Fear and suspense is built up by describing what the narrator saw as he entered. ‘Nothing but tragedy,- mute weird tragedy’. The entire atmosphere of the room is described as being ‘something to weep over’. None of the gamblers spoke, they all sat in deadly silence watching the cards turn over as if the next hand may change their life forever. The physical descriptions of the other players seems utterly repulsive,
-‘thin haggard long haired young man, whose sunken eyes fiercely watched……’ -‘flabby, fat-faced pimply player…..’
-‘dirty wrinkled old man, with vulture eyes and the darned greatcoat…..’
When the narrator begins to win his fortune the players are shocked and really can’t believe his luck.
Dahl’s creation of the Landlady character is very interesting. She is a very unlikely villain as she seems very warm and friendly. She is always described as ‘smiling’
-‘she gave a warm welcoming smile’. Her physical description also makes you feel as though she couldn’t possibly harm anyone ‘a round pink face and very gentle blue eyes’
When she speaks she seems as though she is looking out for Billy and trying to make him feel as comfortable as possible. She says ‘It’s all ready for you my dear’, this seems as though she had been waiting for him to arrive. She then tells Billy ‘We have it all to ourselves’. The situation seems very peculiar as she seems to anticipate everything Billy says. This makes the reader become slightly suspicious of her due to her overly keen attitude. She also seems to be slightly crazed which makes you wonder what has happened to her in the past. Billy finds his landlady very welcoming yet ‘slightly dotty’. He thought she seemed ‘terribly nice’ and reminded him of ‘the mother of one’s best school friend’. She makes you feel uncomfortable by doing many unusual things. She tells Billy that she only lets acceptable young gentlemen into her home. She has kept everything immaculate and pristine in case someone exactly right knocks on her door. When Billy reads the guest-book, he recognises their are only two other entries in there, but he recognises both if the names, he enquires with his landlady if they were famous but he then realises they were both people who had gone missing while on a walking tour of the west country. When Billy asks if they left fairly recently the landlady replies in shock, ‘Left? They never left…They’re on the third floor, both of them together.’ This lines tells the reader that the landlady is not as she seems. She must be holding a dark secret. Billy is obviously shocked at what he had just heard so ‘…one of her white hands patted him comfortingly on the knee.’ She is trying to reassure him that everything is alright, and that he shouldn’t be alarmed by what he has just heard. This makes the reader become very aware that something very strange has happened, and the landlady is unveiling her secrets to Billy. The reader would be suprised by this as she seemed quite gentle and kind. You fell that something terrible is going to happen when the landlady tells Billy that the guessed had never left the house, this makes you wonder if Billy will be victim to a gruesome murder.
The Old soldier in “A teribly strange bed” automatically seems to be more of an untrustworthy character,the landlady as he becomes intrigued by the narrators affairs at once.
After Faulkner’s friend leaves, the old soldier approaches him and whispers hoarsely in his ear that Faulkner had dropped some money and he was returning them. The old soldier explains to Faulkner that he has never seen anyone have the amount of luck he is having before. The old soldier seems to be in awe of Faulkner and treats him as though he is a hero. He speaks as if he is unworthy to be with faulkner and the discription of him makes him seem an unsavory character ‘ goggling blood-shot eyes, mangy mustachios, and a broken nose…dirtiest hands I ever saw.’ Even Faulkner sees him as ‘a suspicious specimen’.
Once Faulkner has broke the bank, the old soldier advises him how to keep his money safe, then he buys a bottle of champagne to toast the winnings, this may seem to the reader that the old soldier is trying to win the trust of Faulkner. After drinking two bottles of champagne, Faulkner suggests they have one more but suggests coffee. To the other people in the gambling house the word coffee seemed to have a ‘magical effect’ as ‘they all rose to depart’ The old soldier told Faulkner to drink the coffee to bring back his senses before he returns home.
When he drinks the coffee, however, Faulkner automatically giddy, the old soldier tells him he should sleep at the gambling as he is. To a reader this seems very suspicious and is the build-up to something sinister.
The villain in both stories seem very similar in their techniques. The old soldier appears friendly and warm by offering advice and encouraging Faulkner to win. He also wants a celebration to toast the winnings. The landlady is constantly smiling and is exceptionally friendly and warm by offering Billy a room and telling him about herself. She sometimes seems very innocent and alone, which makes you think she is generous and kind-hearted.
Both villains gain the trust of their victims quickly and easily. The landlady gains Billy’s trust by telling him all about what she likes and she is always reassuring him which makes him see her as a friends mother as she is very open with him. The old soldier gains Faulkners trust by continually giving him compliments and pretending to be concerned for his welfare. Both of the villains offer their victims a place to stay, they seem well practised at getting people to trust them and it seems obvious that they have both used similar techniques before.
Many details are used in ‘A terribly strange bed’ to build up tension and suspense. When Faulkner enters the room and begins to feel reasonable again he decides to barricade himself into his room as he realises that he shouldn’t have stayed at the house as anything could happen to him during the night. The tension is built up when he tries to stop himself thinking terrible thoughts. When Faulkner examines a picture he realises it had changed since he last saw it. He then realises the bed canopy is moving down onto him. Suspense is built up by Faulkner describing his experience, ‘I looked up shuddering, helpless, panic stricken…’ he then exclaims that ‘I looked up, motionless, speechless, breathless.’ This makes the reader intrigued to see how the narrator survived the awful experience. When he is finally able to move he dropped from the bed onto the floor, just as ‘the murderous canopy touched me on the shoulder’. He was extremely dazed by the experience and was helplessly staring at the bed. He realises that his coffee ‘had been drugged’. But it was too strong and had saved him from being killed.
I am not very keen on stories being written in the first person as it already tells you that the main character survived, so there are not many ways to keep the reader in suspense.
In ‘A Terribly Strange Bed’ we receive a detailed account of the hero’s escape, this is not exciting as everything suddenly becomes back to normal. Dahl’s ending in ‘The Landlady’ creates a lot more excitement and tension as the ending is left unfinished, so the reader can conclude what has happened to the victim. Many hints are given in this story to show what fate may bring Billy. When she speaks of he past guests she knows
personal details about them, ‘His skin was just like a baby’s’
There is a stuffed parrot and dachshund in the landlady’s sitting room. She says to Billy ‘I stuff all my little pets.’ This could be interpreted that she may do the same to Billy.
At the end of ‘A Terribly Strange Bed’ the reader is left feeling glad that, Faulkner is able to put what happened behind him and that by him escaping may have saved the lives of others. The reader can foresee the ending so there are no real suprises that Faulkner managed to escape. The author chose to do this so he could give explicit detail on the thoughts and feelings of the character and describe the events as they happen. It is also to create fear and suspense that Faulkner is in this situation and then becomes a hero.
Dahl chose to leave his story open-ended so the reader can conclude the fate of Billy for themselves. The reader feels upset at the end as they want to know what is going to happen. The ending is unclear and seems to be unfinished. I prefer this as it adds a new edge of excitement and uncertainty.
