Examples Of Irony In Lamb To The Slaughter

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“Lamb to the Slaughter” “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl took place at the Maloney household, in the 1950’s. Mary Maloney is a married woman; her husband is Patrick Maloney. Meanwhile, Mary was pregnant. Mary loved Patrick, she enjoyed his presence once he arrived home from work. Mary would wait for Patrick to come home; she would even gather refreshments upon his arrival. Mary was compassionate and understanding of him, until one evening when he arrived from work. Patrick told Mary he was exhausted; although something seemed to be on his mind. Mary offered to retrieve his slippers, make him another drink, as well as cook him dinner, but he shockingly denied everything. Suddenly, Patrick asked Mary to sit down and listen to him. Despite of …show more content…

He exclaimed that he fell in love with another woman; therefore, breaking Mary’s heart. Mary was in shock; she could not believe what she was hearing. Mary grabbed the lamb chop she was going to prepare for dinner, then suddenly slammed it onto Patrick’s head, killing him. This is an example of situational irony due to the fact that Patrick’s demise was unexpected. Mary understood that she needed to cover her tracks, she needed to hide the fact that she murdered Patrick. Mary decided to head to the grocery to store, to make it seem as though she was not home when Patrick met his sudden death. She acted normal at the grocery store, she did not want to act suspicious. Obviously she needed to act surprised when she saw her husband lying dead on the floor. Mary dropped her purse as well as her groceries, she even destroyed her items around him, to make it seem as though there was an intruder. Finally,

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