The Landlady

The Landlady by Roald Dahl unveils a valuable theme through mysterious and disturbing occurrences. The integrity and truthfulness of a person are difficult to uncover. They hide behind fake identities, masks which alter the beliefs of others. Despite the difficulty to realize one's’ authentic self, it is important to be alert and to notice clues in order to depict their personality or to predict situations. This is proven by the first encounter between the main character and the Landlady, the Landlady's behaviour and the evidence within the bed and breakfast guestbook. Therefore, the theme of The Landlady is to not be too trusting or unwary and to be perceptive.

The spooky outdoor setting is made to prepare the reader for the appearance of a cozy indoors, whereas the landlady’s scary features on the inside are covered up by her warm but deceitful personality. She tricks unsuspecting young men with her generous and very motherly personality.

The supernatural force finally compelled Billy to enter the front door and ring the bell. He was immediately confronted by the 'Landlady' as she answered the door 'at once'. The landlady invited Billy with a 'warm welcoming smile'. At the moment the landlady seems to be charming in order to get Billy's invitation to come in. Billy finds himself as being a lucky lad, to find a cosy house to stay in, whilst being isolated and inexperienced in Bath. Also the prices are cheap, which makes Billy to stay for certain. The landlady has a friendly appearance, gentle blue eyes with a round pink face that shows she's warm and caring, inviting Billy in this way makes him feel homely. Again the landlady uses her charm to determine Billy doesn't leave, by removing an egg for breakfast to lower his costs.

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

Landlady is a short story by Roald Dahl. The story is about the youthful man, Billy Weaver, who went to the a little city called Bath to carry out his job. Sadly, he gets into the wrong place and that gets him into trouble. The topic refers to a widespread thought or message that keeps running all through out a story. Now we locate various subjects in the story, The Landlady, by Roald Dahl.

“Oh dear, this town is just rather small. Most people that come to town do not need a place to stay,” she adds to Billy’s comment. It started to get late, and Billy could not decide what to do. Should he leave this insane place, or should he just hold off until morning. He decided to make conversation with the landlady. He wanted to figure her out because, deep down, he knew something was up.

A snarling wolf can be as nice as a loving grandmother, and a cute bunny might actually be a demon in disguise, but you never know until you get to know them. The Landlady, written by Roald Dahl, is a short horror story of a young man named Billy Weaver going to the town of Bath for a business trip. While looking for a place to stay, he finds a seemingly kind, old lady who offers cheap bed and breakfast. While treating Billy to tea at night, the landlady poisons Billy and goes to make him one of her taxidermied collections. Dahl uses foreshadowing, characterization, and irony to examine how innocence can change the way things seem.

The Landlady tone is scary and the mood is weird for example she already had a bed ready for him. The landlady started acting funny when he came in the bed and breakfast. The dog and the bird would just stay where they were like they were dead. She then said that she stuffed the animals after they die. That bitter almond taste is likely cyanide, a poison that will kill Billy Weaver so the landlady can stuff his body and keep him, supposedly with the other two young men who visited her bed and breakfast in the last few years.

Dialogue such as ‘ His skin was just like a baby’s’ and ‘ I stuff all my little pets myself when they pass away.’ have all foreshadow and indicates landlady’s creepy personality. This is another unique style for characterization. By reading the dialogue, you can be more familiar with the character.

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.

“The Landlady,” a short story by Roald Dahl uses countless ways to build suspense. In this story, a young businessman moves to the city Bath, and needs a place to stay. He was told to go a pub called The Bell and Dragon but on the way there, he sees a small boardinghouse. After examining it, he decides that he will still go to the pub, but was drawn into the sign that said “BED AND BREAKFAST”. Upon entering, he realizes that there is something off about the landlady and her house. Roald Dahl, the author of the horror short-story, “The Landlady,” effectively builds suspense for the reader throughout the story by the use of various writing techniques such as foreshadowing and imagery.

Without physical descriptions, the reader is forced to picture the Landlady in their mind’s eye based upon her personality within the dialogue. Based on the observations, the Landlady appears to be charming and pleasant. At first, all of these impressions of both Mary and the Landlady that are given to the audience present them as loveable characters, a very misleading

The sentence “The room itself, so far as he can see in the half- darkness, was filled with pleasant furniture” This shows that the inside of the Bed and Breakfast, seems like a nice little place but when he goes inside and is inside for a bit, something seems off with the landlady. This place makes him feel safe but in reality it isn’t safe at all. Irony isn’t the only way Dahl shows that trust is not given, he also uses personification. In the sentence “Each word has like a large black eye staring at him through the glass, holding him, compelling him, forcing him to stay where he was and not to walk away from that house…” This sentence is showing him that this house is holding him and not letting him leave, that is dangerous from him to go inside.

Within “The Landlady” by Roald Dahl, the theme is that being naive can make one unaware of dangerous situations. Billy Weaver was looking for a decently priced hotel to stay at. However, an old lady offered to take him in for a night at her bed and breakfast. So, the lady welcomed Billy and insisted that he drink a cup of tea that happened to be posioned. Then, Billy slowly sipped the poisonous tea while he questioned the lady. Finally, Billy’s innocence led him to the high risk situation of consuming the toxic tea.

Roald Dahl uses various writing techniques in the horror short story, “The Landlady,” to build suspense, or the uncertainty or anxiety that a reader will feel about what may happen next in a story, novel, or drama. In this short story, the protagonist, Billy Weaver, a young, handsome seventeen-year-old, traveled from London to Bath, due to work, and looks for accommodation. Eventually, he came across a quaint bed and breakfast owned by a landlady who appeared to be generous. The landlady portrayed herself as a kind, innocent soul, but her intentions spoke otherwise. As the tale continued, Billy realizes that things are not what they initially appeared to be at the bed and breakfast. Through the use of foreshadowing and characterization, the author, Roald Dahl, of the horror short story, “The Landlady,” effectively builds suspense for the reader in the thread of the plot.