Pollard i
Markeisha Pollard
Mrs. E. Richardson
British Literature
17 November 2014
Trust, Deceit, Vengeance, and Humor in Someone Like You
Thesis: Although there is not much comedy in the theme of betrayal and revenge, Roald Dahl
uses verbal irony, situational irony, and dramatic irony as sources of humor.
I.
Verbal irony
A. “Lamb to the Slaughter”
B. “My Lady Love, My Dove”
C. “Neck”
II.
Situational irony
A. “Skin”
B. “Neck”
C. “Nunc Dimitts”
III.
Dramatic irony
A. “Lamb to the Slaughter”
B. “Neck”
Pollard 1
Markeisha Pollard
Mrs. E. Richardson
British Literature
17 November 2014
Trust, Deceit, Vengeance, and Humor in Someone Like You
A sleeping snake on a stomach, murdering mother to be, groveling grass, and an
amputating elder are just a few things a reader comes across when reading Roald Dahl’s
Someone Like You, a collection of short stories. Unlike the children’s novels Roald Dahl had
written prior to Someone Like You, the collection is for a more mature audience, mostly adults;
the macabre nature of the short stories is too grotesque and unbearable for most children. Roald
Dahl uses situational irony in most of the stories to convey humor. For example, in a “Dip in the
Pool” William Botibol is assured that the old lady will save him, but she is mentally unstable and
thinks he is going for a swim. In some stories, Dahl uses mental instability to convey humor like
in “Poison” where Harry Pope thinks a poisonous snake is asleep on his stomach; in actuality,
there is nothing there. Roald Dahl also uses the theme of betrayal and revenge to convey humor.
Although there is not much comedy in the theme of betrayal and revenge, Roald Dahl uses
verbal irony, situational irony, and dramatic irony as sources of humor.
Roald Dahl uses verbal irony as a source of humor in his short stories with the theme of
betrayal and revenge. Verbal irony is frequently used in “Lamb to the Slaughter,” which tells the
story of how Mary Maloney, wife of Detective Patrick Maloney and soon- to - be mother of their
child, got away with murdering her husband. In the beginning of the story, Patrick tells Mary he
is leaving her. Mary reacts nonchalantly and goes to the basement to get the frozen leg of lamb to
cook for dinner. She comes back upstairs and hits Patrick in the back of the head with the meat
Pollard 2
killing him instantly. After realizing Patrick is dead, Mary immediately begins preparing her
alibi. She goes to the grocer and buys vegetables for dinner and cheesecake for dessert. Then, she
returns home and shouts into the other room, “Patrick, how are you darling?” (Dahl 31). This is
an example of a paradox, a type of verbal irony, because Mary is contradicting herself when she
talks to Patrick, who is dead, knowing she cannot receive an answer. Later, while the policemen
are searching the house, she discovers the lamb is still cooking. She asks the officers to eat it
once it is out of the oven. They turn down the offer because it simply would not show good
manners. She begs them to eat it saying, “It’d be a favour to me if you’d eat it up” (36). This is
an understatement because the lamb is the murder weapon and if the policemen eat it they will
destroy the evidence getting her off for murder. As they eat the leg of lamb, they discuss the case
and the possible whereabouts of the murder weapon. One officer comments, “Personally, I think
it’s right here on the premises. Probably right under our very noses” (37). This is ironic because
the murder weapon is literally under their noses.
A more light-hearted tale that has verbal irony in it is “My Lady Love, My Dove.” The
story is about a married couple, Arthur and Pamela, who has invited another married couple,
Henry and Sally Snape, to spend a weekend at their house and play bridge. The narrator, Arthur
admits that Pamela “has never been a silent woman” (67), which is an understatement because
she constantly nags Arthur and complains. Laura Viñas Valle suggests, “The narrator in ‘My
Lady Love, My Dove’ seeks to justify himself in front of the reader in what regards his henpecked attitude towards his wife” (303). Arthur is sensitive to his wife’s demands and he is
careful to say things that will not offend her. When she expresses to him how much she dislikes
the couple, he just listens and asks politely why she invited them. She proposes to her husband
that he place a microphone in the guests’ bedroom, so they can tell what kind of people their
Pollard 3
guests are. He debates against it and, in response to her demand, he calls the stunt a “pretty nasty
thing” (73) to do. Pamela replies, “I’m a nasty person” (73). In this context, nasty does not mean
foul or dirty, but it means awful and dishonest. Although he objects to the idea, Pamela pressures
Arthur into placing the microphone in the room. She stares at him and Arthur insists that he feels
“Surrounded, almost enveloped by her as though she were a great tub of cream and I had fallen
in” (74). He exaggerates her stare, but understates how demanding she is when he confides to the
reader: “I sometimes find it difficult to convince myself that she is not an overbearing woman”
(71). This breach of privacy betrays their guests’ trust. Arthur and Pamela are not expecting to
find out that they have been deceived by the Snapes during the bridge game in which the Snapes
cheat by using secret codes. Both couples, in some way, betray the other and a little verbal irony
is used to make it humorous.
The short story “Neck” offers accounts of verbal irony, also. “Neck” is about a wealthy
heir to a large newspaper and magazine publishing company named Sir Basil Turton. After his
father dies and he inherits the company and all of his father’s money, Basil Turton quickly
becomes the most eligible bachelor in London. The narrator exaggerates situations, making them
more humorous. He overstates the women who pursued Sir Basil and their desperation when he
relates, “Naturally, the vultures started gathering at once. . . . Very nearly the whole of the city
was looking on eagerly as they scrambled for the body” (173-74). The narrator exaggeratedly
depicts the women as if they are lurking around Sir Turton waiting for him to propose when he
refers to them as vultures. Also, the narrator makes it seem as if every woman in London is
running towards Sir Basil pleading for his affections; in reality, only young, upper-class
bachelorettes pursue him. The narrator overstates the haste in which Sir Turton and his bride,
Natalia, are married. The narrator is sarcastic when he states that Natalia “took Sir Basil firmly
Pollard 4
by the wrist and led him off in a kind of swoon to the Registry Office at Caxton Hall where she
married him before anyone else, least of all the bridegroom, realized what was happening” (174).
Hyperbole is used here to exaggerate how quickly the couple is married and to suggest that Sir
Turton was not fully aware of the wedding plans.
In “Neck,” verbal irony is also used to describe characters. Dahl often portrays the wellto-do, respectable citizens of society as the untrustworthy characters. Critic Mark West points
out that “The characters in this collection [Someone Like You], whether they are highly cultured
art collectors or down-to-earth businessmen, tend to be essentially self-centered” (4). The
characters in “Neck” are selfish and willing to do anything, even deceive, for their own personal
gain. The narrator describes the more despicable characters in a humorous way. He uses
outrageous comparisons to describe Jelks, the butler, as an “ancient lopsided gnome in black
tails” (180) and Major Haddock as the man with the “full-blooded animal face” (184). Carmen
La Rosa, a guest of the Turtons, is exaggerated as a “powerfully built woman who looked as
though she might have something to do with horses”(183). The narrator admits that Major
Haddock is a handsome guy, but says that “there was almost something indecent about it” (184).
Major Haddock’s indecency is understated because he is inappropriately involved with Lady
Turton. Carmen La Rosa is “hunting the same bird” (185) which is another way of saying she is
in love with Lady Turton as well. Jelks is aware of the relationship between Lady Turton and
Major Haddock and shows his disapproval by addressing her ladyship and the Major in a
disrespectful, mocking tone. Sir Basil is suspicious of the affair but confirms it when his wife
and the Major are together in the garden and she gets her head stuck in a sculpture. When Sir
Basil goes to help her escape the sculpture’s trap, he is told he has to chop up the sculpture. Sir
Basil sighs, “Oh, dear, what a terrible pity. My beautiful Henry Moore” (195). This is ironic
Pollard 5
juxtaposition, a type of verbal irony, because Sir Basil compares his sculpture to his wife as if
they are of equal importance or the sculpture is more valuable.
Another source of humor used in some stories with the theme of betrayal and revenge is
situational irony. Critic West notes, “In most of these stories, Dahl used sardonic humor, implied
violence, and surprise endings” (1). There is violence in the stories with the theme of betrayal
and revenge, and these stories end with unexpected plot twists. The stories “began to follow a
discernible pattern: seemingly respectable characters are confronted with peculiar problems or
opportunities and respond by committing, or at least contemplating, cruel or self destructive
acts” (West 1). The short story “Skin” follows this pattern although the main character, Drioli,
did not know he was committing a self-destructive act. That is where the situational irony occurs.
Drioli is a tattoo artist who teaches his painter friend, Chaїm Soutine, how to tattoo, so
Soutine can tattoo a picture of Drioli’s wife upon Drioli’s back. Thirty years later, Drioli is
peering into a gallery and notices some paintings by his old friend. When he goes inside to view
the art, the curator tries to kick him out because of his shabby appearance; Drioli resists claiming
he has a painting by the artist, and shows them the picture on his back. Everyone is amazed and
wants to buy it. The curator tries to think of ways to purchase and have the painting without
harming Drioli. The curator proposes removing the skin on the back and replacing it. Another
gentleman offers to pay for all of Drioli’s living expenses and provide lodging for him at the
Hotel Bristol in Cannes if he will walk around the beach shirtless and let guests see the painting.
Drioli accepts. There was not a Hotel Bristol in Cannes and “It wasn’t more than a week later
that a picture by Soutine, of a woman’s head painted in an unusual manner, nicely framed and
heavily varnished, turned up for sale in Buenos Aires” (149). The narrator portrays the “hotel
owner” as a nice, upstanding business man. Ironically, no one expects him to be a murderous
Pollard 6
fraud who will kill Drioli for the painting. When Drioli’s murder is revealed, situational irony is
used to convey dark humor.
In addition to “Skin,” the ending of “Neck” also depends on situational irony. Lady
Turton and Major Haddock are frolicking in the garden when Lady Turton slips her head through
a hole in a statue and gets stuck. Sir Basil comes to her rescue. He discovers he will have to chop
up the statue. Jelks brings him a saw and an ax; Sir Basil chooses to use the ax. The narrator
expects him to chop Lady Turton’s head off; he shuts his eyes while Sir Basil does it. He does
not open his eyes until he hears Sir Basil asking Jelks for the saw. Lady Turton’s head is still
attached to her body and “her face had turned a terrible ashy grey, and the mouth was opening
and shutting and making a kind of gurgling sound” (197). Lady Turton is frightened but relieved
that she did not meet her demise. “A cuckolded husband, finding his wife with her neck stuck in
a modern statue, almost takes the opportunity of beheading her . . . and the almost is enough to
bring colour into his cheeks and a smile to his eyes” (Wood 4). The situational irony occurs
when Sir Basil does not take the opportunity to kill Lady Turton. It was not predicted that Sir
Basil would have mercy upon his wife, but the satisfaction he gets from scaring her indicates that
Sir Basil never intended to kill her.
Another story that has situational irony in it is “Nunc Dimittis.” Critic Alan Warren
observes that “Some of Dahl's other stories are less horrific and more like well-told jokes,
elaborate leg-pulls by an amused, self-assured, sardonic and somewhat sadistic storyteller”(2).
“Nunc Dimitts” is an example of one of those stories. Nothing too grotesque happens during the
story, but the ending is shocking. It is about a man named Lionel Lampson who is dating a
woman named Janet de Pelagia. Lionel is talking with a friend and the friend lets it slip that Janet
called Lionel boring when talking with her friends. Lionel is so outraged and embarrassed that he
Pollard 7
devises a plan for revenge. He commissions a famous painter, Jack Royden, to paint a portrait of
Janet. Mr. Royden is to tell Janet the portrait is for the following year’s Academy and free of
charge. Mr Royden is an unusual painter; he likes to paint clothes on layer by layer, so he has the
model pose naked, then in her undergarments, and then in her clothing. Lionel is aware of Mr.
Royden’s technique and hires him for this reason. Lionel is an expert at cleaning and restoring
paintings and knows how to remove paint without disturbing the layer underneath. He removes
the dress off of Janet’s portrait and left her posing in her undergarments. Lionel has a dinner
party and reveals the painting while his guests and Janet are in the dining room. Janet is horrified
at the sight of the painting and the other guests are disgusted with Lionel’s immature prank.
Instead of humiliating Janet, ironically, he makes everyone more sympathetic towards Janet and
outcastes himself. Situational irony is evident here because no one expects Lionel’s joke to hurt
him in the end.
At the time the narrator, Lionel, is retelling the events, he mentions a package he received
at noon. The package with a letter attached is from Janet. In the letter, Janet writes that she
forgives Lionel for the joke and still loves him. The package is a jar of caviar, one of Lionel’s
favorite foods. He indulges in it and later finishes the story by saying, “You know-now I come to
think of it, I really do feel rather ill all of a sudden” (249). Janet writes the letter to make Lionel
think they are on good terms, so he will be more accepting of her gift, the poisoned caviar. It is
surprising when Janet goes to such drastic measures to get vengeance for Lionel’s antics. West’s
analysis of a character in another story fits Lionel’s and Janet’s predicament perfectly: “His
downfall, like the downfalls of many other Dahl characters, comes about because he allows his
emotions and egotism to overwhelm his ability to think clearly” (3). If Lionel and Janet had both
thought with their conscience and not their egos, there would not be a large portrait of Janet in
Pollard 8
her undergarments in Lionel’s dining room and Lionel would not be dying of poisoning, but
there would not be much humor in that.
Another type of irony often used in the stories with the theme of betrayal and revenge is
dramatic irony. The reader is invited in on a secret that the characters in the story are oblivious
to. The characters usually do not suspect the actual perpetrator because of their likable
personality and observed actions. Critic West notices this in Dahl’s protagonists who develop
monstrous personas toward the end of their stories: “Although they give the appearance of being
considerate, they are fully capable of committing evil and sometimes violent deeds” (3). A prime
example of a good character that goes bad is housewife Mary Maloney in “Lamb to the
Slaughter.” Mary Maloney is a sweet, harmless wife until her husband, Patrick, tells her he is
leaving her and she kills him. After Mary discovers Patrick is dead, she composes herself
mentally and physically and goes to the grocery store as if everything is normal. At the grocer,
she has a conversation with Sam, the clerk, about the dinner she is preparing for her husband.
They even talk about dessert: “How about a nice big slice of cheesecake? I know he likes that”
(30). Mary replies, “Perfect, he loves it” (30). Sam never suspects a thing. The police officers do
not find anything suspicious about Mrs. Maloney’s behavior either. Over the phone, she sounds
panicked as she cries, “Quick! Come Quick! Patrick is dead!” (31). In person, she appears
shaken up and frail. The policemen check her alibi and after it is confirmed to be true, they never
question her credibility again. Jack Noonan, one of the detectives, is searching for the murder
weapon. He declares, “It’s the old story. Get the weapon, and you’ve got the man” (34). If the
officers were to discover that the lamb they devour is the murder weapon used to kill Patrick
Maloney, they would be able to connect Mary Maloney to the murder. Fortunately, for Mary, the
Pollard 9
officers eat the entire leg of lamb and the truth stays between her and the reader, therefore
offering dramatic irony as a source of dark of humor.
“Neck” also has some dramatic irony in it. The dramatic irony comes into play when Sir
Basil is touring the gardens with the narrator. They stop to rest on top of a hill that overlooks the
entire landscape of the manor. They can see a woman and a man in the garden below; the couple
seems to be “friendly” with one another. The narrator realizes that the man is Major Haddock
and the woman is Sir Basil’s wife, Lady Turton. The man and woman are in a secluded garden
that cannot be seen by anyone except people on the hill, so they think they are being discreet.
The fact that the couple is unaware of the people watching them is dramatic irony. The narrator,
Sir Basil, and the reader are aware that Major Haddock and Lady Turton are in the garden, but
the couple does not know that they can be seen and are being watched.
In Roald Dahl’s Someone Like You, trust and deceit seem to be cause and effect rather
than antonyms. After someone is deceived, revenge is inevitable. The deceit is personified in
cheating spouses, murderous art dealers, and bored couples. The revenge, if possible, is carried
out through murder. Whether it is by poison or beheading, the deceiver will receive what is do
unto him. Roald Dahl took this theme of betrayal and revenge and wrote stories that would not
only make readers cringe, but laugh. Dahl achieved this by including accounts of verbal,
situational, and dramatic irony in the short stories. These sources of humor lighten the grim
mood of the short stories in Someone Like You.
Pollard 10
Works Cited
Dahl, Roald. Someone Like You. New York: Knopf, 1953. Print.
Viñas Valle, Laura. “The Narrative Voice inn Roald Dahl’s Children’s and Adult
Books.”Didáctica. Lengua y Literatura 20 (2008):291-2008. Print.
Warren, Alan. "Roald Dahl: Nasty, Nasty." Discovering Modern Horror Fiction. Ed. Darrell
Schweitzer. Starmont House, 1985. 120-128. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism.
Ed. James P. Draper and Jennifer Allison Brostrom. Vol. 79. Detroit: Gale Research,
1994. Literature Resource Center. Web. 16 Sept. 2014.
West, Mark I. "Mastering the Macabre." Roald Dahl. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1992. 3659. Rpt. in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Thomas J. Schoenberg and
Lawrence J. Trudeau. Vol. 173. Detroit: Gale, 2006. Literature Resource Center. Web.
16 Sept. 2014.
Wood, Michael. "The Confidence Man." New Society 50.898-99 (20 Dec. 1979): xiv-xvi. Rpt. in
Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. James P. Draper and Jennifer Allison Brostrom.
Vol. 79. Detroit: Gale Research, 1994. Literature Resource Center. Web. 14 Sept. 2014.