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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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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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1313 Words | 6 Pages

The story “Lamb To The Slaughter” starts off with the pregnant wife Mary Maloney anxiously waiting for her husband, Patrick, to get home from work. She has two glasses and some drinks behind her and constantly looks at the clock. Every minute that passes satisfies her. This shows that she is very lonely at home by herself and waits around for him all day. When Patrick gets home from work she quickly jumps up from her sewing and kisses him as he walks through the door.

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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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622 Words | 3 Pages

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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625 Words | 3 Pages

This illustrates that Roald evaluates the theme motherhood because Mary doesn’t take a risk of killing the baby; therefore, she puts the baby first before herself. Furthermore, another difference is that in “Lamb to the Slaughter” Roald employs irony because the murderer Mary Maloney is asking the police to eat the murder weapon which is the lamb she cooks. For example, Mary says “Personally, I couldn’t eat a thing, but it’d be a favor to me if you ate it up…” also when the cops are talking one of them say “It’s probably right under our noses. What do you think, Jack?” while Mary began to laugh in the other

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528 Words | 3 Pages

Mary goes from being very caring and loving, to being crafty and maternal, to finally being manipulative and victorious. Throughout the beginning of the story, Mary shows the reader how much she truly cares and loves her husband. She constantly asked Patrick Maloney if there is anything she can get him. She offered to get him his slippers, cheese, and also on crackers.

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1734 Words | 7 Pages

Usually after committing a crime, people would immediately feel guilty and sorry, but Mary though it was “funny” and even “giggled” when the detectives ate the evidence. The readers would say she went insane after killing her husband and feeding his colleagues with the murder weapon, which creates tension within the readers. Briefly, Roald Dahl uses insanity to create suspense in ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ as people that are insane are unpredictable, leading the audience to anticipate the ending of the

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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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1105 Words | 5 Pages

Roald Dahl’s murder mystery Lamb to the Slaughter is a story that revolves around a brisk change in mood and borderline insanity. Mary Maloney, the main character, is a pregnant wife that spends most of her time anxiously waiting for her beloved husband, Patrick, to come home from work. However, when Mary is told by him that they’re going to have a divorce, things go a bit bloody. The theme this story revolves around is underestimating the vulnerable ones.

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893 Words | 4 Pages

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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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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656 Words | 3 Pages

The suspenseful short story “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl is about a 6 month pregnant 1953 housewife, named Mary Maloney. Happy with her seamless marriage and life, Mary eagerly awaits in their cozy apartment for her husband Patrick to come home, not expecting her life to terribly change. Patrick comes home in fury, finally telling Mary that he is leaving her, and as maddened and heartbroken as she was; she showed no emotion toward what just occurred. A man vs. self-conflict arises and she kills Patrick with the leg of a lamb she was supposed to cook him for dinner. As the story progresses, Mary has a man vs. self-conflict, where she does not know what to do with Patrick’s murder case and her emotions start to change.

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781 Words | 4 Pages

From the beginning, you can see how the Mary might change to the point where she wants to kill her husband. In the beginning she is shown waiting eagerly for her husband to walk thru the door. Roald Dahl shows this by Mary looking at the clock every once and awhile. She would know that every time a minute goes by, the closer he is to home. Patrick finally comes home and sits down to drink.

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812 Words | 4 Pages

Mary Maloney was sitting in her living room when her husband, Patrick Maloney, came home. This was the premises of the short story, “Lamb to the Slaughter,” composed by Roald Dahl. Patrick was a police officer; his wife stayed at home, which was typical for the 1950s, which was the time period of the story. The couple had been, so it seemed, happy throughout their marriage. In fact, Mary was pregnant with a baby boy.

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467 Words | 2 Pages

The story “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl takes place in and the time is around 5:00 pm. Mary Maloney is a devoted wife to her husband Patrick Maloney. But one day Patrick Maloney comes home and acts in an unusual way. He tells Mary Maloney he wants to leave her. Sp Mary Maloney hits Patrick Maloney on the head with a lamb and kills him.

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