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Compare Lamb to the Slaughter and The Speckled Band Essay

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Murder mysteries - Compare Lamb to the Slaughter and The Speckled Band.

Murder mysteries all have a similar plot consisting of a body, a motive, a weapon, a suspect, an alibi, and detectives. Viewers and readers expect this in the text, Lamb to the Slaughter and The
Speckled Band are no exception.

The structures of the two stories are very different, with The
Speckled Band story unfolding in chronological order, finding out the murderer right at the end, however in the Lamb to the Slaughter, the murderer is known at the beginning of the story.

The two stories are seen from two different points of view, first-person narrator in The Speckled Band as Dr Watson character within the story and therefore limited in understanding …show more content…

Also in The Speckled Band, Dr Roylott, is the evil, plotting, devious, fictional murderer; this character was portrayed in most murder mysteries stories written in the late 19 century. The Speckled Band was written in 1892.

In the Lamb to the Slaughter we had no idea who the murderer and victim were going to be until the murder had been committed, in fact you might of thought the roles would have been reversed once reading the first few pages. The detectives in the story are portrayed as acting as typical modern police detectives, they eat the evidence! The detectives appear so stupid and useless compared to the marvellous and calculating Sherlock Holmes.

The points of high tension are different in the two stories. In The
Speckled Band the main point of high tension is right at the end when they find out who the murderer is and when the snake comes at Holmes
"Holmes sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with his cane at the bell-pull."

Other points of tension were Helen Stoner talking to Holmes, "
Frightened eyes like those of some hunted animal", the night of the murder, "A wild wind. The wind was howling outside suddenly there burst forth the wild scream of a woman," and the sister's hot words,
"She suddenly shrieked out in a voice which I shall never forget, " O, my God! Helen! It was the band! The Speckled band!" In the Lamb to the
Slaughter the point of high tension is whether the detectives would

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