A comparison between Roald Dahl's Lamb to the slaughter and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Speckled Band
Murder Mystery Coursework -
A comparison between Roald Dahl's "Lamb to the slaughter" and Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Speckled Band
For my Murder Mystery Coursework I am going to be comparing two Murder Mystery stories, "The Speckled Band," and "Lamb to the Slaughter"
"Lamb to the Slaughter" was written by Roald Dahl. Roald Dahl is best known for writing children's books, such as "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," "The Twits," and "James and the Giant Peach." Roald Dahl was born in Llandaff, Wales in 1916 and lived until 1990. Dahl was also an author of series short stories for adults, which were later made into a TV series. His stories were so popular because they were unusual. They were called "Tales From The Unexpected."
One of Dahl's more popular short fiction stories for adults is "Lamb to the Slaughter." I am going to be using this story in my comparison against another Murder Mystery called "Speckled Band" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is best known for his Sherlock Holmes stories. Although he did many more, these proved to be the most popular to this very day. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh in 1859 and lived until 1930. The time in which Sir Conan Doyle lived, had a great influence on his work. Doyle served in the South African Wars as a doctor. This influenced him because when he returned to England he wrote "The Boer War," and "The War in South Africa: Its Causes and Conduct" which justified England's participation. For these works he was knighted in 1902. During World War I he wrote the "History of British Campaign in France," and "Flanders" as a tribute to British bravery. One of Doyle's famous Sherlock Holmes story is "The Speckled Band." This is the murder Mystery I am using to compare to Roald Dahl's "Lamb to the Slaughter"
Murder Mysteries are stories that are written to intrigue you, make
you wonder who has done it. They certainly live up to the title
"Murder Mystery" because there is a murder and you have to find out
who has done it. Typically a murderer is male, looks shifty, and has a
motive that you don't find out until the end.
You usually are told the story through the eyes of an inspector. They
survey the evidence, but you do not always see what they do.
Until the end where the clever detective (who is usually quite an old man, dressed in a smart tweed suit) goes through one by one all of the suspects telling them exactly why they could have committed the murder, but then why they didn't. He then confronts the real murderer who is normally the one everyone least suspects. This all takes place in a large country manor where lots of people would have been busying round but for the murderer, conveniently there are never any witnesses to the crime. The murder is most often well planed out, with a devious reason behind it. The two stories are both very different and mainly the only similarities are that they are both about murders that are done by people that are close family to the victims they murder in there own homes.7 The settings in both of them are very different; in lamb to the slaughter the setting is in a normal home in a small village, where normal family life goes on.
Dahl, Robert. "Lamb to the Slaughter." 1961. Elements of Literature. Vol. 4. N.p.: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 2007. 379-86. Print.
Vonnegut, Kurt. Slaughterhouse-five; Or, The Children's Crusade, a Duty-dance with Death. New York: Delacorte, 1969. Print.
In "Lamb to the Slaughter" Roald Dahl uses the leg of lamb as a symbol of domesticity. The meat, which the primary intention of it was to be cooked and eaten, had mainly to do with the kitchen and women. When Mary used the leg of lamb to kill her husband, she turned a domestic tool into a tool for harm and murder. In this way, Mary challenged the domestic role the patriarchy of the time had placed her into. The leg of lamb also represents Mary, and the way she follows her husband, the same way a lamb follows a shepherd. The leg of lamb also alludes to the bible; in the way the Jesus was the Lamb and a martyr for Christians, the same way that Mary’s husband was a martyr for the patriarchate.
Jonathan Safran Foer After " animals " eat it succeeds TC Boyle in "When the slaughter " is over the circle to move on and to describe the person as someone who is only interested in themselves .
Comparing the Way in Which Helen Stoner and Mary Maloney are Treated in The Speckled Band and Lamb to Slaughter
I know you've thought about killing someone, but you're too worried about the consequences. In the short story "Cask of Amontillado" The protagonist, Montresor feels hatred toward this man Fortunato and is determined to get revenge with impunity. In "Lamb to the slaughter" a wife unsure of her feelings murders her husband. The stories are similar because the authors both create a effect of suspense while they use different types of irony and conflicts.
Cox, J. R. (1988). Arthur Conan Doyle. In B. Benstock & T. F. Staley (Eds.), Dictionary of Literary Biography: Vol. Vol. 70. British Mystery Writers, 1860-1919. Detroit: Gale Research. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CH1200002740&v=2.1&u=miamidade&it=r&p=LitRC&sw=w&asid=195f77572a41d90d4e0074cb8695c7ea
Comparing The Speckled Band by Sir Arthur Concan Doyle and Lamb to the Slaughter by Roald Dahl
(4)- Vonnegut, Kurt. Slaughterhouse-Five, or, The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death. New York: Dial Press, 2005.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” is much more than another
Doyle became an amazing author. He wrote “twenty-one novels and over 150 short stories. He also published nonfiction, essays, articles, memoirs and three volumes of poetry” (Victorian). He received his love for stories from his mother, Mary Doyle. She had a huge love for books and would read him stories in such a beautiful and sweet tone (sherlockholmesonline). She also made him read chivalric romances and Wild West stories, which Doyle’s favorite book at the time was The Scalp Hunters (1851). His mind progressed in the world of reading, and as an adult he wanted to create stories of his own (Stanford).
Comparing Roald Dahl’s Lamb to the Slaughter and The Speckled Band by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a British physician and writer, mostly well known for his stories “Sherlock Holmes”, which are generally in the field of crime fiction. He was a prolific writer whose other works include science fiction stories, historical novels, plays and romances, poetry, and non-fiction.
Jones, Peter G. "The End of the Road: Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade" Modern Critical Interpretations Slaughterhouse-Five Ed. Harold Bloom.