Compare and Contrast Lamb to the Slaughter And The Speckled Band :: English Literature

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