Critical Evaluation – Lamb to the Slaughter Essay

“Lamb to the Slaughter” a tale where Roald Dahl writes of a wife and a husband where the wife believes everything is perfect until, in a single day, it all comes crashing down. Mary Maloney is a housewife of the 19th century stereotype who is waiting for her husband to return home, so she can do her routine she has done countless times. Mary Maloney undergoes several emotional changes throughout the article in which Dahl uses figurative language and dialogue to convey his message. In the beginning of the story, Mary is waiting for her husband to return from his long day of work where she is waiting peacefully for him.

No results for '“Lamb to the Slaughter” and “The LandLady”, both short stories are written by Roald Dahl. They both have different settings, Similar characterization, and sneaky trickery. Both short stories deal with death and mental actions “so I've killed him”. But how does the author manipulate his reader’s expectations? In the short stories “Lamb to the Slaughter” and “The LandLady”, by Roald Dahl, he manipulates his reader’s expectations by using the literary elements of characterization, irony, and foreshadowing.

First and foremost, Mary Maloney had over reacted to her husband's news. This was not the typical overreaction with whining and crying. Mary maloney had killed her husband. In the story Mary maloney receives bad news from her husband. Mary then goes downstairs to grab a leg of lamb for dinner but instead of making it, she smashed it on

The Story begins with Mary Maloney, who is heavily pregnant and happy in her marriage, eagerly waits for her husband, Patrick, a police detective to come home from work. It is a Thursday night, and usually, they eat out. When Patrick returns home, he seems to be moody and takes a stronger drink than usual. Mary tries to divert him by asking him for dinner. However, Patrick brushes of her efforts and he makes Mary sit as he has something to tell her.

Furthermore, Mary Maloney's vicious trait leads her to make an immense mistake, for this reason she has to utilize her cleverness to seem innocent. Secondly, as Mary Maloney realizes the enormous blunder she has made, she proves she is cunning as she initiates a plan to eliminate the evidence which will prove her culpable. Mary Maloney commences her plan by visiting the grocery shop in which she acts like she is incognizant of the tragedy that occurred with her husband; "Patrick's decided he's tired and doesn't want to eat out tonight" (14), she says to the grocery shop owner. It starts to become abundantly clear that Mary Maloney is cunning as she makes up plausible stories of her whereabouts at the time of her husband's murder. Furthermore, as the police officers come in to investigate, she starts weeping and acts miserable, despite the fact she ferociously murdered her own husband. Mary Maloney comprehensively executes a plan which leads the police officers thinking it is absurd that she committed the

At the beginning of the story, the readers are presented with a strangely content housewife. Mary Maloney’s “curiously peaceful” demeanor and the fact that she was merely satisfying herself with the thinking “each minute that went by made it nearer the time he would come home” suggests that Patrick is the focus of Mary’s life, the fountainhead of joy and purpose. Consequently, Mary developed and maintained a cellophane, fabricated persona, with the center of everything being her

Suddenly, we are witnesses to the events, which transpire the following morning as two teenage girls (who had planned to attend church with the Clutters) end up finding the bodies in the house. It is not until the killers are captured much later in the story that we learn what happened in the house that night, and in the time between the Clutters killings and the apprehension of Dick Hickock and Perry Smith, we shift repeatedly between the Clutter's community and the actions of the killers. Because we aren't given information concerning the murders until the killers are captured, we are able to experience the sense of fear and frustration that plagues the local citizens and law enforcement officials. Not until Perry's confession do we learn the actual events that took place at the Clutters' estate on the night of the murders.

Maloney continues to change in a more external form, including her appearance and social status. After the murder, she has trouble regaining her composure and personality of old, and she goes from being a beloved and treasured wife to a widow as a result of one hasty decision. A piece of textual evidence that sheds light onto one of Mrs. Maloney’s outward appearance and personality changes is, “She sat down before the mirror, tidied her hair, touched up her lips and face. She tried a smile. It came out rather peculiar. She tried again. ‘Hullo Sam,’ she said brightly, aloud. The voice sounded peculiar too. ‘I want some potatoes please, Sam. Yes, and I think a can of peas.’ That was better. Both the smile and the voice were coming out better now. She rehearsed it several times more,” (Dahl

The only reason why Mrs.Maloney killed her husband Patrick Maloney. Mrs.Maloney killed her husband because she was under some deep pressure, Imagine if you had a loved one and one day they automatically told you that they were leaving you for someone else. How would that feel ? Mrs.Maloney was shocked when Patrick Maloney told her

Mrs. Maloney wants revenge on her husband. But why does she want revenge on her husband? Her husband is leaving and they have a baby boy on the way. So that could have something to do with it.

Mary Maloney is first portrayed as an average housewife who pleases her husband in any way possible. Within a few minutes of tragic news, she has a complete transformation and even manages to fool herself amongst others. It starts off as a normal afternoon as Mary Maloney waits for her husband. As it being a Thursday, Mary and Patrick were going to go eat out for dinner that night. Anthony J. Bernardo, renowned critic, claims that

my God! Helen! It was the band! The Speckled band!" In the Lamb to the

"Lamb to the Slaughter", by Roald Dahl, uses literary techniques, effectively, to convey the story. The story depicts the actions of Mary Maloney who murders her husband, a police detective, after he announces that he is leaving her and her unborn child. Dahl uses the dialogue throughout the story to illustrate the time the story is set, the 1950's. He also uses common stereotypes, such as gender roles, to provide context to the story. "Lamb to the Slaughter" is a story based around the theme of betrayal. The first sense of betrayal we get as the audience in the story is when Patrick Maloney, the husband, makes the decision to leave his wife. This betrayal then seems minor to what happens next, the murder of Patrick, which creates the underlining theme of betrayal. Dahl uses techniques to make clear the context, characters, and purpose of the story, some of these include: the idiom used in the title, the irony, and the narrative point of view.

basically human nature to assume based on looks, or by what others say or hear. In ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ the detectives ruled out Mrs. Maloney because the assumed she could not be the murder suspect because she was with child, and was so ‘in love’ and obsessed with Mr. Maloney. “They were exceptionally nice to her, and Jack Noonan asked if she wouldn't rather go somewhere else, to her sister's house perhaps, or to his own wife who would take care of her and put her up for the night.” (Dahl, 6) This shows how it is a human instinct to almost immediately assume, and judge. “Tessie Hutchingson shouted to Mr. Summers. “You didn't give him time enough to take the paper he wanted.

Mary loved Mr. Maloney more than anything in the world. Mary offered to do anything for her husband Patrick, but he refused everything Mary offered him. Patrick obviously wanted nothing to do with Mary. Once Patrick told Mary the news that he wanted a divorce she couldn’t think straight causing her to go into the state of insanity.