Examples Of Irony In Lamb To The Slaughter

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“My husband and I never considered divorce… murder sometimes, but never divorce.” -anonymous. In the book Lamb To The Slaughter , Roald Dahl writes about a woman (Mary Maloney) who is madly in love with her husband. Which led her into some trouble. Based on the irony of the story, there are lots of unsuspected turns. Dahl uses verbal, dramatic and situational irony to show the theme of betrayal. In the story, Mary Malone is waiting at home excited for her husband to arrive.When he comes home he tells her that he’s leaving her; once she realizes what she had just heard, she snaps and becomes mentally ill. With that she acts as if she is going to grab a lamb leg to cook for dinner, but instead she whacks her husband in the back of the head. …show more content…

It could also work because as the readers see it Mary Malone is a perfect wife and the fact that her husband Patrick wants to leave her is mind blowing. Especially because Mary is pregnant and that also fits into the theme of betrayal because the husband is betraying the wife by leaving her. The second part of irony used in this story is verbal irony. Because when she heads to the grocery store the woman who works there starts a conversation with her. Mary Malone talks to the grocery worker as if her husband is still alive. " ‘Anything else?’ " The grocer turned his head to one side, looking at her. " ‘How about dessert? What are you going to give him for dessert? How about a nice piece of cake? I know he likes cake.’ ” “ ‘Perfect.’ " she said. " ‘He loves it.’ " (Dahl 3) After the cops come to investigate her house, she invites them to stay over for dinner. When they finally agree, they all sit around the table eating the lamb leg she had cooked. Which is where the third piece if irony is shown, they are all eating the murder weapon she had just killed her husband with. Which is dramatic irony because we know something the characters in the story dont. " ‘Whoever did it, he can't carry a weapon that big around with him.’ " " ‘Personally, I think the weapon is somewhere near the house.’

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