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How Does Charles Dickens Create Suspense In Gothic Literature

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Gothic Literature Writing that employs dark and picturesque scenery, startling and melodramatic narrative devices, and an overall impression of exoticism, suspense and dread is defined as gothic literature. Charles Dickens’ “The Signalman” and Roald Dahl’s “Lamb to the Slaughter” are renowned traditional and contemporary gothic texts. Both authors use contrasting techniques to attain the same overall result; a sense of suspense. For instance, Dickens frequently utilizes the odd Signalman and a gloomy atmosphere to recreate a buildup of tension. On the other hand, Dahl uses subversion and dramatic irony as supporting factors to enhance the formation of suspense. Firstly, Dickens effectively creates suspense through the Signalman’s appearance …show more content…

Dahl uses subversion to emphasize on the unexpected change of Mary Maloney to convey aspects of suspense in “Lamb to the Slaughter”. Initially, it is evident that Mary is deemed as an innocent and tranquil person in the quote “There was a slow smiling air about her”. This also links in with Mary being a stereotypically ordinary, submissive housewife. A good example of this is “Darling, shall I get your slippers”. Through words such as “Darling” and “slippers”, a domestic image is illustrated which paints ideology of a typical family. However, further in the text, Mary is a different person and has stolen the dominance from Patrick. She adopts Patrick’s characteristics, such as being cunning, self-centered and emotionless which are noticeable in the quote “All right…so I have killed him”. Mary's response to Patrick's bad news is unexpected. She does not scream, cry, plead, question or demand answers. Her calm response intensifies the suspense; she confidently gets a frozen lamb leg out of the freezer and hits her husband over the head. This reinforces the idea that even though readers first see Mary as a stereotypically submissive housewife who caters to her husband's every need, she's not the weak and innocent "lamb" Patrick presumes; she just plays the part thus indicating that Patrick was the “lamb” all this time hence fabricating

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Lamb To The Slaughter Mary Maloney Essay

447 Words | 2 Pages

In the short story "Lamb to the Slaughter" by Roald Dahl, Mary Maloney betrays everyone with her intense, violent emotions, manipulation, and selfishness when finding out about bad news. In The Lamb to the Slaughter, Mary Maloney becomes violently emotional after discovering her husband’s devastating news. During the murder, "At that point, Mary Maloney simply walked up behind him, and without any pause, she swung the big frozen leg of lamb high in the air and brought it down as hard as she could on the back of his head" (Dahl 3). Mary’s reaction to bad news reveals how violent she is on the inside. Externally, Mary may appear like the perfect housewife and soon-to-be mother, as she is very loving, caring, and thoughtful.

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She got to the grocer and acted calm and was talking about Patrick so that Sam wouldn’t be suspect anything. “ ‘ Patrick’s decided he’s tired and doesn’t want to go eat out tonight’ she told him ‘ we usually go out Thursdays, you know, and now he’s caught me without any vegetables in the house’”(Dahl 5). Mary is acting like her husband is still alive and is telling Sam how he is too tired to eat and she needs food to cook for him. Looks can be deceiving because she looks innocent at the grocer’s but in reality she has committed a crime and is covering it

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Similarities Between Desiree's Baby And Lamb To The Slaughter

625 Words | 3 Pages

In addition to “Lamb to the Slaughter” the antagonist Patrick is willing to help Mary out with the baby, but no longer wants to be with her. For example, in “Desiree’s Baby” Armand says “that the child is not white; it means you are not white.” This illustrates that Armand is racist because he claims the baby isn’t his based on his colored skin. Furthermore, in “Lamb to the Slaughter” Patrick gives Mary horrific news saying “Of course, I’ll give you money and see that you’re taken care of..” This illustrates that he will make sure she is in good condition with the baby and he’s willingly to help her out; however, he does not want to be with

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626 Words | 3 Pages

"(155). This is showing that she didn’t something that she regretted because of what he told her. conclusion In “Lamb to the Slaughter” Dahl uses conflict, imagery, and direct characterization to develop feelings for Mary’s husband. This is important because the feelings Mary has for her husband are a main purpose in the story.

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452 Words | 2 Pages

She was forced into submission by the man she devoted her life to. “She stood up ‘sit down’ he said ‘just for a minute sit down’. It was not until then that she began to get frightened. This piece of evidence clearly shows a hostile relationship between Mary and Patrick Maloney.

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How Did Roald Dahl Build Suspense

1762 Words | 8 Pages

Expecting Mary to break into tears, she surprises the readers by grabbing a leg of lamb out of the freezer and striking Patrick over the head. This instantly kills him and the readers are left in shock when Mary does not react to her actions in the way the readers thought she would, as it states in the text “All right [Mary] told herself. So I’ve killed him”. She was not an innocent housewife like the readers had expected her to be, therefore Dahl had made a great twist in “Lamb to the Slaughter” with Mary being the character who is not as she seems. On the account of characters who are not as they seem, the way Dahl adds manipulative characters also is a great example of his suspense.

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“Patrick! She called. How are you darling. She put the parcel down and went into the living room and when she saw him lying on the ground.” Mary also creates an act that makes the detectives believe that she did not do anything to do with the murder.

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572 Words | 3 Pages

[...]” (Dahl 2). After Mr. Maloney expressed his disinterest once more, Mrs. Maloney knew it was the perfect time to act on her murderous thoughts; he had multiple drinks and was in an unsuspecting and vulnerable state. She headed to the basement to grab dinner--a leg of lamb--despite Mr. Maloney’s obvious frustration and disinterest. If acting on impulse, Mary would have hesitated or weakened the force used to hit him on the head, but through the act of the murder, Mrs. Maloney remains “controlled” and

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Near the middle of the story when Mary mutilates Patrick, we as the reader saw this as an unexpected surprise; and so did Mary. The beginning of the story states that Mary counted each minute that went by until Patrick came home, which sounds like Mary is a bit obsessed with the detective.

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To start off, in “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Ronald Dahl Mary has a conflict with her husband and she changes because of this. To show”Mary Maloney was waiting for her husband to come him from work. Now and again she would glance up at the clock, but without anxiety, merely to please herself with the thought that each minute gone by made it nearer the time when he would come... He paused a moment, leaning forward in the chair, then he got up and went slowly over to fetch himself another. “I’ll get it!”

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1219 Words | 5 Pages

The short story, “Lamb to the Slaughter,” written by Roald Dahl, is about a pregnant women who kills her husband with a leg of lamb after he tells her that he is leaving. In the story, Dahl uses indirect characterization; specifically thoughts, dialogue, actions, and what others say about the women, to give the reader a detailed look at her inner self. Using indirect characterization, the author is able hint throughout the story that Mary, the main character, is a sociopath, and is very unstable during her pregnancy, without blatantly stating it. A sociopath is defined as Mary’s thoughts change throughout the story, showing the reader her development as a character. In the beginning, she is a caring wife, who loves her husband dearly and can not wait for him

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Suspense And Tension In Gothic Literature

1319 Words | 6 Pages

In the two forms of gothic literature, traditional and contemporary, the prominent aspect of both involves building a sense of suspense and tension. In the traditional gothic story ‘the Signalman,’ author, Charles Dickens effectively utilises an unfamiliar setting, supernatural themes, and insanity. On the other hand, in the contemporary gothic literature piece ‘Lamb to the Slaughter,’ author Roald Dahl provides us with some antithetical techniques to the traditional gothic piece, utilising a familiar setting, subversion and insanity. Although both sub-genres of gothic literature presents different techniques they both effectually create a sense of anxiety in the atmosphere and through the methods used by both authors Charles Dickens

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812 Words | 4 Pages

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