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 ba
He also uses individual words which manifold wickedness of human hard, ‘horror’ to emphasis the atmosphere. The language is typical of the Victorian era as everyone spoke very formally.
The main characters in the speckled band are all portrayed as stereotypical men and women of the Victorian era with typical values of that time. For example men were thought to be of more importance and had authority over women. Sherlock has a strong personality portrayed at points like when he says ‘you must not fear’ indicating he is strong and will save everyone. The men of Victorian time where made out to be very intelligent, Sherlock ponders the details of the case whilst staring into the fire. Sherlock has the answers to everything and notices the finest details. Whereas the women in this