Mary Maloney In Roald Dahl's Lamb To The Slaughter

When one has the power to manipulate and deceive others, one can even get away with a hideous crime. In Roald Dahl’s “Lamb to the Slaughter”, Mary Maloney, a pregnant woman, viciously pounds her unfaithful husband with a frozen lamb after learning about his affair. She takes advantage of the preconception that women are always the victims of a patriarchal society and that they are portrayed to be weak and submissive. Not only does she successfully deceive her husband and kills him, but she also cleverly deceives the police to destroy the weapon. Ultimately, it is her manipulative, ruthless, and decisive disposition that allows her to deceive the police and escape from being arrested.

Literary elements and writer’s craft are essential to a well written story that gives understanding and meaning to the readers. Authors use these elements to add deeper meaning to a story that otherwise is as dull and same as the rest. The short story Lamb to the Slaughter is about a wife who kills her husband and then tries to cover it up. The Leap, another short story, is about a girl who is telling stories about her mother’s life. Both short stories portray and utilize literary elements and writer’s craft but Lamb to the Slaughter uses them more effectively and clearly.

Out of all the Infamous killers in the U.S the two well-known killers that I will be researching are Jeffrey Dahmer and Ted Bundy. These two murderers share many similarities such as their backgrounds, Crimes, and Motives. Both Jeffrey Dahmer and Ted Bundy are serial killers who’ve killed over a dozen people each. They’ve committed crimes including rape, murder, and kidnapping. In this research paper I will be comparing and contrasting the two serial killers.

The American public's fascination with serial murders has not only continuously kept these violent men and women in the public eye, but has also inspired the creation of films that demonstrate and dramatize the heinous crimes committed by these people. One such film program that adapts crimes committed by serial murderers, and the murderers themselves, is The Silence of the Lambs (1991). Through a combination of criminology, psychology, and sociology, The Silence of the Lambs is able to not only inform audiences of the dangerous types of people that currently inhabit society, but also of the individuals who study serial murderers with the intent of apprehending them before they commit any more crimes and to help identify these murderers victims.

Have you ever heard of the Insanity Defense? The insanity defense is when the defendant is not responsible for his or her actions because of a psychiatric disease or a psychotic episode during the act of the crime. For instance, the Durham rule can be used if the defendant is diagnosed with a mental illness that was present during the time or show his or hers medical history records to demonstrate the defendant’s insanity. In the book In Cold Blood, Perry Smith and Dick Hickock, was sentenced to death for the murder of the Clutter Family, on November 15, 1959. Perry, who was the one that killed the whole family,could be eligible for the insanity plea if he has shown any signs of being mentally unstable during the act of the crime.

In the article The Serial Killer Phenomenon Richard Whittington-Egan aims to explain what exactly a serial killer is and how they differ from a mass murderer. Whittington-Egan breaks down and showcases the defining characteristics of a serial kill with the help of numerous cases of evidence to confirm the accuracy of each statement. The article concludes with examining the future of this phenomenon, what has been done, and most importantly how difficult it will be to solve such an unpredictable behavior.

This research looks at the life and death of Aileen Wuornos, serial killer. A serial killer is someone who murders more than three victims one at a time in a relatively short interval. Serial killers have the ability to behave in a manner that arouses no suspicion. There are, however, a few signs to identify their potential to become a serial killer. People who suffers from psychopathy, involves a huge tendency towards antisocial behavior, are most likely to develop into a serial killer. FBI estimated that any given time between 200 and 500 serial killers are at large, and they kill 3,500 people a year. This high average shows that killing becomes a

After her bedridden husband died, Holmes murdered her and disposed of her body. Mrs. Holton was one of Holmes’ many victims and her tragic story has added another perspective to the issue of homicide. After this book was published, the many that read it became more aware of the cruelty of homicide as it is discussed in the book. The different perspectives included allow people to comprehend the history of Chicago and realize that anyone can encounter this type of situation. With this understanding, the audience is able to further realize how sadistic homicide is and that one must be careful when interacting with strangers. This publication was recognized by thousands and acted as an aid to spread awareness of the matter because many people discussed the content.

Mary is very manipulative in that she is able to create the character of the poor, pregnant wife, whose husband has just been murdered. She is able to convince the police to take pity on her, to mix her a drink and then to even eat the evidence, the leg of lamb that she has left in the oven. "Why don’t you eat up that lamb that is in the oven" (Dahl, p. 17). Mary realizes that if the police find the evidence she will go to jail. Her quick thinking and manipulative character results in the police officers eathign the evidence and therefore she cannot be charged of this crime. These actions show the complex character that Mary Maloney truly is.

In this world, there are people who are able to shoot, bludgeon, or torture a whole family and then sleep peacefully just hours after. Serial Killers have piqued the American public’s interest for generations. In the 1970s, for example, America was enthralled by the danger and fear of Ted Bundy and John Wayne Gacy, famous serial killers who killed a combined number of over a hundred people. Following suit of the popularity of serial killers, they have become ingrained in our culture through art, books, news, talk-shows, and movies. A famous example of this trend is in Flannery O’Connor’s ”A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, where the antagonist, The Misfit, brutally murders a family of six. O’Connor described The Misfit as a calm, polite, analytical, morally-confused, murderer with leadership skills and “strong white teeth.” This archetype, a person who can be perfectly calm while being aggressive and lacks a sense of right or wrong, has also been an interest of study in the medical field. The medical community has come together for patients that are described as lacking a moral conscious, naming their disorder psychopathy (Robinson). In Flannery O’Connor’s ”A Good Man Is Hard to Find” The Misfit exhibits signs of psychopathy, shown from his manipulating control over Bobby Lee and Hiram, and staying calm while he directly and indirectly kills six people.

Katherine Mary Knight has committed a murder which falls into the most serious category of murder and it is proven beyond reasonable doubt that the murder was premeditated. She used a sharp butcher knife to murder and stabbed him at least 37 times as well as perfectly skinning his whole body. Sometime before she murdered him she made numerous threats to him about his death. After she had murdered him, she stated that she had no recollection of the murder what so ever to the police. She tried to escape her position of crime by trying to blame everything on her mental personality disorder. She not only planned the murder but actually enjoyed the horrific acts which led to death and defilement. After the death of Mr. Price, she indicated cognition, volition, calm and skill and showed no remorse or guilt at all.

The insanity defense of Andrea Yates: The country was absolutely appalled when it heard that Yates, a mother of five children, had killed each of her children resulting in a horrific family slaughter. There were extremely polarized feelings about this case- sympathy (concluding

Many serial killers suffer from a mental illness or incapacity of some type, and more specifically, many serial killers suffer from Psychopathic Personality Disorder, or PPD, a mental disorder that causes the inability to empathize with others (Forensic Science 563). It is believed that infamous serial killer, Ted Bundy, suffered from Psychopathic Personality Disorder because he “…looked upon others as objects, not people to be loved or hated, just objects” (American Decades). People with PPD are very highly manipulative and intelligent, exceptional liars, and feel as if they are superior to everyone else and therefore disregard rules and laws. However, they do not have the capacity to feel emotional remorse even when they know their actions were wrong (Forensic Science 563), just as Perry knows he should not have killed the Clutters, but he does not feel sorry for doing it (Capote 358). Basically, a psychopath’s “main aim [in life] is self-gratification,” no matter the cost (Forensic Science 563). Serial killers suffering from Psychopathic Personality Disorder usually do not start their lives of crime with murder; they often start with small acts, such as systematic lying, animal cruelty or vandalism, as children (Forensic Science 563). Jeffrey Dahmer, a serial killer thought to have killed hundreds, collected and dissolved road kill in acid as a child

To start off, it can be clearly seen from the short story that Mary Maloney is guilty. She makes a conscious effort to make sure she reacts as if she has not committed this crime in the text “Lamb to Slaughter” she says, “If she finds anything unusual or terrible when she got home, then it would be a shock and she would have to react with grief and horror.”(Dahl 383) By her stating this it shows that she knows she is guilty and that she killed her husband. The main reason I chose this quote was that it shows that she knows what she is talking about and that she has to act like this otherwise she will be caught and

Deceit is a poisonous character trait. Characters who possess this trait are untrustworthy. Roald Dahl craftily illustrates this in his short stories “Lamb to Slaughter” and “The Landlady”. “Lamb to Slaughter” is the story of Mary Maloney, a young pregnant woman struggling to cope with her husband’s betrayal; “The Landlady” tells the tale of a sneaky bed-and-breakfast owner who never lets her tenants leave. Therefore, Dahl’s incorporation of these characters within his short stories are the epitome of deceitfulness.