Lamb to the Slaughter

“The Landlady” and “Lamb to the Slaughter”, both by Roald Dahl had twisty tales of

murder. In “The Landlady”, the main female character kills the only three guests she has ever had in her Bed and Breakfast. In “Lamb to the Slaughter” the main female character kills her husband. They both have crazy stories of murder. Mary Maloney kills her own husband with a cold piece of deli while the landlady kills her three guest by poison. They both are cold blooded killers and would do anything to get their way. “The Landlady” and “Lamb to the Slaughter” both have cold blooded killers who find joy in the murders they commit and have other issues in their lives that lead them to killing their victims.

The landlady’s victim was Billy Weaver, he was a normal adult that was headed for The Bell and Dragon Hotel, she was unfamiliar with Billy, she had never met him. He knocked on the door and the landlady came immediately, was that not a sign that she was anticipating his arrival. Mary M……. knew her victim and he was going to divorce her while she was in her sixth month of pregnancy. The landlady’s son died fighting for the country, every guest that reminds her of her son, she kills. No guest can recommend or even return to the the Bed and Breakfast, there have only been three guests and the landlady has murdered them all. Unlike the landlady, this was Mary Maloney’s first victim, her murder was unintentional while the landlady’s were.

Mary Maloney killed her husband with a leg of lamb. She was so mad at him she swiped him in the head and she knocked the living daylights right out of him. On the other hand the landlady gets to know her victims then she poisons their tea and stuffs the body, them so she can make them resemble her son when ever she feels necessary. Both the landlady and Mary…… were anticipating the arrival of their victims. Mary Maloney was not planning on murdering her husband, she was going to go out to dinner with him as their usual Thursday night plans were. After he told her that he would divorce her news she went out to the market and got the murder

weapon. Then she clocked him on the head with the cold piece of meat and did not shed one

tear. The landlady should feel happy that she now has three candidates to be her son she can laugh and play as freely as she chooses. While, Mary Maloney only cried when the tears counted, in front of the police.

“The Landlady” and “Lamb to the Slaughter”, Dahl were both interesting stories with dark and scary murder. The landlady and Mary Maloney were crazy women who end up killing the male lead. Billy Weaver’s tea was poisoned and he “drank up.” Mr. Maloney was swiped with a piece of cold deli meat in the head. This was the landlady’s third murder she has committed. However this was Mary’s first murder, she had only cried when it counted. The characters are not one in the same. Both murderers are masterminds, the landlady tells Billy to “drink up” he drinks the poison and dies. Mary Maloney serves the murder weapon to the police so that no evidence can be found on her. The murderers are different, yet, their stories come together as snug as a puzzle piece.

Unlike Edgar Allen Poe, it would seem uncharacteristic of Roald Dahl to create a totally inhumane cast in his murder fiction “Lamb to the Slaughter.” In fact the reader is caught off guard with Mary Maloney’s vulnerabilities as she is seen “watching him all the time with those large, bewildered eyes.” (Dahl 23), and being six months with child. Between Dalh’s story and Poe’s “The Black Cat”, the audience needs to step outside of the box while comparing both murders motives, methods, and outcomes, to see that Mary has premeditated the murder of Patrick Maloney for some time.

The narrator in “The Black Cat” tells of his change from a life of good temperament and gentility to the form of consumption and its effect upon his spirits. Through uncontrollable rage due to alcoholism and delusion, Poe’s character arrogantly gives justification to his crime for his wife’s insolent interference. Dalh’s characterization of Mary however, leads the audience to see her as distraught with an obsession for her husband after being told that he is leaving her. She had to suspect something was afoot beforehand, as she was being so attentive upon his arrival. Doesn’t she seems to be trying a little too hard (or smothering) upon Patrick’s entrance. Hers was more than just a crime of passion as she chose to execute her premeditation upon his confirmation that he wants to be with someone else. Upon completing the deed, her pre-staged lines are rehearsed for the grocer and her second performance was about to begin.

Murders have been conducted with many tools of the trade over time, but a leg of lamb? “Food and the rituals that surround its preparation and the consumption have often played a role in crime fiction; food and eating are used to indicate specific character traits,” (Michelis 142). As the domesticated house wife, why not a pre-staged object, readily stored until needed. Perfect for Dalh’s character, however Poe’s seems to be more of an impulsive performer in his role. During the rise of this tale he was “[G]oaded, by the interference, into a rage more than demoniacal, I withdrew my arm from her grasp and buried the axe in her brain.” (Poe 57). With no more remorse than if he had killed the cat instead, Poe’s characters conceit toward the victim views her as just another dumb animal.

Poe was no stranger to the characters in his writings. Thus being “a man divided against himself, it was by looking within, by following threads leading into the depths of his personality, that he learned to write such a story” (Buranelli 34). Being self-pitted, Poe’s storyteller was destined to give himself up through his eccentric contempt toward life in general. Prinksy extends, “Rationalizing to the end, the narrator blames the cat for his misdeeds and

capture: “the hideous beast whose craft had seduced me into murder, and whose informing voice had consigned me

to the hangman.” (Poe, n.p.). To the bitter end he takes no responsibility, nor has any remorse for his actions. Mary on the other hand, motivated by the well-being of her unborn child, continues with her staged plan to move beyond Patrick. By turning the leg of lamb into a weapon, she now converts it back into a lamb. (Bernardo 2). Such foresight may be just dumb luck (she is Irish), or maybe it is a continuance of premeditated luck.

Through his self-induced character flaws, Poe’s unreliable narrators will undoubtedly meet his fate at the end a rope. He will no longer be a burden on society or to any other cats for that

matter, but Mary’s is a different tale. She probably is planning on some kind of widow’s fund to help see her thru

the near future, plus all of the fine young policeman who can empathize as potential suitors for Young Widow Maloney. Besides, they know she is a good cook.

‘The Signalman,’ is a nineteenth century supernatural short story. ‘Lamb to the Slaughter,’ is a twentieth century crime short story. Both have a twist in the tale. In this essay I will look at how the authors create and maintain a sense of suspense throughout the texts.

Roald Dahl was born in Wales in 1919. He was educated at a boarding school for boys. His harsh treatment there led him in later life to write stories of cruelty and revenge. ‘ Lamb to the Slaughter,’ is a fine example of this. It opens in a house in suburban America. You know it is set in America as Dahl refers to the Police Station as a “Precinct,” and also to the death penalty. The setting has a composed feeling and is described as being “tranquil.” Dahl goes out of his way to make it as innocent as possible. Everything is almost too relaxed, so indirectly tension has already been created. Throughout the text the description is kept as minimal as possible. Much is left to the reader’s imagination. I believe this is because the twentieth century reader has access to many more media forms than the nineteenth century reader. For example, if you can associate what you see on television with an object in a book the author doesn’t need to describe it. The nineteenth century reader wouldn’t have had access to these media forms so there is a lot more description in ‘The Signalman.’

The story is written in third person narrative although it has a lot of direct speech. This gives a sense of observing the two main characters, Mary and Patrick Maloney. Throughout the story there is no description of Mary Maloney. I believe this is so that the reader can create his or her own image of Mary. Dahl starts to build up the suspense when you read how Patrick does “An unusual thing.” This adds a lot of tension. Although ultimately this is a crime story there is an element of black comedy, and also a heavy use of irony, which is the use of words to convey the opposite of their literal meaning. One of the best examples of irony is when the detectives are looking for the murder weapon. One detective says to the other it’s probably “right under our very noses,” The irony being that it is. One of the main similarities between this and ‘The Signalman,’ is that both highlight violent deaths.

‘The Signalman,’ is a short story written by Charles Dickens in the nineteenth century. At this time England was going through a lot of changes. It was the industrial revolution. Among the new technologies was the creation of the railway system. This story is Dickens way of expressing his doubts and possibly his fear of these changes. Despite there being over a hundred years between when the two stories were written, there are still similarities. One of these is the way the authors feature death. An example of how Dickens uses death to sustain suspense throughout the story is the death of strangers. The two characters in ‘The Signalman,’ are both strangers to the reader. We don’t even learn their names. This could have been because they were working class men.

At the time it was written, it was considered there was no need to. As a consequence of their anonymity the risk is always there that they could die. This adds to the suspense greatly. The setting doesn’t have the cosy feeling that Dahl gave. It is lonely and isolated throughout and is described as being “clammy,” and, “unusual.” This supernatural setting helps too create a lot of tension. The only character description in the text, is that of the signalman, and it doesn’t paint a pretty picture. He is described as being “foreshortened,” and, “shadowed.” This certainly isn’t a description of a ‘normal person,’ and some tension is created. The style of writing and the use of first person narrative, gives the reader a sense that they could be the narrator as a pose to observing him. The twist in the tale occurs at the end. It is completely unexpected that the signalman might die so it comes as a shock to the reader.

One of the major similarities is the influence the author’s upbringings have on their writing. This is very apparent in both the texts. Other similarities include the violent deaths of main characters and tension being used to keep the reader in suspense.

Both stories were easy to read. My personal favourite was ‘Lamb to The Slaughter.’ I didn’t like Dickens use of description. I think he over used it and the text became more of a chore to read. I preferred the way Dahl used black comedy and irony to create tension.

Roald Dahl wrote Lamb to the slaughter in 1954, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote Speckled Band in 1892, that is around 62 yrs apart which would make the stories slightly different to each other because they were wrote in two different centuries.

Roald Dahl was born in 1916 and died in 1990, Roald Dahl was most famous for writing children stories but he did also write some books for adults like the tales of the unexpected which lamb to the slaughter featured in. The characters in Roald Dahl’s books only ever appeared once. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born in 1859 and died in 1930, Arthur Conan Doyle was a trained doctor which would have been helpful in writing his stories as he would know the medical view on his cases and that would have helped him to write his books which featured Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson what makes this book different to the speckled Band is that Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson appear more than once in Arthur Doyle’s books.

When reading the two short stories I noticed that in the Lamb to the slaughter the story was being told by a narrator and we were following the story though Mary Maloney’s eyes and how she feels, In The Speckled Band the story was being told by doctor Watson and how he feels about Sherlock Holmes and the case and also he added what he thought might of happened. Also The Speckled Band seems to be a true Murder Mystery because we don’t know who killed Helen ́s sister so it is a mystery to us as well as the characters and that adds suspense to the story and also is more interesting as we try to work out who is the murderer and how they killed the person, but in Lamb to the Slaughter we knew that Mary killed her husband and the only suspense was if the detectives will work out that Mary killed him. The stories both have different layouts and are written differently, In Lamb to the Slaughter all of the action takes place in one night and In one house, In The Speckled band the story is set around eight years from the moment the twins mother dies, the way it is told allows the story to swift back and forth in time. The Speckled Band is different to Lamb to the Slaughter in the way it is set In the Band Helen goes and gets Sherlock Holmes but in Slaughter Mary the murderer calls the police. Even though the stories are very different there are some similarities between them, both of the stories had family members kill the victim, this must be a good plot to use as it adds suspense to the story and intrigues the readers on how they could have hurt someone they both love.

I think the murderers were both cleverly described in the stories, in the lamb to the slaughter Roald Dahl described Mary Maloney as a loving women, who cared and loved her husband a lot, n

ow and again she would glance up at the clock, but without anxiety, merely to please herself with the thought that each minute gone by made it nearer to the time when he would come. Mary and her husband seem to have a good life together and their life seems to be on a routine.

When the clock said ten minutes to five, she began to listen, and a few minutes later, punctually as always, she heard the tyres on the gravel outside. The way they are described is as if the same thing happens each week and every day at the same time. I think Roald Dahl does this to make it seem out of the ordinary when Patrick Maloney did not want to go out to supper on a Thursday. This would make us think something is about to happen what does not usually happen, Roald Dahl is very clever by the way he doesn’t tell us what Mr Maloney told Mrs Maloney this adds a little suspense to the story by making the readers wonder what Patrick could have done so bad that would make her want to kill her husband, Mary tries to carry on as normal after finding out the news, The murder was unplanned as she acted on the moment, this was different to the murder in The Speckled Band as that took years of planning.

The planning of the murder and attempted murder involved the placing of the air vent and the fake bell pull and bolting down the bed to the floor, Also Dr Roylott had to train the snake to do as he wanted and to make sure that the snake would not bite him. There is one similarity between the two murderers they are both very clever, they both knew what they had to do to cover the murder up from the detectives, When Mary killed Patrick she knew she had to get a alibi, Mary used her husbands job cleverly she remembered what her husband had told her about murders and used it to her advantage. I don’t think Mary would have thought about getting an alibi if it wasn’t for the unborn baby she was carrying. Dr Roylott knew that no doctor would be able to see the snake bites on the girl’s neck, Dr Roylott was a very clever man but he never thought though everything, the

girls locked the doors and bolted the windows shut, so the girl could not have been murdered by any one because the room was locked and no one could get in so it had to be some one in the room or another way they could get access to the room. Dr Roylott done the murders for money but Mary done the murder though anger and being hurt by someone she truly loved, and still loved

When she saw him lying there on the floor with his legs doubled up and one arm twisted back underneath his body, it really was rather a shock. All the old love and longing for him welled up inside her, and she ran over to him and began to cry her heart out.

In both of the stories there are detectives, who try to solve the murder. In the lamb to the slaughter the detectives seem to be unprofessional by drinking the whisky and not suspecting Mary Maloney because they knew who she was, when every thing was pointing at her, there was no sign of a break in or a struggle. It seems Roald Dahl was making fun of the police by not Making them do there job properly by letting Mary stay in the room where the murder took place without any one watching her where she could have done anything in there, and eating the meat which was the weapon.

Probably right under our very noses. What you think, Jack? In the Speckled Band the detectives are described differently, Sherlock Holmes is put across to us a very smart and clever

man.

I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm of your left glove I think he is described that way to us because Watson is telling the story and this affects our view of him. The writer wants us to think that Sherlock and Watson are a good team and that Sherlock Holmes can handle any case together.

There are many more differences than similarities between the two stories. I think this is because the writers are two very different people and they have different backgrounds, Roald Dahl mostly wrote for children and that perhaps it is very light hearted the way that he has pops at the detectives, but Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a doctor and knew all the medical views of the cases which makes his books more real and perhaps he had a more of a respect towards the police than Roald Dahl did. The stories are different because of the time they were written, Roald Dahl wrote about a women killing her husband and that may have been less common in 1892 and that is why Conan Doyle wrote about the women being a victim and her stepfather killing the girls.

In the story” Lamb to the Slaughter”; the character Mary Maloney, a good

housewife is expecting her husband to return home from his job as a local policeman ,but when he return home he was very down and told Mary that he was leaving her, without asking why? She strikes her husband in the back of the head with the frozen lamb leg, killing him instantly. In the story “Monkey’s Paw”; the character, Mr. White was somewhat like the character Mary Maloney from “Lamb to the Slaughter,” because they both did not have any hard emotion with the death of their loved ones. Mr. White was a good man but was selfish he wished he had worked for the money instead of wishing it. Whereas Mrs. Maloney should have just stayed calm and talk things through with her husband rather than killing him instantly on the spot.

Mr. White could have wished for anything in the world, but him wishing for money was selfish because he could of wish for his family’s happiness.

Herbert White’s death was showing the father that money come with a price and hearing that Herbert was dead which was quoted in the story as Mr. White was shocked “He was caught in the machinery,” said the visitor at length in a low voice. “Caught in the machinery,” repeated Mr. White, in a dazed fashion, “yes.” This showed the reader that the reaction of death is not expressed with Mr. White character as too Mrs. White.

Unlike Mr. White, Mrs. Maloney was not shocked or hurt when she killed

her husband. But if she just stayed calm and did not overreact she could have talk to her husband and understood what was going on. This is believed because Mary was kind of crazy by the end of the story they quoted that they think the weapon was under their noses after feeding them the evidence,she began to

giggle showing that she was cold-hearted “Personally, I think it’s right here on the

premises.”Probably right under our very noses. What you think, Jack?” And in the other room, Mary Maloney began to giggle.

Therefore, Mr. White and Mrs. Maloney are similar in the aspect of both being cold-hearted; they both did not accept the fact that it was their fault that their loved were dead. These are two examples of characters and how their reactions of death are similar but also different.

Lamb to the slaughter -Roald Dahl   By P. Baburaj, Senior Lecturer, Dept. of English, Sherubtse college, Bhutan Author of: Language and writing, DSB Publication Thimphu Communicative English, P. K. Books, Calicut A perception on Literary Criticism, P. K. Books, Calicut   Black comedy/blackhumour -is concerned with the humorous treatment of the shocking, horrific and macabre. Black comedy is actually a form of drama which displays a marked disillusionment and cynicism.

It shows human beings without conviction with little hope, regulated by fate or fortune or comprehensible powers. In fact, human beings in an ‘absurd’ predicament at its darkest, such comedy is pervaded by a kind of sour despair; we can’t do anything. So we may as well laugh. The wit is mordant and the humor sardonic. Dramatic irony When the audience understands the implication and meaning of a situation on stage, or what is being said, but the characters do not. Example-Oedipus does not realize his crime. Sir Peter Tezel (in school for scandal) does not know his wife is behind the screen when he is talking about Joseph Surface.

Symbols. ? The ‘warm’ and ‘clean’ attic indicates the desire for normal domestic pattern. ? The ‘curtain drawn’- shows a calm atmosphere that foreshadowing of hidden subconscious desires that are yet to surface in the form of murderous action. ? Two lamps alight- point to Mary and Patrick. ? Fresh ice cubes in the thermos points to coldness and heat. Ice is cold and thermos brings heat to the mind. Contemporary story. ? Story tells of how a pregnant woman when faced with the certainty of her husband leaving her, takes control of her situation. ? Powerful woman protagonist -breaking away from the stereotypical role of a woman. Packed with suspense and humor. ? Fast-paced action. ? ? ? ? ? ? Third person omniscient narrative. Conventional and straight forward language. Role reversals- reversal of Mary’ the merry innocent docile wife to a cruel murderer Dramatic irony, A type of situational irony. A best example of a black comedy. . . Contrasting what a character perceives and what the audience and one or more of the characters know to be true. Revenge, deception and ethics are some of the issues that one could explore in this story. Theme- love- betrayal, revenge and deception. Mary Maloney a victim and a villain. A faithful, docile pregnant wife who gets cheated. Story of? Married and a romantic couple. ? Maloney’s unexplained decision to leave his wife….. ? Violation of the marriage law(deception) ? Mary’s killing of her husband and her ultimate deception ? ? ? ? ? ? Setting-Maloney’s drawing room -Entire room of the house. -Sam’s grocery shop (short scene). ? Lamb is a Biblical Symbol of innocence/ symbol of peace, but here a powerful weapon of murder. ? So lamb symbolizes here violence, death and revenge- topsy-turvy to its conventional biblical concept. By P. Baburaj, Senior Lecturer, Dept. of English, Sherubtse college, Bhutan *********************************