Short Stories The Landlady Summary Characters Analysis & Themes by Roald Dahl
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Characters
Mr Greenslade (The Boss)
He is Billy's boss back in London. It is at his behest that Billy travels to Bath to find accommodation. He is portrayed as strict and disciplined who asks for absolute best from his employees.
Two Victims
Christopher Mulholland
He was one of the entries in the logs and of the same age as Billy. In fact, Billy even remembers his namely vaguely from the newspapers.
By the text of the story, we can make out that he must have been a victim of the lady and was stuffed like her other taxidermist works. She evens says that he never left the inn, eluding to the fact that his body remained o the floor he stayed.
Gregory W. Temple
Another victim of the lady, he was older than both Mulholland and Billy. He was also talk, handsome and impressionable.
The Landlady (The Antagonist)
She is the creepy old woman who runs a quaint little inn in Bath. She is skilled at conversation and taxidermy. She has a fetish for young and vulnerable boys and stuffs them like her pets after drugging them.
On the outside, she is polite and welcoming. She is also very evasive when pressed with questions by Billy and keeps on insisting that he drinks the tea. She seems focused and cold-blooded murderer.
Billy Weaver (Protagonist)
The young man from London travels to Bath to find accommodation for his stay. He is determined to stay and drink at a pub but is captivated by a quaint little inn run by an old woman.
He is naive and trusting and falls for the warmth of the place and its host. However, he remains sceptical of the lady who seems to have a thing for young boys and keeps evading his questions.
Her inn is also deserted even with its meagre charges and this spooks Billy. When reads the entry log, he only finds two previous visitors (both assumed dead in news). He realizes what the lady is really up to but it comes too late as he drinks the tea infused with drugs.
In the last moments of the story, he gets an honest reply from the lady who acknowledges that he is the first boy to enter her place for a couple of years.
Analysis
Setting
The story is set in Bath, England. The location is full of old and dilapidated buildings except for the inn of the old lady which is well looked after. It is warm and cosy and decorated with flowers. However, the appearance of the inn overlooks the eerie insides of the building which harbors deep and dark secrets within its walls.
Foreshadowing
The story foreshadows the dark and mysterious reality of the old lady. Billy is suspicious of the information which he receives from the old lady regarding the precious visitors. H e is also wary of the comments of old lady where she keeps complimenting his youthful looks.
It is when he remembers the news regarding the Mulholland disappearance and finds something strange with the tea that that the plot reveals the actual trickery of the landlady.
Conflict
The conflict in the story arises out of the mismatch between appearance and reality. On the exterior the inn and its landlady are warm and welcoming but they are also brooding and mysterious.
There are a lot of unexplained events and missing information regarding the previous tenants and deserted rooms of the inn. The penchant of the lady for young boys and taxidermy all create a sense of contradiction to the affable image of the bed and breakfast.
The lady herself seems to be into dark and murky activities. When the entry log reveals the name of only two visitors that have visited the place, there is an undertone of spooky past that adds to the tension
Ending
The story ends with an ominous realization that by signing the entry log, Billy might have sealed his fate. The spiked tea confirms his gut instincts that were tingling since seeing the name of Mulholland in the guest log.
Every animal in the inn was stuffed with and it dawned on the reader as Billy became the newest toy to the deranged fetish of the landlady. She finally lulls her third youthful victim to the dungeon of her dark desires.
Themes
Seclusion & desertion
The city of Bath seems to be quiet and devoid of much vibrancy. The neighbourhood that Billy visits is festered with old and decrepit houses with not much natural beauty to admire. The bread and breakfast s also deserted with only two previous visitors.
The landlady is also alone to receive Billy who finds her welcoming but secretive. There are no more characters that are in action apart from these two which also adds a sense of extreme isolation.
The individuals seem to be living a life of separation and that makes them more vulnerable (much in the case of Mulholland, Temple and Billy). From dilapidated buildings to lonely individuals, the story highlights a scarcity of social harmony and a cohesive community.
Reality & Ruse
All through the story, there are elements of deception. The neighborhood in Bath is full of ruined buildings save the bread and breakfast which is decorated with warm emotions and colorful flowers.
This gives it a welcoming appeal. However, inside the building, there are many dark secrets that are hidden from plain sight. The landlady is overly generous and affable but she has dark fetishes and murderous lust.
The furniture in the building is beautiful but it is made of dead carcasses of decaying animals and human beings. She is able to seduce young Billy even though he is alarmed at various points of the tale.
Youth and Old age
The story puts a stark contrast between the young and energetic life of London to slow and ponderous life of Bath. There is a comparison between the social life at pubs and private seclusion of the bread and breakfast.
The biggest contrast is between the unsuspecting Billy and nefarious old lady. Billy is impressionable and is seduced by the warm and generous conduct of the lady. On the other hand, the old lady is secretive, cunning and strategic in her choice of words.
She carefully insists that Billy signs the entry logs (possibly signing away his freedom and life) and drink the tea which she had intentionally drugged. Even the plethora of animals inside the building may add a sense of action and bustle but in truth, they are stuffed carcasses of dead animals.
In his youthful exuberance, Billy disregards is own instincts and chases the warmth of the bread and breakfast instead of his first choice, the pub. It is his haste that leads him into the wily trap set by the old lady.
Thus, he becomes a victim of his impatient youth as well as the lady's wise and elaborate deception. She also brainwashes the young man by showering praise about his youth and looks which is another flaw of the restless days of adolescence.
Summary
An Eerie Tale
The story is an eerie tale of a strange lady who happens to run a small hotel in Bath, England. It begins with the introduction of Billy, a young protagonist who travels to Bath to look for affordable accommodation for his boss Mr Greenslade.
When he alights from the train, he is advised to go to find a nice pub and lodging. Billy also loves to drink and make conversation with new people and so he decides to have a look.
Along his route, he finds the poor condition in which much of the buildings are and compares it to the riches of London. But all of a sudden he is captivated a quaint little inn. The place has a warm feeling and nice décor.
An Old Lady
He wants to go find a pub but is transfixed by the inn's appeal. Consequently, he knocks on its door and is welcomes by an old and weary lady. The lady showers him with kindness and offers a price that is impossible to decline. So, Billy enters the place and is given a room on one of the upper floors.
Billy settles into the room when the lady asks him to sign the entry log and join her for tea downstairs. Billy finds her a little queer as she keeps commenting on his age and handsomeness. However, he jots that down to her being old and senile.
Suspicion
When Billy looks at the log, he sees only two previous entries b the name of Mr. Mulholland and Mr. Temple. Both the names strike some memory but Billy can't recall them exactly. He thinks he might have heard about them over the news. But both the entries are at least 2-3 years old.
When Billy enquires about them, the old lady evades the question but finally accepts that they are still residing on the fourth floor. This spooks Billy and he starts to piece the mystery together. The name sounded familiar because Mulholland was a boy who went missing a couple of years ago.
Billy is New Victim
Billy also finds the taste of the tea a bit weird and realizes that he has been drugged. When he asks the lady about the time since her last visit, she smiles at him. After a pause, she reveals that Billy was her first visitor in 2 years.
