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Theme Of Manipulation In Lamb To The Slaughter

1081 Words5 Pages

'Tales of the Unexpected' Essay Tales of the Unexpected (Roald Dahl), is a collection of short stories designed to shock the audience with their many twists and turns. Dahl wrote the stories so that the readers are constantly second-guessing their knowledge of human interaction and the ethics of certain situations. Dahl's talent at manipulating normal, everyday events and characters so they appear sinister is undeniable; but his manipulation does not often lead to a high calibre of black humour. 'Lamb to the Slaughter' is one of his only stories that contains a strong grasp of black humour stemmed from manipulation. 'Dip in the Pool' contains some levels of black humour, but it is not of high quality or the result of manipualtion. 'The Landlady' proves Dahl's skill at manipulation, however its black humour is non-existent. …show more content…

In it Dahl superbly manipulates his audience, but that manipulation does not lead to a high standard of black humour. When 17-year-old Billy Weaver decided to stay at what appeared to be a harmless Bed&Breakfast he wasn't expecting to be dead by the end of the night. Although Dahl did not write how Billy felt when he realised he was being poisened it's safe to assume he felt the same as the readers did; shocked that someone he described as, 'she was also quite obviously a kind and generous soul' (Dahl 146), could be a cold-blooded killer. Although Dahl uses manipulation it does not result in black humour. The story cuts off abruptly, without Billy realsing he will die; infact the only real evidence to Billy's death is that, 'the tea tasted faintly of bitter almonds' (Dahl 150), which suggests cyanide posiening. This meant that Dahl couldn't make write humoursly about Billy's death as many of the readers wouldn't realise he was being posiened, though most would know he was going to die. The absence of black humour in 'The Landlady' occurs in many other stories from Tales of the

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