Watson and the reader Essay Example for Free

Watson and the reader Essay A red herring for the police, which again showed that Mrs Maloney could never kill Patrick, was the fact that she was pregnant and they were about to have a baby together so why would she ant to kill Patrick? Mrs Maloney is always leading the blame of herself. This is totally different to The speckled band because Dr Roylott comes to visit Holmes and is aggressive, violent and out of control which is making Holmes, Watson and the reader that he is capable of killing someone. In the Lamb to the slaughter it is doing exactly the opposite and making the police and the reader think that is wouldnt be able to do such a thing. Another occasion where she is leading the police away from her is when she says I hope you catch him. Again its putting the blame on to a totally different person. I hope you catch him.  After we had looked at the clues and red herrings in both stories in great detail we began to compare the different methods of investigation in both stories.  When we looked at The speckled band I noticed that Holmes was very observant in his investigations. Holmes examines every minor detail with great care and does it more than once. He doesnt have any scientific equipment all he has is a magnify glass. Holmes makes all the decisions whereas Watson follows him and does as he says. Sherlock suspects everyone and everything and relies on his instinct, all this brings him closer to the villain. For example, when he is looking at the Stoke Moran place he looks in great detail at everything especially Dr Roylotts room and that brings him to the conclusion that the doctor is involved, the iron safe, the milk, the dog lash and the chair with foot prints on. When he talks to Helen he makes her go over the story a few times and asks her questions on it and he makes sure he has got the full story and got it correct. Holmes has solved many cases even though he has little technology, he has solved over seventy cases. Sherlock uses methods of deduction like I have mentioned, milk, lash, vent, and bell rope and so on.  Sherlock discovers motive and method using precise investigation. Holmes causes the murders death by setting the snake back to the doctors room after it has been hit. Dr Roylott is killed and punished and Holmes has saved Helen Stoner, Holmes has saved the day and everyone is happy. After we has examined The speckled band we looked at the methods of investigation in Lamb to the slaughter they were quite the opposite. In The speckled band Holmes only had himself and a magnify glass whereas in Lamb to the slaughter the police force had forensic scientists, photographers and a lot of men to help with the murder.  First a doctor, then two detectives. Later, a police photographer arrived and took pictures, and a man who knew about fingerprints. In this way they could get time of death, have more accurate tests and they could do a post-mortem. The speckled band and Lamb to the slaughter did have a similarity because both detectives searched the house for clues but in Lamb to the slaughter they we unsuccessful unlike Sherlock Holmes. The police force did not really investigate Mrs Maloney, which isnt very professional. In Lamb to the slaughter the police questioned more people than just Mrs Maloney, for example, the green grocer. In The speckled band Holmes didnt ask anyone else and managed to solve the case but the police in Lamb to the slaughter didnt find the murderer. In Lamb to the slaughter the police get to examine the body and dont solve the case whereas Holmes doesnt get that opportunity but still solves the case. The police take some alcoholic drink from Mrs Maloney and then eat the murder weapon. This is very wrong and very unprofessional, and once they have eaten the meat, (murder weapon), they have no chance of solving the case. Holmes and Watson would never do this and they are very professional and take their job very serious. At the end of Lamb to the slaughter the police do not find the murder weapon when it is right under their noses and Holmes finds out what has killed Julia and he didnt know what he was looking for. When Holmes was investigating there was a lot of red herrings for him. In Lamb to the slaughter there are few and they know what kind of instrument killed Patrick. Her husband, he told her, had been killed by a blow on the back of the head administered with a heavy blunt instrument.  If Sherlock Holmes were on Detective Maloneys case he probably would have solved the case because he would look very carefully at the evidence and observe every minor detail. Holmes would have carefully observed Mrs Maloneys actions and mood like he did in The speckled band with Helen Stoner. Also Holmes would have never eaten or drank anything. It might have taken Holmes and Watson longer but I think he would have solved the case in the end. The two stories, The speckled band and Lamb to the slaughter have totally different settings. In The speckled band it is set in the nineteenth century and Helen, Julia and Dr Roylott live in a large house isolated in the countryside. Helen, Julia and the Doctor each have there separate rooms. They are of the upper class. You can tell this because the house is very large and you can even tell by the name, Stoke Moran.  I am Dr Grimsby Roylott, of Stoke Moran. Only three people lived in the house before Julia died. Although Dr Roylott was of the upper class he didnt have a lot of money, which is the main reason why he murdered Julia and tried to murder Helen.  Because it was set in the nineteenth century the transports was much different too nowadays because a car was not a popular as they are today. People had to travel by train and dogcart, which are much slower, compared to the transport in the twentieth century.  You could tell that Dr Roylott was of the upper class because of the way he dressed. He costume was a peculiar mixture of the professional and agricultural, having a black top hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, with a hunting crop swinging in his hand.  As you can see from this quote he dressed professionally but how he wanted. Only the high class would dress to this standard.  Dr Roylott, Helen and Julia were not very sociable. You know this because in the story they live in an isolated place, in the country, and nobody likes to get into Dr Roylott way because he is a fierce man and a violent one. You know that the doctor is a violent man because he has a past record of throwing a blacksmith into a stream. Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a stream.  We then looked at the settings, location and the social conditions in Lamb to the slaughter. We found that it was much different to The speckled band mostly because it was set in a different time to The speckled band. Whereas in The speckled band it was set in the nineteenth century, Lamb to the slaughter was set in the twentieth century, and the family was a middle class. You knew this because they lived in a normal sized house in a normal neighbourhood with a local green grocer and Patrick Maloney was a police detective. Mr and Mrs Maloney would have shared their own room whereas in The speckled band each person had their separate room. Although the Maloneys are middle class they still had a bit of money. You can tell this because they go out every Thursday and they have plenty of food in the house, also Patrick drinks whiskey, which is quite expensive.  If youre too tired to eat out, she went on, its still not too late. There is plenty of meat and stuff in the freezer.  Dr Roylott is very clever because he knows how to hide the evidence from linking him to Julias death but Jack is also clever as he is a detective and has been for some years. Mr and Mrs Maloney are very sociable people because they are known throughout the neighbourhood. The local green grocer, Sam, knows them. Hullo Sam, she said brightly, smiling at the man behind the counter.  You also know that they are very sociable because when Mrs Maloney has murdered Patrick and the police men come she knows them and they treat her really nice because they know each other. This is nothing like The speckled band because Dr Roylott is very unsociable. Patrick Maloney is smartly dressed because of his job, he dresses in a suit which was smart for when the story is set. You dont know how Mrs Maloney is dressed because it doesnt describe her but I expect she would be dressed quite smartly. This is a similarity to The speckled band because all the characters are dressed smartly.  There was a lot of suspense in The speckled band all the way the story. The first dose of major suspense is when Helen stoner has only just left Holmes place after telling about Dr Roylott and Julias death and the doctor walks in furiously. He bursts in the door uninvited and starts to bellow at Holmes asking about what Helen has been telling him. Holmes just keeps cool and laughs at him when he is calling him. There is suspense here because Dr Roylott is being very violent and aggressive and you dont know what he is going to do. You are asking yourself is going to hit Sherlock Holmes with his hunting crop? You dont know what he is going to do so while you reading the story you are on the edge of your seat.  What has she been saying to you? screamed the old man furiously.  Ha you put me off, do you? said our new visitor, taking a step forward, and shaking his hunting crop. I know you scoundrel! I have heard of you before. You are Holmes the meddler.  My friend smiled.  This is a very tense section of the story because you just dont have a clue what he is going to do.