Comparison Of Lamb To The Slaughter And The Landlady

There are many comparisons in the two stories “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl and “A Jury of her Peers” by Susan Glaspell. First, both stories were even though the time periods are different the wives still had to take care of their husbands and the house. This is shown when Mary was going to make dinner and take her husband’s coat off. It was shown in “A Jury of her Peers” when Mrs. Hale felt bad for not doing all the household chores and leaving them half done. Another comparison is that in both stories they had bold women, in “Lamb to the Slaughter” the wife pretended that she didn't kill her husband and had the cops eat the murder weapon. In “A Jury of her Peers”, Mrs.Hale hid an important piece of evidence from the cops. In both there was a definite way the women and men were treated different. Another

Murder, one of the worst crimes a human could commit, is not taken lightly and most times the primary suspect is a male. In the 2 stories, “Lamb of the Slaughter”, and “The Landlady”, the reader learns just how murderous man’s counterpart can be. Roald Dahl, the author of these 2 stories, wrote “Lamb of the Slaughter” from the perspective of Mary Malony a loving housewife who gets terrible news, and wrote“The Landlady” from the perspective of Billy Weaver, a 17 year old businessman who stumbles across a Bed and Breakfast run by our next “Mistress of Death”. The reader will learn that even though these 2 stories are different in many ways, they still have plenty of similarities.

In Roald Dahl’s short story “Lamb to the Slaughter” , Mary Maloney murders her husband, a detective, after he declares that he is leaving her. Mary then has to cover her tracks or else she and her unborn child will be killed. Throughout the story, Mary’s character changes from loving wife to cold killer and back again based on her situation.

Emotive language and dialogue was a literary technique that Roald Dahl used in order to explore the idea of stereotypical gender roles which was a common societal issue particularly in the 1950s. Lamb to the Slaughter tells of a couple during the 1950s who followed the stereotypical couple concept of having a housewife and a husband working a middle-class job. Through the Maloney’s relationship it can be seen how Mary Maloney fulfilled and had a desire of wanting to provide and care for her husband using her skills of a housewife. This can be perceived in the quote; “I’ll get you cheese and crackers.” This informs readers that her nature and manner of wanting to please and satisfy the needs of her husband is very important to her. In response to Mary her husband replied with “I don’t want it”. The issue of gender roles/gender hierarchy in this particular situation encouraged Mary’s contentment of wanting to murder her husband which may have been initiated because of the imbalance within their relationship. Patrick Maloney’s reply to his wife portrays a disrespectful and inconsiderate attitude which represents the dominance and power that he has within the relationship. His authority within their relationship may have been generated because of his role as a provider for his wife. Another quote by Mr. Maloney states “sit down, just for a minute sit down,” this represents the type of relationship and interaction that the couple reflects. Their relationship shows no negotiation and inequality within the relationship; Patrick who is an educated detective, whereas Mary was just a

The Landlady is mystery story written by Roald Dahl and incorporates lots of foreshadowing. The first foreshadowing I found was when Bill pressed the doorbell and in a second, the Landlady popped out of the door - according to the Landlady text, lines 113- 118. This seems weird because normally you have to wait half- minute before the door opens (lines 119-120) but this seems like she is waiting next to door so someone would show up. Next, one foreshadowing you may have missed was when the Landlady interrupted what Billy was saying and was trying to change the topic, according to lines 363- 373, “Now wait a minute,” he said. “Wait just a minute. Mulholland ... Christopher Mulholland ... wasn’t that the name of the Eton schoolboy who was on a walking-tour through the West Country, and then all of a sudden ...”- Billy Milk?” she said. “And sugar?”- Landlady. She was trying to change the conversation which is pretty weird the reader will start suspecting if the Landlady is hiding something. Furthermore, according to lines 423-424, the Landlady says, "You have the most beautiful

Author also surprises readers, when he introduces conflict between a couple that used to love each other deeply. Diverting the story from love to betrayal, author develops an irony. In the story, reader sees two examples of betrayal. Ms. Maloney, while talking with her tired husband, finds out her husband no longer want to keep their marriage. Without giving any kind of reason, Patrick betrays her wife with a decision of breaking marriage. Mary shocks, when her husband, boldly, says, “ This is going to be bit shock of you”(P. Maloney) Author creates a total opposite picture of Patrick by describing him as a husband who used to give her wife surprises; he is now giving her shock in the middle of her pregnancy. Mary, who was previously shown as “anxiety less”(Dahl), with “a slow smiling air”(Dahl) and “curiously tranquil”(Dahl), had began to get upset and now inculcate her eye with a “bewildered look.” After betrayed by her husband, she, without any argue, she goes to the basement to look for frozen food. She decides to have leg of a lamb as a last dinner with her husband, but she smashes the frozen leg in to Patrick’s head with killing him. Mary betrays her husband by killing him and takes revenge of her betrayal. Later, Author confirms her as a murdered with the statement of “I’ve killed him”(Mary) from her own lips. Dahl, in the story,

going to leave her but Dahl does not make it clear what the bad news

Foreshadowing in a story is very hard to include, without making the next event too obvious. In the story “Lamb to the Slaughter” Roald Dahl uses elements of suspense to engage the readers to keep reading to see what happens next. Even though one may seem innocent and gentle, can turn powerfull in a second. The author frequently uses dramatic irony, plot twist and foreshadowing to create a story that is both creepy and mysterious.

“Charles” and “Lamb To The Slaughter” are quite comparable. Both main characters were very similar on a few levels. Laurie and Mary Maloney both prove victims can be culprits. In “Charles” and “Lamb To The Slaughter”, both stories show that you should never underestimate anyone.

Authors use characterization to develop the actions of the characters. Like Mary’s actions in ‘The Lamb to the Slaughter’ by using different kinds of literature devices. Roald Dahl in "The Lamb to the Slaughter" uses characterization, imagery, and irony to develop the character of Mary so that the reader can understand what has occurred during the murder.

Even though the gruesome, ghastly and demonic story known as “The Landlady” ends in a disturbing way, it portrays many characteristics about the protagonist, Billy. There are numerous ways to characterize Billy, a 17-year-old kid on his first business trip in the strange city of Bath, England. Billy begins his journey to a hotel known as the Bell and Dragon but stumbles to a halt when he sees a seemingly cozy bed and breakfast that catches his eye. For a few pages everything seems great; unfortunately for Billy, he has some flaws which ultimately lead to his shocking death at the hands of a demented landlady. These are curiosity, a tendency to miss important clues, and gullibility.

This is a twisted, gripping tale of Mary Maloney, who murders her own husband by hitting him with a frozen leg of lamb and then hiding her crime and disposing of the evidence by feeding the lamb to the policemen who come to investigate the murder.

him he was tired. She then asked him if he wanted supper but he said

Again and again moments made “Lamb to the Slaughter” and “The Landlady” by Roald Dahl creepy. A point to support this is how the old lady and the wife acted during the stories. Evidence to back this up is the old lady was really nice, probably too nice and she only accepts certain people into her B&B. The old lady also hasn’t had a person be at her B&B in 2 years. Another piece of evidence is how the wife acted normal after she killed her husband and then went to store and pretended she didn’t know he was dead and then called the police to investigate. The second point is the detective's and Mr. Weaver didn’t know about the mysteries behind the wife and the landlady. Evidence to support this is how the landlady has everything perfect at her

The landlady has a suspenseful very creepy feel and the tell tale heart has a weird and disturbing feeling about the creepy butler.Both stories had you anticipating what would happen next.