Examples Of Dramatic Irony In Lamb To The Slaughter

In the short story Lamb to the Slaughter by Roald Dahl, a doting wife kills her husband with a frozen leg of lamb upon hearing of his intentions for divorce. She then avoids prosecution by feeding the lamb to the investigators, disposing of the weapon. In this story, the author’s use of situational irony and dramatic irony was crucial its enhancement. First, situational irony is shown when Mary Maloney, the loving wife, kills her husband Patrick Maloney without any hesitation. In the beginning, Mary “loved him for the way he sat loosely in a chair, for the way he came in a door, or moved slowly across the room with long strides.” However, when she was informed of their divorce, “Mary Maloney simply walked up behind him and without any pause

The short story Lamb to the Slaughter by Roald Dahl contains many literary elements that contribute and impact the story and also add to the writer’s craft. The story is about a woman, Mary Maloney, who accidentally kills her husband and tricks the police into believing she is innocent. The literary element of dramatic irony was portrayed and impacted the reader’s perspective of the story. Mary Maloney, who is the killer of her husband, persuaded the police to eat a leg of lamb which actually was the murder weapon. The police do not realize they are being tricked as shown in the quote, “personally I think it’s (the murder weapon) right here on the premises” (9). The dramatic irony is that it the police are looking for the weapon but they are eating the very evidence they are looking for and do not know it. This shows that Dahl knows how to spin an ironic twist in his story without it seeming out

“Lamb to the Slaughter” utilizes dramatic irony throughout the whole story. The most obvious example of dramatic irony is the fact that the readers know the main character Mary Maloney killed her husband. Mary kills her husband by hitting him on the back of the head with a frozen leg of lamb. She then goes out to the grocer in order to act like nothing has happened. When she returns home she calls the police and says, “Quick! Come quick! Patrick’s dead!”(Dahl 6). This quote uses dramatic irony because the reader is aware that Mary kills her husband, but the police are not. In this short story dramatic irony adds an element of suspense because the reader wants to know whether or not Mary will be caught for what she does. Details also play a big role in “Lamb to the Slaughter”. The details that make the biggest impact on the story are the ones that aren’t given. Mary Maloney’s husband, Patrick Maloney, comes home from work one day and is acting strange. He tells Mary to sit down because he has something to tell her. By this point the readers are suddenly cut out from the conversation and the brought back in when Patrick then says, “So there it is. And I know it’s kind of a bad time to tell you, but there simply wasn’t any other way.”(Dahl 3). The readers don’t know what Mary Maloney’s husband Patrick says, but it affects her in a negative way and is likely the reason she killed him. The unknown details of this story make the reader wonder what happened and want to keep reading

Emotive language and dialogue was a literary technique that Roald Dahl used in order to explore the idea of stereotypical gender roles which was a common societal issue particularly in the 1950s. Lamb to the Slaughter tells of a couple during the 1950s who followed the stereotypical couple concept of having a housewife and a husband working a middle-class job. Through the Maloney’s relationship it can be seen how Mary Maloney fulfilled and had a desire of wanting to provide and care for her husband using her skills of a housewife. This can be perceived in the quote; “I’ll get you cheese and crackers.” This informs readers that her nature and manner of wanting to please and satisfy the needs of her husband is very important to her. In response to Mary her husband replied with “I don’t want it”. The issue of gender roles/gender hierarchy in this particular situation encouraged Mary’s contentment of wanting to murder her husband which may have been initiated because of the imbalance within their relationship. Patrick Maloney’s reply to his wife portrays a disrespectful and inconsiderate attitude which represents the dominance and power that he has within the relationship. His authority within their relationship may have been generated because of his role as a provider for his wife. Another quote by Mr. Maloney states “sit down, just for a minute sit down,” this represents the type of relationship and interaction that the couple reflects. Their relationship shows no negotiation and inequality within the relationship; Patrick who is an educated detective, whereas Mary was just a

“The violence of the crash, the noise, the small table overturning, helped bring her out of he shock. She came out slowly, feeling cold and surprised, and she stood for a while blinking at the body, still holding the ridiculous piece of meat tight with both hands.”. (13)In the quote the narrator explains how Mary picked up the weapon and how she hit him in the back of the head which ended up brutal. Its dramatic irony in the sense that the reader knows that lamb chop was the weapon. The use of dramatic irony allows the readers to really feel like a ghost in this story because you know everything but can say anything to the characters.

The author of the story “Lamb to the Slaughter”, Roald Dahl, uses a significant amount of irony throughout the story. Dahl uses irony to make his story more appealing to the reader by keeping them engaged. An example of irony in the story is when Mary is six months pregnant and her husband expresses he is leaving her, so she murders him. The audience would have never seen this coming because the author expresses Mary’s feelings from the beginning of the story by saying, “She loved him for the way he sat loosely in a chair, for the way he came in the door or moved slowly across the room with long strides. She loved the intent, far look in his eyes when they rested on her, the funny shape of the mouth, and especially the way he remained silent about his tiredness, sitting still with himself until the whiskey had taken some of it away.” (Dahl 1-2). When Dahl shares Mary’s feelings, the reader concludes that Mary is an innocent, loving wife that truly loves her husband and would do absolutely anything for him. But when Mary murders him after he decides to leave, situational irony appears. This is an example of situational irony because the reader would never expect Mary to murder her husband, but the exact opposite occurs. Dahl also uses situational irony as an example of language. The language makes the story more intriguing and exciting. The situational irony is used in the story to shock the reader and to create the climax of the plot.

For several years I failed to grasp the important aspects of literary and rhetorical devices. . However, since the beginning of my junior year my understanding of literary and rhetorical devices has improved substantially. Especially on the correspondence of identifying literary and rhetorical devices when reading. Also being able to incorporate these devices into my writing. Such as in my comparative analysis. I wrote about the irony in “Lamb to the slaughter” by Roald Dahl and “Desiree’s baby by kate chopin”.

She loved the intent, far look in his eyes when they rested in her…” Then he came home from work one day, giving her bad news. She tried to ignore it, but killed Mr. Maloney by hitting him on the head with a frozen leg of lamb. “Lamb to the Slaughter” had a major symbol, the leg of lamb. The lamb symbolized Mr. Maloney because he was not expecting to be killed, just like a lamb.

On very rare occasions, do people react to bad news by killing someone with a frozen leg of lamb and then feeding it to the detectives. Mary Maloney, the protagonist in Dahl’s story “Lamb to the Slaughter”, is characterized as a dynamic character comparing the beginning of the story where she is a loving housewife, then in the end a murderer. This illustrate how much her intentions of being a good person has changed. Throughout the story Mary is changing how she is becoming with the actions and diction that makes the story compelling to read.

Authors can create many complex characters using literary devices. In “Lamb to the Slaughter” the author, Roald Dahl, uses dramatic irony and dialogue to illustrate Mary Maloney, a submissive housewife, changing into a psychotic murder. To begin, the author uses dramatic irony throughout the story to depict the psychotic change coursing through Mary Maloney. One example is towards the end of “Lamb to the Slaughter” where Mary Maloney has killed her husband and the detectives that had come to investigate the murder are unknowingly eating the weapon, a leg of lamb. As the detectives eat with one another, one detective claims “It’s probably right under our noses” (Dahl 4) where as the narrator reveals “In the other room, Mary Maloney began to

The common theme of "Lamb to the Slaughter" and "The Tell-Tale Heart" is that presumptions give people power to betray others, as revealed through the characters' actions. Both "Lamb to the Slaughter" and "The Tell-Tale Heart" are about supposedly inferior people who rise up and murder their oppressors, tricking many people along the way. Throughout "Lamb to the Slaughter", it is clear that Mary Maloney is only able to get away with murder because the detectives assume a woman would never commit such an atrocity. While they search for the murder weapon, one of them told Mary that "the murderer might not have taken it with him, but he might have thrown it away" (Dahl 4). By only using the pronoun "he" while referencing the killer, the detectives

him he was tired. She then asked him if he wanted supper but he said

Maloney’s facade of innocence can be seen through Dahl’s characterization of a typical housewife. Within the text, Mrs. Maloney is perceived as a loyal housewife that “[waits] for her husband to come home from work” (Roald 1), or a loving wife who cares for the well being of the love of her life that right after greeting asks: “Tired darling?” (Roald 1). This seemingly harmless dialogue builds an image of loyalty as she faithfully waits for her husband to return abandoning all other activities to elucidate her dedication to her husband comes first before all. In general, she is portrayed in a “tranquil” (Roald 1) mood inside her house with her words bringing forth an innocent and loving tone. Nevertheless, all what Roald has built up to make the audience believe that Mrs. Maloney is a loving wife breaks down when she “[walks] up behind [Mr. Maloney] and … swings the big frozen leg of lamb… on the back of [Mr. Maloney’s] head” (Roald 3). After she had physically assaulted and murdered her own husband, she officially filled the role of being the “lamb leg”. Dahl portrayed Mrs. Maloney as innocence and loving, just like what a lamb connotes: innocent with white fluffy fur, loving to his/her mother, and Dahl also portrays Mrs. Maloney as a “lamb leg”, the transmutation of an animal that embodies innocence into a food item procured through the murder of a baby

The Lamb to the Slaughter has many instances where imagery, verbal irony and dramatic irony are evident. The author, Roald Dahl, uses word choice to paint a vivid image in the reader’s mind. He used imagery in the very first paragraph when he describes Mary Maloney’s house; he uses very descriptive language to show how the house is set up. Dahl says “The room was warm and clean, the curtains drawn, the two table lamps alight - hers and the one by the empty chair opposite. On the sideboard behind her, two tall glasses, soda water, whiskey.” This gives the reader the idea that the house is cozy and the woman is is sitting in a darker room, only lit by the two table lamps. He implies that this is a happy family’s home and that they like to spend time together. Little does the reader know that the family is not going to be as happy in a few moments when Mary’s husband gets home. Something peculiar about how the story is written is the lack of detail about what made a happy couple turn into the murderer and the murdered. The husband, Patrick, came home to a wife who loved him with her whole heart and told her to sit down because he needed to tell her something, however, the author leaves out what is said. Whatever he said left Mary numb and in shock. She walked down into the cellar and grabbed something random and saw that it was a lamb’s leg. She shakily walked up the stairs and hit her husband with it and he died. It can be inferred that this all happened because of the unknown conversation between Mary and Patrick, her husband. “And he told her. It didn't take long, four or five minutes at most.” Mary’s life is forever changed by these four minutes. Her husband said he would give her money, which implies that he may have

Dahl has been known to put characters whom a reader would feel sympathy for in dangerous situations. In one of Dahl’s short stories, Lamb To The Slaughter, we get introduced to two characters, Mary and Patrick Maloney. In the beginning of this story,