“Lamb to the Slaughter” Summary Roald Dahl’s short story entitled “Lamb to the Slaughter” describes the riveting tale of Patrick Maloney’s murder. The events occurred in the 1950s, inside the Maloney household, where Patrick’s wife Mary spent the day. Each night, Mary would wait patiently in the house for her beloved husband to return home from work as a detective. When he finally did arrive, they would share a drink in silence; soon afterwards, though, conversation would arise. Mary, expecting a baby, was content with this lifestyle. She was certain nothing could possibly go wrong to disrupt it. One evening, however, Mary was presented with the main conflict portrayed in the story. When her husband entered the house after work, Mary found it evident how unusually fatigued Patrick seemed. His attitude was remarkably surly, his words were brusque, and he finished his drinks in swift gulps. This was not the worst of it,
When they interrogated Mary for any clues, she explained that she had gone to the grocery shop for vegetables, only to come home to her husband dead on the floor. The sleuths did not question this accuracy; the abundance of tears from Mary made the fib especially believable. As the men inspected the corpse of Patrick Maloney, they determined his skull had been damaged by what was thought to be a large metal instrument. The search for this weapon extended far into the night. Finally, Mary was reminded of the leg of lamb still cooking in the oven. She offered the lamb to the investigators, who accepted the dinner gratefully. While they were eating, Mary still sat further away, listening to their conversation. At one point, the men remarked they believed the weapon of the murder was there in the house, right under their noses. Mary Maloney, still listening, could not resist a chuckle to herself, for they were utterly oblivious to the irony in their
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...
First, Mary went to the grocery store after she hit her husband with the frozen lamb leg. She went there because the clerk at the grocery store can be a witness that she was out of the house. Next, when Mary was at the grocery store she acted normal and told the clerk about how she's going to cook dinner for her husband. Mary acted like that because when the police ask the store clerk what happened he's going to tell them that she was happy and normal as if nothing ever happened. Then, when Mary got home from the grocery store, she called the police and started to scream and cry saying "Quick! Come quick! Patrick's dead!" Mary called the police and faked crying because she wanted it to seem like a random person killed him. Finally, Mary fed the lamb leg to the police officers investigating her husband's murder. Mary fed them the lamb leg to the officers that, so she can get rid of the murder weapon/evidence that was used to kill her husband. These events show that Mary was trying to cover up that she murdered her husband.
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
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
No longer in shock, she contemplates the consequences of her actions and decides that “she certainly wasn’t able to take that chance” (320). Dahl writes that with careful rehearsal, Mary’s at first “peculiar” smile and voice began to appear normal (320). Mary’s actions at this point are portrayed as quick and calculated as mirrored by Dahl’s use of long, complex sentences in this portion of the text. Her alibi is set. Her words practiced and rehearsed. She is an actress waiting for her finale, a sobbing exchange with the police who come to investigate the death. Mary’s performance pays off in the end, after begging the officers to accept her “decent hospitality,” she tricks them into eating the very murder weapon they are searching
One of Dahl's more popular short fiction stories for adults is "Lamb to the Slaughter." I am going to be using this story in my comparison against another Murder Mystery called "Speckled Band" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
“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
Lamb to the Slaughter, by Roald Dahl, instantly grabs a reader’s attention with its grotesque title, ensuing someone’s downfall or failure. The saying “lamb to the slaughter,” usually refers to an innocent person who is ignorantly led to his or her failure. This particular short story describes a betrayal in which how a woman brutally kills her husband after he tells her that he wants a divorce. She then persuades the policemen who rush to the scene to consume the evidence. This action and Patrick’s actions show the theme of betrayal throughout the story which Roald Dahl portrays through the use of point of view, symbolism and black humor.
.... Maloney would leave to be with the other women. This thought though, became a reality for Mary Maloney. Mary Maloney has testified to happening to “stumble across” a will, which mentioned Mary Maloney receiving three quarters of Patrick’s fortune if he were to pass away. Being the wife a detective, Mary Maloney new how to plot a scene. First she would murder Patrick, receive his fortune to care for the unborn child, never have to face him again after he said to her face that he loved another women and had been having affairs with her. Secondly, she would need to dispose of the murder weapon secretly, and create an alibi that would testify for Ms. Maloney. Thirdly, pretend that it was all a dream and that it never happened. Sadly, it was an incredibly easy task for a clever woman such as herself. How is it that money is what shapes our world but also destroys it?
In ’Lamb to the Slaughter’ the main point to the story is to find out
In “Lamb to the Slaughter”, Roald Dahl uses diction, details, and syntax to emphasize the matter-of-fact tone that is consistent throughout the entire story. Diction is a key element of tone that conveys this matter-of-fact tone. For example, Mary Maloney says to herself after killing her husband, “All right… So I’ve killed him” (Dahl 320). This sentence is lacking emotion. It states a pure fact, without going into further detail and captures a turning point in Mary Maloney’s way of thinking. By telling herself “all right,” Mary distances herself from the murder. She is detached from her own story and does not reveal any qualms about murdering her own husband. Similarly, Dahl uses the next sentence to describe Mary’s thoughts by explaining,
Mary had been waiting for her husband to come home in the story, “Lamb to the Slaughter”. “Mary Maloney was waiting for her husband
...e oven?” (Dahl 4) Mary was very manipulative and sinister because she knew exactly what she was doing; she wanted the officers to eat up all of the lamb so that there would be no evidence of the murder weapon that she used to kill. As the officers were eating up all of the lamb, Mary was very happy and giggling while she was listening to the officers eat up the lamb, she was never grieving about the loss of Patrick and just wanted to kill him and cover up the evidence so she will not be caught.
When the police arrived they try to understand and figure out how Patrick has been killed. But unluckily the officers can not notice Mrs. Maloney was the killer. At the end of the book Mary Maloney giggles when the officers said, “Probably right under our very noses. What you think, Jack?” (Dahl 18). Throughout the beginning, Mary Maloney seemed like a nice caring wife but what Patrick said caused her to do a crime. At that point, Mary knew she got away she eliminated the evidence and managed to escape. Mary laughing shows readers that the killing of her husband was not important to her at all. Therefore the theme of this story is to not trust everybody.