With reference to 'The Speckled Band' by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and 'Lamb To The Slaughter' by Roald Dahl, compare the ways which the writers create atmosphere and tension, give us clues to the endings and suspend our disbelief.

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Comparative Coursework

With reference to 'The Speckled Band' by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and 'Lamb To The Slaughter' by Roald Dahl, compare the ways which the writers create atmosphere and tension, give us clues to the endings an suspend our disbelief.

The main characters in Lamb To The Slaughter are Mary Maloney and Patrick Maloney. They are husband and wife. The story is about Mary, a woman who loves her husband dearly. She waits on him and gives him everything he asks for. She is six months pregnant with his baby. Patrick is a detective, and when he comes home from work one day he is acting very strangely. Mary is worried about him having something to eat. He tells her that he has some bad news; he tells her that he is leaving her. Mary is in shock, and she carries on down to the cellar to get him something to eat. She gets a leg of lamb for his supper, she comes back up the stairs and sees him standing by the window, he tells her not to bother with supper, and that he is going out.

She walks up to him and hits him over the head with the lamb. He is left standing there for about four or five seconds, he then falls to the floor. The noise of him hitting the floor makes her realise what she has done. She begins thinking and realises that she could go to prison. She takes the lamb and puts it in the oven. She then goes out to the grocery store as normal, saying that she needs vegetables for Patrick's supper. She then goes home as normal, not expecting to find anything. She walks in and breaks down into tears, she then rings the police. Two detectives come over and search the house for any clues to the murder. They never even suspect that Mary could be the murderer. She then persuades the detectives to eat the lamb, them not knowing that they are eating the murder weapon.

The Speckled Band is also a murder mystery type genre. The main characters in the narrative are Sherlock Holmes, his partner Dr Watson, Helen Stoner and Dr Grimesby Roylott.

The Speckled Band is a story about a detective named Sherlock Holmes, and one of the cases that he has solved. This particular case was one about the death of Helen Stoner's sister. It starts with Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson being visited by Helen Stoner. She is terrified, she knows that something is going on in her household, but she is not sure what. She explains that she is living with her stepfather, Dr Roylott. She explains that when her mother died she left some money, which her and her sister Julia will receive when they are married. She also explains what Dr Roylott is like. He keeps himself to himself, buy he starts fights with anyone that crosses his path. He also has a passion for Indian animals. She explains that her sister Julia got engaged, but that she died two weeks before her wedding. She also tells Sherlock that her sister had heard whistling in the night. When her sister died she also mentioned a speckled band.

Sherlock Holmes decides to visit the house to see if there are any clues to the murder, but before they go Dr Roylott barges in and warns them to stay away from his family. They go to the town where the house is and decide to stay the night in the same room that Julia died in and where Helen now stays (Helen is now engaged). That night they hear a whistle and when Sherlock Holmes lights a match to see what it is, he starts swinging at the bell rope in the room.
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They then go into Dr Roylotts room and see that he is dead. On his head is a swamp adder - the deadliest snake in India.

Sherlock Holmes comes to the conclusion that Dr Roylott was responsible for the death of Julia; he killed her so that she could not obtain the money she got when she was married and, that he could keep it. Dr Roylott was also going to try and kill Helen so that she could not get the money she deserved.

In Lamb To The Slaughter, the story starts with normal ...

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