Comparing Lamb to the Slaughter to The Speckled Band Essay -- English

Comparing Lamb to the Slaughter to The Speckled BandLamb to the Slaughter and The Speckled Band are both(prenominal) murdermysteries. Like most murder mysteries each of the stories have amurderer, a victim and characters acting in a suspicious or unmatchedway.Lamb to the Slaughter is a 20th century story about a woman calledMary who kills her husband, Patrick Maloney, using a leg of lamb. Thisseems sort of surprising at startle as she seems sooner loving and devotedto him- she loved to luxuriate in the presence of this man. Howevera lot of Mary Maloneys behaviour in the for the first time scene does seem quiteworrying and peculiar. It seems that she is almost obsessed with herhusband and this is shown by the way she is constantly trying toplease him. Although the murder is a offence of passion Mrs Maloneymanages to deal with it quite well. She is very calculating whenrealising quite what she has done and providing herself with aconvincing alibi. When the detectives arrive to in vestigate the murderthey seem to be taking it very seriously, however they dont reallyseem to consider Mrs Maloney as a real suspect. There is one point inthe story where one of the detectives saysacted quite normal very cheerful impossible that she but this isan idea which is soon discarded. After a while the attitude of thedetectives becomes more relaxed and not so professional. Mrs Maloneytakes return of this by asking the detectives to stay for dinner.She then goes on to feed them the leg of lamb thus destroying theevidence. There is a moment of irony towards the end because when talk about the murder weapon one of the detectives saysProbably right under our very nose just as they are eating the legof lamb. ... ...and and Lamb to the Slaughter arevery diverse. In Lamb to the Slaughter Mr and Mrs Maloney both livedin a warm and clean home. The atmosphere is of a happy and contenthousehold. In The Speckled Band the murder takes place in an old,grey, stone house. The setting see ms colder and emptier. The position thatRoylott keeps animals such as cheetahs and baboons adds a darker addsa more sinister feel to the story. This is more typical of a murdermystery but it may not have seemed so unusual when it was firstwritten in the 19th century. I think the author of Lamb to theSlaughter wants the reader to see Mrs Maloney as quite cunning anddeceitful. He does this by showing that Mrs Maloney can use the factthat she was married to Mr Maloney and that she is six months pregnantto her advantage. Holmes would probably not have fallen into this selfsame(prenominal)trap.