The Landlady And Lamb To The Slaughter
In the short texts The Landlady and Lamb to the Slaughter written by Roald Dahl, important characters are the Landlady and Mary Maloney. Both these characters are important as they are not the pleasant personas they appear to be and are in fact ruthless murderers.
The Landlady is about an elderly woman who kills her house guest by poisoning them with arsenic and then stuffs their bodies. Lamb to the Slaughter is about a housewife Mary Maloney who kills her husband Patrick Maloney, with a leg of lamb, after he ends their relationship.
The Landlady is an elderly woman 'about forty-five or fifty years old...' She seems 'terribly nice' and 'looked exactly like the mother of one's best school-friend welcoming one into the house' with a round
pink face and very gentle blue eyes. 'The old girl is slightly dotty' but the fact that the 'landlady appeared to be slightly off her rocker' doesn't worry her guests in the least. But small clues are given to the reader in the short text like 'she had small, white, quickly moving hands, and red fingernails' which refers to arsenic she has used that has left it raw. 'The tea tasted faintly of bitter almonds' gives the reader another clue that the landlady has poisoned him with arsenic as this is the taste and odour arsenic can cause. These clues tell us that the Landlady is a murderer. The use of irony also shows us this when she says 'I stuff all my little pets myself when they pass away' which has two meanings-one that she stuffs her pets and-two that she stuffs her pets meaning her house guests. The Landlady is an important character in the short text as Dahl tries to get across a message to the reader that appearances can be deceiving, and we need to take caution with strangers. Dahl has used the Landlady as an example to show this message therefore making the Landlady an important character in the short text.
Mary Maloney is a devoted house-wife and as it was her 'sixth month with child', Her skin had 'acquired a wonderful translucent quality'. Her 'mouth was soft... eyes ... placid...seemed larger, darker than before'. She is married to Patrick Maloney whom is a detective which Dahl is able to tell the reader- 'As the wife of a detective'. The use of dialogue in the short texts tells us Mary Maloney is a pleasant woman who is solely devoted to her husband. Some examples of dialogue that shows this are 'Hullo Darling' as she greets him at the door and 'Darling, shall I get your slippers?' also 'Would you like me to get you some cheese?' Mary Maloney is an important character in the short texts as Dahl uses her character to show us that there is a dark side to human nature and everyone is born with flaws and the potential to act morally wrong or right. Mary Maloney shows this as she has a 'snap' reaction when her husband Patrick ends their relationship by killing him with the Leg of Lamb, even though she seems like one of the most pleasant persons in the world.
In both stories The Landlady and Lamb to the Slaughter the women appear harmless and very pleasant. But the Landlady has killed several times with arsenic as she is insane, and Mary Maloney had and 'snap' instinct to kill her husband and is not insane as the Landlady is. Both the women however use a form of nutrition to kill/ cover up their murders. Both the women did not get caught and had a good plan to cover up the murders. The Landlady's murder was silent and clever but Mary Maloney violently murders out of instinct and it is unplanned.
The Landlady is about an elderly woman who kills her house guest by poisoning them with arsenic and then stuffs their bodies. Lamb to the Slaughter is about a housewife Mary Maloney who kills her husband Patrick Maloney, with a leg of lamb, after he ends their relationship.
The Landlady is an elderly woman 'about forty-five or fifty years old...' She seems 'terribly nice' and 'looked exactly like the mother of one's best school-friend welcoming one into the house' with a round
pink face and very gentle blue eyes. 'The old girl is slightly dotty' but the fact that the 'landlady appeared to be slightly off her rocker' doesn't worry her guests in the least. But small clues are given to the reader in the short text like 'she had small, white, quickly moving hands, and red fingernails' which refers to arsenic she has used that has left it raw. 'The tea tasted faintly of bitter almonds' gives the reader another clue that the landlady has poisoned him with arsenic as this is the taste and odour arsenic can cause. These clues tell us that the Landlady is a murderer. The use of irony also shows us this when she says 'I stuff all my little pets myself when they pass away' which has two meanings-one that she stuffs her pets and-two that she stuffs her pets meaning her house guests. The Landlady is an important character in the short text as Dahl tries to get across a message to the reader that appearances can be deceiving, and we need to take caution with strangers. Dahl has used the Landlady as an example to show this message therefore making the Landlady an important character in the short text.
Mary Maloney is a devoted house-wife and as it was her 'sixth month with child', Her skin had 'acquired a wonderful translucent quality'. Her 'mouth was soft... eyes ... placid...seemed larger, darker than before'. She is married to Patrick Maloney whom is a detective which Dahl is able to tell the reader- 'As the wife of a detective'. The use of dialogue in the short texts tells us Mary Maloney is a pleasant woman who is solely devoted to her husband. Some examples of dialogue that shows this are 'Hullo Darling' as she greets him at the door and 'Darling, shall I get your slippers?' also 'Would you like me to get you some cheese?' Mary Maloney is an important character in the short texts as Dahl uses her character to show us that there is a dark side to human nature and everyone is born with flaws and the potential to act morally wrong or right. Mary Maloney shows this as she has a 'snap' reaction when her husband Patrick ends their relationship by killing him with the Leg of Lamb, even though she seems like one of the most pleasant persons in the world.
In both stories The Landlady and Lamb to the Slaughter the women appear harmless and very pleasant. But the Landlady has killed several times with arsenic as she is insane, and Mary Maloney had and 'snap' instinct to kill her husband and is not insane as the Landlady is. Both the women however use a form of nutrition to kill/ cover up their murders. Both the women did not get caught and had a good plan to cover up the murders. The Landlady's murder was silent and clever but Mary Maloney violently murders out of instinct and it is unplanned.