Compare and Contrast Lamb to the Slaughter And The Speckled Band

Compare and Contrast Lamb to the Slaughter And The Speckled Band

As Murder Mysteries

When many people think of a murder mystery, they think of a dark and

stormy night, a large forbidding house, a gunshot heard by everyone

yet seen by no one, and the phrases "you're probably wondering why I

called you all here", "The butler did it", and of course not

forgetting "elementary, my dear Watson". In the end, the intelligent

and very observant detective solves the case, and justice, sometimes

through the courts and sometimes poetic is served.

'Lamb to the Slaughter' and 'The Speckled Band' are both stories based

around a suspicious death. Roald Dahl wrote 'Lamb to the Slaughter' in

1954. Roald Dahl is famous for writing children's stories, like

George's Marvellous Medicine and James and the Giant Peach. Roald Dalh

also writes stories for adults. They are usually about ordinary people

doing strange things. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote 'The Speckled Band'

in 1892. His stories are about the famous detective Sherlock Holmes.

Before readings this story I knew that Sherlock Holmes was a famous

detective working with fellow college Doctor Watson and Scotland Yard.

Because of the times when they were written, the language is different

also. Conan Doyle uses the Victorian style of language. His writing is

more complex. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's language is more descriptive.

It takes him about half a page just to describe the setting of the

story. Conan Doyle sometimes uses phrases, which can now be quite

tricky to understand such as 'knock you up'. This is archaic language,

which is not regularly used nowadays. Roald Dahl uses short but sharp

sentences, and writes as if he is talking to a friend.

The two stories are both classed as murder mysteries, however when

comparing these two stories the styles of writing and the way in which

the stories are presented is completely different. An example of this

would be the chronological order of each of the stories. What I mean

by this is the traditional order of murder mysteries would be body, a

motive, a weapon, a death, a suspect, an alibi and detectives. Both

'Lamb to the Slaughter' and 'The Speckled Band' have all of these and

so are no exception to these 'guidelines'. However, 'The Speckled

Band' follows this order and is a very traditional murder mystery.

'Lamb to the Slaughter' on the other hand does not follow the

conventional style of murder mysteries and follows its own order. This

order is; a motive, a weapon, a death, a killer, an alibi and

detectives. In changing the traditional order of murder mysteries I