Gothic Elements In Lamb To The Slaughter

Conventional versus contemporary. Paranormal versus verism. Charles Dickens’ “The Signalman” and Roald Dahl’s “Lamb to the Slaughter”, two pieces of Gothic prose, are different yet, in various ways, similar. Written with the creation of suspense and tension in mind, both stories are tied with a common theme of insanity.
One of the ways that the two writers create suspense is by utilising the description of the setting and the themes. Dickens reiterates the words “gloomy” and “dark” as well as mentioning that “so little sunlight ever found its way to this spot,” These statements signify the calignosity of the post and that it is in absence of warmth, inducing fear in the reader as the lack of warmth and light is often associated with despair and bleak situations. Furthermore, the writer describes that the signalman’s post has “an earthy deadly smell.” The word “earthy” creates an image of the railroad being a grave, establishing a feeling of claustrophobia and death. The phrase also foreshadows later events as …show more content…
Irony as well as allusions are mainly bestowed in “Lamb to the Slaughter”. This can be explicitly seen in the title as it is an oxymoron. A “lamb” is usually depicted to be innocent and pure while the word “slaughter” is morbid and grotesque. Moreover, the protagonist’s name is a connotation. The name “Mary” refers to Virgin Mary, who is righteous and immaculate. This creates irony as this virtuous character ends up murdering her husband in the spur of the moment. Foreshadowing is exploited in “The Signalman” through the title/protagonist’s name as well. The word “signal” in “signalman” has a meaning of: anything that serves to indicate, warn, direct or command. It is ominous, suggesting that something bad is to happen which turns out to be the death of the Signalman. This shows that the title and name of the character foreshadowed the outcome of the