ordinary people. "Captain Murderer" was written by Charles Dickens, one of the literary greats, more well known for his adult books such as "Great Expectations" and "Hard Times" about British society before 1900. The victim in "Lamb to the Slaughter" is Patrick Maloney. Dahl gives us with quite a shock when we

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  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Comparing 'Captain Murderer' by Dickens and 'Lamb to the slaughter' by Dahl.

Comparing 'Captain Murderer' by Dickens and 'Lamb to the slaughter' by Dahl The two texts are alike in that they both deal with murder. However, they are very much different in the way that the subject is dealt with. 'Captain Murderer' is a farcical fairytale-like story that is packed full of predictable out comes and unreal characters. 'Lamb to the slaughter' is true to life, which is the reason why they are so different. It has a very real plot and believable realistic characters. 'Lamb to the slaughter' is a post war piece written shortly after the Second World War, whereas 'Captain Murderer' is a 19th century piece. This time space is noticeable with the difference in language. "...but had no suspicion of the consanguinity" this language wouldn't fit into a piece made in the 20th century. Whereas "The room was warm and clean, the curtains drawn" is a more suited piece of text that would appear to fit the 20th century. 'Captain Murderer' is strung together cliché and complex sentences, with unusual vocabulary. "... A coach and twelve, and all his horses were milk white". This is exactly a phrase that anyone would expect to see within a fairytale. "Lamb to the "slaughter" is built on a foundation of 'simple' everyday language. The structure of each piece is very different. 'Captain Murderer' has no surprises to what the story holds. The title gives the plot away.

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  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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In my essay I will be comparing the two short stories 'Lamb to the Slaughter' by Roald Dahl and 'The Signalman' by Charles Dickens.

Comparing Short Stories In my essay I will be comparing the two short stories 'Lamb to the Slaughter' by Roald Dahl and 'The Signalman' by Charles Dickens. They both contain a twist in the tale and use the Macabre Tale Genre. The scenes are very different from on another and show different uses of language as Lamb to the slaughter uses 1900 text and The Signalman uses 20th Century text. The opening of Lamb to the slaughter gives the reader no reason to believe anything bad is going to happen. It starts off normal and uses words such as warm, clean and tranquil to paint the picture of the house being calm and a nice place. Though at the beginning of The Signalman it gives words such as gloomy and angry sunset to portray it is quite a scary maybe a dark and cold place. The Signalman is set in a 'Signal-box by a gloomy railway cutting with its dark tunnel' Lamb to the slaughter, being set in a house is completely different and delivers more of a calm and peaceful atmosphere. They don't seem to have many similarities. The theme to The Signalman is that of a man describing his experience of meeting a Signalman being haunted by a ghost. This ghost seemed to be warning him of hid death. It involves the two main characters, the narrator and the signalman. The Signalman described by the narrator, 'His attitude was one of such expectation and watchfulness' The narrator is

  • Word count: 903
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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