“The Landlady” is a short story by the lauded children’s author, Roald Dahl. Dahl is the author of many great, well-known works, such as The BFG, The Witches, Matilda, and perhaps most notably, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. “The Landlady” is a short story that truly exemplifies Dahl’s wonderful grasp of the short story genre, however. It is the story of a young man named Billy Weaver, who has been sent to live in Bath by his employer. The primary focus of young Billy at the beginning of the story is Billy’s attempt to find lodgings; he settles on a nice bed and breakfast near the train station. The landlady of Billy’s new lodgings is a nice, older woman, who seems grandmotherly to Billy, although there is something strange about the place that Billy cannot seem to grasp, and the landlady herself seems to be a little crazy. Billy suddenly realizes that he knows the names of the other guests in the guestbook; they are all men who have gone missing. At the end of the story, the landlady poisons Billy with potassium cyanide in his tea, with the implication that she is planning on stuffing him and keeping him as part of the house forever.
One of the major themes of Dahl’s “The Landlady” is the theme of how appearances can be deceiving. The story begins with Billy himself considering how he can appear to be a successful businessman; at the beginning of the story, Dahl writes of Billy: “He walked briskly down the street. He was trying to do everything briskly these days. Briskness, he had decided, was the one common characteristic of all successful businessmen. The big shots up at the head office were absolutely fantastically brisk all the time. They were amazing” (Dahl). Billy wants to appear to be a successful businessman, and his appearance is very important to him. However, the importance of appearances-- and the deceptive quality of appearances-- continues as a theme throughout the story. Initially, the landlady herself describes one of the older men as being twenty-eight, but not appearing to be so. These appearances are very important to the landlady herself, who turns out to be a serial killer, killing all the young men who stay in her house. The landlady only invites young, handsome men to stay, and she seems to have a preference for a certain type, which again refers to the theme of appearances and how important they are to the characters in the story. Dahl even describes the animals in the story as appearing to be alive, although they have all been stuffed:
“That parrot,” he said at last. “You know something? It had me completely fooled when I first saw it through the window. I could have sworn it was alive.”
“Alas, no longer.”
“It’s most terribly clever the way it’s been done,” he said. “It doesn’t look in the least bit dead. Who did it?”
“I did.”
“You did?”
“Of course,” she said. (Dahl)
This exchange is very important, because it is the first time that Billy begins to get a sense of just how ominous the landlady really is; although she appears to be a nice, harmless old lady, she is quite adept at the art of taxidermy, and is completely willing to stuff her pets as they pass away. She even seems willing to keep them posed as if they were still alive. This is the not the first instance of foreshadowing in the text, but it does reflect the growing tension in the story, and also finally gives the reader a sense that the landlady is, indeed, more than she seems to be. The landlady is initially described as a cheerful older woman, and it is this appearance that makes her eventual murder of Billy so masterfully creepy. The theme of deception and appearances also ties into the theme of naivete and youth; the landlady is able to lull Billy and her previous victims into a sense of false security. Indeed, Billy is young and strong, and if the landlady had attacked him, he would have been able to defend himself easily. However, he falls right into her trap as a result of her kindly demeanor, even though she clearly has anything but his best intentions at heart. Billy’s character is naive because he can see that the landlady is clearly not altogether sane; he even comments on her oddity at the beginning of the story. However, he still takes the tea from her, and finishes an entire cup even though he doesn’t like the tea and it tastes “faintly of bitter almonds” (Dahl). Even to the end of the story, Billy can’t place the names of the other boys who the landlady killed; he thinks he may be able to, but he allows the landlady’s demeanor to put him off what his instincts are telling him. The audience feels the inexorable movement towards Billy’s inevitable death, and it is frustrating and enthralling at the same time.
Works cited
Dahl, Roald. "The Landlady." The New Yorker November 28. 1959: Print.
