Comparing Murderers in Lamb to the Slaughter and the Speckled Band
In this essay, I am going to compare and contrast the two murderers,
Sir Grimesby Roylott in 'The Speckled Band' with Mary Maloney from
'The Lamb To The Slaughter'.
The two stories 'The Speckled Band' and 'Lamb To The Slaughter' are
both about murder. The situations and motives that occur show sharp
contrasts between each of the separate murders. The character of
Roylott presented in 'The Speckled Band' is a violent character with a
unique quality with wit and skills that shine throughout this short
story. It is not however, for the best reason. He is a doctor, a
profession that carries respect and trust. He would also be well
educated and calculated to carry out most tasks for his patients in
this caring profession.
Maloney differs on the other hand; she is a housewife who just keeps a
clean house whilst her husband goes out to work. She is further
presented as a serene, loving wife, who is six months pregnant. She
loves her husband and follows whatever he has to say. She enjoyed a
good life as we gather from the text: 'For her, this was a blissful
time of day'. She could afford to relax in a quiet house with whiskeys
on ice just waiting for her husband to arrive home from his work.
The difference with the two murderers is their sex. Murders are
generally considered to be male. We refer to the murder as 'him'
We can sense that Roylott is under more pressure; he has obviously
decided to kill his stepdaughter for her riches that he can't make my
being a doctor.
Maloney has her husband's wage from his work, and the home will only
need to be cleaned every couple of days.
The text suggests that her husband is stressed. He has to tell Mary
that he is leaving her. He leaves her with no explanation for his
absence, only that he will pay for the baby's upbringing. This was to
keep Mary quiet; the text accuses Patrick of caring more for his job
Desperation is a state of despair,where someone will act in an extreme way. These extreme behaviours can lead to actions that cannot be taken back. In Roald Dahl’s “Lamb to the Slaughter” Mary is a kind and loving person before she is in a state of desperation. Mary’s actions are an example of how desperation can transform people forever. Mary is kind and loves her husband very deeply. Mary’s love for her husband is displayed when “ Mary Maloney was waiting for her husband to come home from work. Now and again she would glance up at the clock, but without anxiety, merely to please herself with the thought that each minute gone by making it nearer the time that he would come.”(Dahl 10) Mary loves Patrick very much and
Throughout The Butcher’s Tale: Murder and Anti-Semitism in a German Town, the murder of Ernst Winter in Konitz is very much a reflection of the overall attitudes of many Europeans during the early 20th century. It was clear that once the anti-Semitic attitudes started to become prominent in society, they spiraled out of control and started to take over entire communities. The Jewish people were blamed for crimes they did not commit, were excluded from society, and suffered from acts of violence and hate speech. Wild stories began to be spread all over town and people started to believe everything they heard, even if there was no substance behind it. This caused lots of problems in Germany, as well as Europe in general, since many people got
The sweetest ones can be the deadliest, because behind that smile could be a world of misery. Sometimes the most obvious clues are the hardest to find. In “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl, a seemingly doting wifes world goes shattering into pieces and no one would expect her reaction. “Charles,” by Shirley Jackson, an impudent kindergarten boy finds joy in telling his parents about a disobedient boy who constantly gets into trouble. Both of these stories display that the truth can be right under your nose through the events in the plot.
head. She might just have hit him with a steel club.' As you can see,
do not seem suitable to be human beings. He understands the things he does are
On June 15, 2004, Cathy Renee Lamb was brutally murdered while getting ready for her 11th wedding anniversary date with her estranged husband, Jeffrey Lamb. Jeffrey, a tow-truck driver, was soon charged with beating his wife to death with a tire iron. He had arranged the date as part of a scheme to kill her so he could accumulate around $27,000 under her life insurance policy. Instead of divorcing Cathy, Jeffrey believed he could benefit more from getting rid of her all together. Prior to their encounter, Jeffrey asked Cathy if she could look after his dog, Bandit, and then added if he could move back home with her permanently. On the night of the date, he called 911 after saying he discovered her dead body. Lamb first seemed to have a well
Baruch Spinoza once said “Experience teaches us no less clearly than reason, that men believe themselves free, simply because they are conscious of their actions and unconscious of the causes whereby those actions are determined.” He compared free-will with destiny and ended up that what we live and what we think are all results of our destiny; and the concept of the free-will as humanity know is just the awareness of the situation. Similarly, Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five explores this struggle between free-will and destiny, and illustrates the idea of time in order to demonstrate that there is no free-will in war; it is just destiny. Vonnegut conveys this through irony, symbolism and satire.
A comparison between Roald Dahl's Lamb to the slaughter and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Speckled Band
Comparing Roald Dahl’s Lamb to the Slaughter and The Speckled Band by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Life. Life is what gives you the ability to think, to speak, to breath and to be a part of this world. It is worth more than any amount of money, your life is priceless. Without it, we would seize to exist; our world would be utter darkness. Honourable Judge, Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, today Mary Maloney stands on trial before you. A woman who took the away the life of not just an innocent citizen, but her very own husband. She was thought to be an ordinary women, a typical housewife and a soon to be loving mother. However, the facts presented before you today conclude that Mary Maloney was not just an unordinary detective’s wife, but also a murder. On April 13th 1953, the life of Patrick Maloney came to a tragic end because of leg of lamb in the hands of Mary Maloney. For the following reasons, Mary Maloney, wife of the deceased, is guilty of 1st degree murder.
The Murderers Are Among Us, directed by Wolfe Gang Staudte, is the first postwar film. The film takes place in Berlin right after the war. Susan Wallner, a young women who has returned from a concentration camp, goes to her old apartment to find Hans Mertens living there. Hans took up there after returning home from war and finding out his house was destroyed. Hans would not leave, even after Susan returned home. Later on in the film we find out Hans was a former surgeon but can no longer deal with human suffering because of his traumatic experience in war. We find out about this traumatic experience when Ferdinand Bruckner comes into the film. Bruckner, Hans’ former captain, was responsible for killing hundreds
In this male dominated investigation, it is empathy that truly is the mark that allows the investigation to be solved from an unsuspected place. Void of empathy, nothing can genuinely be understood. Empathy is the foundation with which we can see the world and understand the reason behind everything whether for the good or bad. Condoning the action of an individual is not taking into account their situation or what other options were available to them considering any existed. Labeling a criminal is putting an individual into a category of black and white without considering the complexity of the matter or the many shades of gray the world presents. In the eyes of the law, Mrs. Wright was a murderer. To those who could empathize with her struggles she was a survivor—despite her wrongdoing. Justice is found in this play, or rather the term may be favored as mercy, that Mrs. Wright was a victim who believed in her heart she chose the only path that lead to
It was a normal evening in the Maloney home. Mrs. Mary Maloney sat sewing, while waiting for her husband to return home after an involved day as a police officer. Around 5 o’clock Mr. Maloney returns home with shocking news and… Bang! …a leg of lamb hit over his head and Mr. Maloney falls to the ground dead. All evidence and theories, point to Mrs. Maloney being the killer of her husband, but why? Mrs. Maloney did not kill her husband out of anger after the recent marriage incident, but she did it as a result of mental anguish, self defense and trauma inflicted upon her by her husband. All these events explain exactly why Mrs. Maloney murdered her husband out of reasonable measures.
Lamb to the Slaughter, by Roald Dahl, instantly grabs a reader’s attention with its grotesque title, ensuing someone’s downfall or failure. The saying “lamb to the slaughter,” usually refers to an innocent person who is ignorantly led to his or her failure. This particular short story describes a betrayal in which how a woman brutally kills her husband after he tells her that he wants a divorce. She then persuades the policemen who rush to the scene to consume the evidence. This action and Patrick’s actions show the theme of betrayal throughout the story which Roald Dahl portrays through the use of point of view, symbolism and black humor.
Everyone knows the story of Snow White. Everyone knows about the old woman who came to Snow White’s house was actually the queen in disguise, and that the apple the queen gave Snow White was poisoned. But Snow White didn’t. This is a perfect example of irony in a story. Ironic situations like this occur a lot in our daily lives, and many stories, like the short story Lamb to the Slaughter, by Roald Dahl. Throughout the story, Dahl demonstrates many moments of irony, which have a long term effect on the whole story. Dahl’s uses dramatic irony effectively to help enhance the plot and help the reader understand the story better.