Analyzing Dahl's 'Lamb to the Slaughter': Character and Structure

1113 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Characterization of lamb to the slaughter

“Lamb to the slaughter” by Roald Dahl is a gripping short story with an interesting central character. Mary Maloney, a 1950s housewife, is completely infatuated with her husband, Patrick, until he declares he is leaving her so, in anger, she takes a frozen hunk of lamb and hits him over the head. He dies and she attempts to cover it up to prevent the killing of her unborn child and herself as, at this time she would be put to death. The writer effectively manages to make the reader sympathize with her through the use of characterisation and structure. Dahl structures the short story very effectively. In the opening paragraph he clearly establishes the setting, helping to give an insight to the central character early on in the text. It is made clear that Mary …show more content…

When Dahl describes the incident itself he shows how she wouldn’t do anything like this if she were in her usual state of mind. He emphasises: “Everything was automatic now”
This helps to create the impression that ‘fight or flight’ was starting to kick in and she was unable to control her actions. This is a key factor to influencing how we feel about her cover up and makes us side with her. Roald Dahl impelled me to sympathize with her character by showing the predicament she is in.
“As the wife of a detective, she knew quite well what the penalty would be. That was fine. It made no difference to her. In fact, it would be a relief. On the other hand, what about the child? What were the laws about murderers with unborn children? Did they kill them both- mother and child? Or did they wait until the tenth month? What did they do?” I believe it shows her caring attitude towards her unborn baby and this again makes you side with her. This crescendo of questions let us empathise to some extent the stress she was

Show More
Related

  • Slaughterhouse Five By Kurt Vonnegut: Literary Analysis

    614 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Slaughterhouse Five written by Kurt Vonnegut, war and life are two very important aspects. The war that is taking place during this time period in Slaughterhouse Five is World War II. Being in the war can affect many different people in different ways for the good, or for the bad. The war has an affect on two men named Billy Pilgrim, and Eliot Rosewater.

    Read More

  • Essay on The Lottery and What A Thought

    918 Words  | 2 Pages

    nature. Her work deals with an evil presence in everyday life. "The Lottery" is a chilling

    Read More

  • Literary Analysis Of Slaughterhouse-Five

    1232 Words  | 3 Pages

    Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut is an anti-war historical fiction novel about the bombings of Dresden, Germany in 1945 at the end of World War II. Slaughterhouse-Five succeeds as a historical fiction novel because it is fictional and imaginative but also set in the past, rooted in factual information about that time period and the events that took place in Dresden. Much of the historical information in Slaughterhouse-Five is considered eye-witness information because the novel is semi-autobiographical because Kurt Vonnegut was a prisoner of war in Dresden and he also survived the fire bombings. Vonnegut’s historical fiction novel is unique in its genre because the focus is on the effect of surviving the bombing of Dresden rather than explaining

    Read More

  • Mary Maloney In Roald Dahl's Lamb To The Slaughter

    385 Words  | 1 Pages

    All of Roald Dahl’s stories seem to be brimfull of irony and wry humor, and “Lamb to the Slaughter” is no different. Mary Maloney, a pregnant, but cheerful woman is very much in love with her husband and we certainly don’t expect her to be of any trouble. It’s shocking enough to learn that her husband, who seems such a nice guy, is cheating on her and plans to move out. This changes the expectation of the story right off the bat, and we feel a compassion for the poor woman. We’re not sure how she’s going to cope with this news, especially since she’s six months pregnant with his child. So when she acts rather compulsively and strikes him over the head with the leg of lamb that was going to be his supper, we really are shocked. She’s acted

    Read More

  • An Interpretation of “Black Lamb” by Paula Bohince

    839 Words  | 2 Pages

    Paula Bohince grew up in rural Pennsylvania town and still resides there. (Bohince, Paula). The theme and setting reflects a young innocent girl raped in a Pennsylvania town. The poet writes the poem from the victim’s perspective. The words give a creepy feeling of what has happened. The poem describes a young girl who was brutally taken advantage of and relays the devastating affect it had on her. The diction is very fitting for the poem. It creates a very vivid picture of the devastating affect the attack had on the girl. The diction creates a gruesome picture and tone for the reader. The use of words like transparency, black lamb and maggots generates a rejected feeling in the girl. There is no place she can hide and her feelings are constantly being eaten away.

    Read More

  • Lamb to the Slaughter

    1086 Words  | 3 Pages

    An additional view point of the story could be from a woman. A female reading Lamb to the Slaughter would most likely side with Mary Maloney. Dahl starts the story describing Mary’s behavior before her husbands’ arrival. She sits ...

    Read More

  • Abigail Williams Childhood Analysis

    547 Words  | 2 Pages

    But once the accusations started, she couldn’t back out for fear that her name would be ruined even more. She was just as scared as the other girls involved, but had to hide it behind the lies and cunning actions because she had no one to turn to in her time of need. She felt power, and like she had a place in life for once, when the other girls followed her and her decisions.

    Read More

  • Lamb To The Slaughter Mary Doloney Analysis

    636 Words  | 2 Pages

    Mary Maloney is a very intriguing character who surprises the reader by appearing to be a calm and collected character in Roald Dahl’s “Lamb to the Slaughter.”(Wordy?) Her character conveys a wide variety of emotions and thoughts as the story slowly unveils itself. She is elaborate when she gets away with the murder and two-faced when her personality constantly changes. Both leading to her being the most intriguing character in “Lamb to the Slaughter.”

    Read More

  • Essay On Billy Pilgrim's Slaughterhouse-Five

    767 Words  | 2 Pages

    Would you rather make your own decisions in life or have them already decided for you? That is what it is like to let your belief in fate guide your life. The main character Billy Pilgrim of Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut chooses to let fate decide his life, instead of him deciding his own. All throughout the novel he lets this unknown force choose being able to see old friends, allowing him to blame his responsibilities and making him accept his death even when it is avoidable in that situation. An essential theme in Slaughterhouse Five is that it is important to take control of your life as opposed to letting fate lead the way.

    Read More

  • Repetition In Lamb To Slaughter By Roald Dahl

    123 Words  | 1 Pages

    When Roald Dahl used repetition to add to the scare factor in his short story, “Lamb to Slaughter”. Throughout the story he used repetition to emphasize things. Like when he repeats “They always treated her kindly.” and “The two detectives were exceptionally nice to her.” It was to emphasize that they treated her as the victim rather than a suspect. The repetition used made me curious when reading the story. Whenever I saw something repeated, I asked myself ‘Why would they do that?’ I became intrigued and wanted to read more and find out. By repeating, Roald created suspense and anticipation for the reader to get to the climax, prompting the reader to keep reading. In conclusion, repetition definitely made the story scarier.

    Read More

  • Lamb To The Slaughter Analysis

    483 Words  | 1 Pages

    Everyone knows the story of Snow White. Everyone knows about the old woman who came to Snow White’s house was actually the queen in disguise, and that the apple the queen gave Snow White was poisoned. But Snow White didn’t. This is a perfect example of irony in a story. Ironic situations like this occur a lot in our daily lives, and many stories, like the short story Lamb to the Slaughter, by Roald Dahl. Throughout the story, Dahl demonstrates many moments of irony, which have a long term effect on the whole story. Dahl’s uses dramatic irony effectively to help enhance the plot and help the reader understand the story better.

    Read More

  • The Analysis Of Women In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

    1317 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...aining tranquil and peaceful. In her own words, she explains, ‘God knows how entirely I am innocent. But I do not pretend that my protestations should acquit me; I rest my innocence on a plain and simple explanation of the facts…’ (women submissive sex).” Not only do her speech and actions demonstrate passivity, but the simple act of being framed proves her to be a submissive victim of a male dominated society.

    Read More

  • Character Paragraph of Mary Maloney in Lam to the Slaughter by Roald Dahl

    640 Words  | 2 Pages

    In conclusion, Mary is clearly shown to have a very manipulative and sinister character because she was a cold blooded murderer who had no feelings for her husband when she killed him, and she made people believe her grieving stories to make them feel sorry for her. But, all she wanted at the end was to cover up all of the evidence so she does not get caught and go to jail.

    Read More

  • Self Control In 'Lamb To The Slaughter'

    555 Words  | 2 Pages

    She was still affected by the incident and decided to feed the murder weapon to the detectives themselves.“ ‘Please’ she begged. ‘Personally I couldn’t eat anything, but it would be a favor to me if you ate it up.’ ”(Pg.4) She begged them to eat it and bluffed that she couldn’t eat anything at the moment. She could have controlled herself and been honest about what she had done and not hide the murder weapon by having the detectives eat it. Self control could have kept her from acting in this foul way and could have prevented many events that happened in this short story.

    Read More

  • Justifying the Paradoxical Nature of Mothering in Toni Morrison's Beloved

    1923 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...nability to acknowledge colour reflects how the scene of murdering of her child is embedded in her psyche.

    Read More

More about Analyzing Dahl's 'Lamb to the Slaughter': Character and Structure

Open Document