Serial Killers In Roald Dahl's 'The Landlady'

Hiro Mashima once said “If peace can only come through killing someone, then I don’t want it.” On the other hand, the landlady in Roald Dahl’s short story “The Landlady,” contradicts this quote by getting peace by killing people. Serial killers kill many people in the same way and make “the act of killing into a ritual” (Dolan 51). They go through seven phases in total which is the Aura phase, Trolling phase, the Wooing phase, Capture, the Totem phase, the Depression phase. Similarly, the landlady goes through these phases. She kills a man named Billy Weaver who is in search of a place to live. She stuffs the people who come to live there. The landlady can be considered as a serial killer because she goes through the most important phases of a serial killer

Most of the serial killers capture their victim by “winning their confidence and luring them into trap” and these murderers favor the most vulnerable victims such as “the young, the elderly, the handicapped” (Dolan 53). Likewise, the landlady lures Billy Weaver by decorating her house with “chrysanthemums” and having a “bright fire burning in hearth” and a “little daschund” (Dahl 1). She also chooses Billy because he is “seventeen years old” (Dahl 1). Specifically, the landlady searches for victim and deceives them by winning their confidence. She acts kindly with him and her house looks like a normal person’s house. She searches for young people because she is a inexperienced killer and she is not strong enough to fight with adults. Therefore, the Wooing phase is an important phase that the landlady