Comparing The Two Stories ‘The Adventures Of The Speckled Band’ And ‘The Lamb To The Slaughter’

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Comparing the two stories ‘The Adventures of the Speckled Band’ and ‘The Lamb to the Slaughter’

Within this essay I will be comparing and contrasting the two detective stories ‘The Adventures of the Speckled Band’ and ‘The Lamb to the Slaughter’, referring to the structure, language and characterisation. ‘The speckled band’ was written in 1892 by Sir Arthur Doyle, he was qualified as a doctor which gave him a medical perspective for all his stories. ‘The lamb to the slaughter’ was written in 1952 by Roald Dahl most famous for writing children’s stories although he did write adult material such as the book ‘The lamb to the slaughter featured in ‘The tales of the unexpected’. Detective stories mainly base themselves around solving murder cases; the reader is taken on a journey to find who is guilty and their motive which is normally along the lines of greed, loneliness and hatred.
‘The speckled band’ is written in 1st person and the story is narrated by Dr Watson, Sherlock’s partner and dear friend. The story begins with Dr Watson looking over his old notes and introducing us to his views and feelings on Sherlock Holmes and his amazing talent for solving murder mysteries. We are taken back eight years to a case they solved. They were visited by a lady called Helen Stoner who explained her story from the moment her mother died to the most recent events. From there the story is slowly built up until the climax at the end when the case is solved. Conan Doyle is able to engage the reader by the affect of drama and atmosphere using short staccato sentences to convey excitement, movement and speed. Dynamic verbs such as ‘rush’ and ‘groping’ emphasises this. He is able to make the reader want to carry on by uncovering each clue one by one putting together the puzzle. The further you read the more clues you will get until you have the full picture. The story ends with the uncovering of the who...