With strange characteristics Mary and Patrick Maloney, from “Lamb to the Slaughter” are written in with many levels of personality. Mary’s almost psychopath behavior, and Patrick’s monotone personality. In the beginning of the passage the author gives a very calming tone witch is carried until her husband Patrick arrives home, changing the tone. He is off in that “He lifted his glass and drank it down in one swallow…” (1). He seems strange throughout these paragraphs, like he's cold and distant. Patrick then sits Mary down to have a talk, it is implied that he wants to leave her. Mary does not not know how to react to the situation being “ her first instinct was not to believe any of it” (2). She went from being a Happy Housewife to auto pilot. She was unable to cope with this “she couldn’t feel her feet touching the floor” (2). She proceeds in auto pilot to the Freezer where she gets a leg of Lamb for dinner. She returns to see Patrick facing away she proceeds closer and “she swung the big frozen leg of lamb high in the air and brought it down was hard as she could” (2). Patrick had been monotone the entire time he was in the story. “He remained standing there for at …show more content…
She has to not get caught so her child can live, she runs out of the house to the store by doing this she makes herself an alibi in that she would be at the grocer while the murder happened. She practiced her greeting over and over again “Hello Sam… I want some potatoes, Sam” (2). Roald Dahl is slowing twisting the way you look at Mary Maloney. In her conversation you can tell the author planned it to feel robotic in the way Mary speaks with Sam planting small bits of information “No, I’ve got meat, thanks, I’ve got a nice leg of lamb, from the freezer” (3). She says this to make anyone believe that to her knowledge at the time the lamb was in the
In Lamb to the Slaughter, Mary Maloney, doting housewife pregnant with her first child, commits a heinous crime against her husband. After he tells her that he is leaving, she become distraught and strikes him in the head with a leg of lamb. Afterwards, Mary...
Would you kill the husband you love, to save your unborn child? Would you deceive yourself and those around you; to save your unborn child? In Roald Dahl’s short story, “Lamb to the Slaughter”, the protagonist, Mary Maloney is a very dynamic character. She has a dual nature since she is very cunning yet very caring, making her the perfect murderer along with the perfect mother. Firstly, she is very deceitful and has the ability to easily cover up her lies. Not only that, Mary is a very clever character who always makes the most intelligent choices. Lastly, the woman is very dutiful, caring and is very aware of her responsibilities as both a wife and a mother. Therefore all of these characteristics make Mary Maloney a very dynamic character
Patrick’s muscle tightens as hear Mary coming closer to him. Is she suspecting something? He thought nervously, what should I do now? What should I say? He was lost in his thoughts when Mary walked up behind him and swung the big frozen leg of lamb on the back of his head. Patrick’s vision suddenly when darken and t-- to the ground with the sounds of overturning tables and crashing
To illustrate, in the author’s words, “Why don’t you eat up that lamb that’s in the oven?” (Dahl, p. 324) In this quote the author proposes that Mary deceived the detectives into eating the murder weapon. This quote models the author’s use of character development as Mary went from the beginning of being good-natured and honest to deceitful. This brings the immoral evolution of Mary out. Moreover, the author plainly asserts, “And in the other room, Mary Maloney began to giggle.” (Dahl, p. 324) In this quote, the author describes how Mary laughed as the detectives ate the murder weapon. This quote reminds the reader that Mary is now “innocent” in a different sense than she was in the beginning of the story. “Perfect”, unaware, self-sacrificing, wife Mary is gone. Revealed to the readers is wicked, manipulative murderer
After she heard the news she convinces herself that he (Patrick) is still alive, she also speaks to herself/ practices her speaking to sound ‘normal’, and it shows how she felt about getting away with it. Mary Maloney was over tasked with the keeping of the house and being a doting wife to her husband, all she had going in her life was looking after her husband. Mary only wanted to be there for her husband, wanting to be with him no matter the problems they might have. Mary refused to see that her relationship was in rambles. To make her husband happy she took on as many tasks she could, along with keeping their marriage together as it was slowly falling apart. “Insanity is often the logic of an accurate mind overtasked”. (Oliver Wendell Holmes,
Our first primary statement is about her emotions. At first we see that Ms. Maloney is a wonderful, kind, and a: “ curiously peaceful “ ( Dahl 1 ), person who takes care of her husband Patrick, no matter what happens to her as long as her husband is happy. However after hearing the news from her husband that he wanted a divorce, she started becoming darker, and cold throughout the story. Some examples include: “ All right, she told herself. So I’ve killed him “ ( Dahl 3 ), as well as “ In the other room Mary Maloney began to giggle “ ( Dahl 5 ). This Statement
“She moved uneasily in her chair the large eyes still watching his face, “but you must have supper. I can easily do it here. I’d like to do it. We can have lamb chops. Or pork. Anything you want everything is in the freezer” (318). Even though Mary was uncomfortable she still tried to make supper for her husband. She just wanted to be the perfect housewife and do what she is supposed to do. At this point Mary is feeling uneasy, and she is also worried. Even though her husband did not want her to do anything she ignored him. Mrs. Maloney did not want to accept the fact that her husband is trying to tell her something, and she does not want to hear it from
As soon as Patrick came home, Mary gave him a glass of whiskey. Patrick finished his glass in one swallow. Mary saw Patrick going to fetch himself another and offered to bring , but Patrick told her to sit down. Mrs. Maloney also offered to bring him his slippers but Patrick instantly turned down the offer. She also tried starting a conversation, offering cheese and crackers, and asking if he wanted her to make dinner but he continued to refuse Mary’s offers. This examination supports my opinion because seeing Patrick acting strange made Mary curious. Refusing all that Mary tried to provide and ignoring her remarks made Mary question his every move and feel
One of Dahl’s most prominent styles used to highlight betrayal throughout the story is point of view. The point of view of the story is told in is third-person limited, meaning the reader only gets to read the thoughts of one character. That character was Mary Maloney, the main character and wife of Patrick Maloney. Hearing only one characters view of events can make readers opinions biased, meaning the feelings they feel towards characters are from the influence of Mary Maloney. The readers do not know what Patrick Maloney is thinking so it is hard for readers to sympathize him in the beginning of the story when he tells Mary he wants a divorce (Dahl). As one critic stated, readers are unable to see into his mind, he is immediately marked as the antagonist (Bertonneau). Another critic believed that having no knowledge of his motives made his actions seem inexcusable.
Ms. Patrick stated she was “in a battle with her son for control”. Ms. Patrick described her son as disrespectful and disobedient. Ms. Patrick sought therapy first; she wanted her son to join her in future sessions. Ms. Patrick sought therapy, because she wanted to figure out if there was a way she could change herself to fix her son. Sam did come into therapy at his mother’s insistence, in later sessions.
Patrick’s smile has frozen at that moment. He understood, at that time, all the people who came to “help”, all the news reporters, all the neighbors, all the polices, and all audiences from all over the country, including Patrick himself, everyone who says they care and want to save Amanda, got this doll’s name wrong since the beginning.
Patrick would go home and ignore her when all she wanted to do was make sure he wasn’t hungry. Mary was so in love with him she would wait on the couch because she was anxious to see her husband. She was a very loving wife and would do anything for her
Mary Maloney is a character from the story “Lamb of the Slaughter” written by author Roald Dahl. Mary Maloney as a character in the story has a lot of versatile characteristics. Her most versatile characteristics are that she’s very patient, clever and brave. First, Mary Maloney is a very patient individual. Even after she’s been waiting for her husband to come back home for a long period of time, but she is still able to be calm and keep “[looking] at the clock [without showing any type of] anxiety [or frustration].” The fact that she kept her self-calm and relaxed in the point of situation where she needed him the most, shows that she has a lot of patience. Secondly, Mary Maloney’s a clever woman. She knew in order to keep herself safe from
In Roald Dahl’s “Lamb to the Slaughter” Mary Maloney is put in this exact situation. Mary ends up killing her husband with a leg of lamb because of the news he told her. The question being asked is Mary Maloney a psychopath or is she just a normal housewife driven to extreme measures?. She waited eagerly for her husband to come home from work, she truly cared about him she didn't really have to act, she also looked so upset when the policemen were talking to her, so those reasons make it clear that she was a normal housewife.
Near the middle of the story we see Mary exhibit her bad sinister character; her personality and feelings suddenly change when she murders her own husband by hitting him at the back of the head with a frozen lamb leg. After denying all of Mary’s helpful deeds, Patrick told her to sit down so that he can tell her something serious; the story doesn’t tell us what he says to her but Mary suddenly changes after he tells her something, her “instinct was not to believe any of it” (Dahl 2). She just responded with “I’ll get the supper” (Dahl 2) and felt nothing of her body except for nausea and a desire to vomit. She went down the cellar, opened the freezer, grabbed a frozen leg of lamb, went back upstairs, came behind Patrick, and swung the big leg of lamb as hard as she could to the back of his head killing him. This act of sudden violence shows how much she has gone ...