Mary Maloney Talks In Lamb To The Slaughter

Mary had been interviewed to the point where she shut down and couldn’t answer anymore questions. She sat in silence when detectives would investigate her, unable to tell them what happened. Mary eventually fell guilty and started her journey to baby jail where she began a sentencing. The other juvenile delinquents and CO’s, or guards, of baby jail mistreated Mary because of the accusations people made. Mary’s back story consisted of murdering a baby and now that’s how people characterized and treated her, like a murderer.

I believe Mary Maloney’s actions should be condemned, by the reasoning of her actions as being wicked. Throughout the story Mary has committed homicide, plead not guilty for her husband's death and has given false statements to police officers, which under the Canadian law are all crimes. Regardless of the prior event when Patrick gives shocking news to his wife, which I assume is about leaving her, Mary’s actions are not acceptable. Even after killing Patrick there was a chance Mary could do the right thing and plead guilty, which she did not, making her continue with her bad actions. Overall, I believe Mary’s actions should be condemned because even if life is tragic there is no reason to kill her husband or a human being.

She lifted it out, and looked at it---a leg of lamb “ (Page 2). The fact that Mary Maloney can’t even feel herself doing anything, corresponds to how shocked she is. As a matter of fact, that is when her consciousness of her action momentarily fades away. She cannot accept the fact that her beloved husband would betray her like this, but in a way, the introduction to the story already tells us that their relationship isn’t strong and loving. Also, Mary is shown to have picked the very first thing she found, which was a lamb leg. This proves that she had no intention of premeditating a weapon beforehand, but instead used whatever she could find to let out her emotions. In addition, pregnant women are more emotionally unstable and because of that Mary Maloney couldn’t handle the stress of the news her husband told her. The final quote that proves her temporary insanity is, “She stepped back, waiting, and the strange thing was that he remained standing there for at least four or five seconds. Then he crashed onto the carpet. The violence of the crash, the noise, the small table overturning, helped to bring her out of the shock… It was extraordinary, now, how clear her mind became all of a sudden. She began thinking very fast. As the wife of a detective, she knew what the punishment would be…In fact, it would be a relief. On the other hand, what about the baby ” (Page 2)? Not only did she regain her consciousness, moments after her husband’s death, but she also

Mary has one motive for murdering her husband. The motive is that she couldn’t accept the fact that her husband was leaving her. He says, “ ‘This is going to be a bit of a shock to you, I 'm afraid,’ he said. ‘But I 've thought about it a good deal and I 've decided the only thing to do is tell you right away. I hope you won 't blame me too much...So there it is,’ he added. ‘And I know it 's kind of a bad time to be telling you, bet there simply wasn 't any other way. Of course I 'll give you money and see you 're looked after. But there needn 't really be any fuss. I hope not anyway. It wouldn 't be very good for my job.’ " Although he didn’t say the exact words the reader can infer this when he states “… i’ll give you money and see you 're looked after. But there needn 't really be any fuss. I hope not anyway. It wouldn 't be very good for my job…” Some readers might disagree with her for killing her husband because he was leaving her, but she was truly in love with him

Throughout the story Dahl also use Verbal Irony to make Mary seem as an innocent being and not knowing anything that happened. After the death of her husband, she sets a plot to show that she didn't know her husband was dead. In the story, Mary tells the clerk, “Patrick had decided he is tired and doesn't want to eat out” (Dahl 320). This is a lie because Patrick never wanted food. Mary is saying this to make it look like she is cooking for the both of them and like nothing happened that night. Later that night when Mary gets home, she walks in asking her husband how he is doing (Dahl 321). Thus, this is verbal irony being used by Mary because she knows that her husband is dead on the floor. She say this trying to

Mary Maloney is a sympathetic character because she covered up Patrick’s death to protect her baby. All of the tricking and deceiving she did was to save her unborn child from what could have happened as a result of her actions. She did not know what the laws were for murdered with unborn babies and she did not want to find out. Dahl states, “ What were the laws about murderers with unborn children? Did they kill both-mother and child? Or did they wait until the tenth month? Mary Maloney didn’t know. And she certainly wasn’t prepared to take a chance” (3). Mary’s number one concern was for her baby. She did not want

At the beginning of the story, Mary Maloney loves and adores her husband, this does not last very long. Dahl uses simple but strong sentences to portray the killing of Patrick Maloney “At the point, Mary Maloney simply walked up behind him and without any pause she swung the big frozen leg of lamb high in the air and brought it down as hard as she could on the back of his head.” This illustrates Mrs. Maloney walking without any hesitation, killing her beloved husband and this also exemplifies the ultimate transformation of Mrs. Maloney from her calm behavior to being over dramatic. Another detail that this phrase demonstrates is that Patrick is so focused in his thoughts that he doesn’t sense his wife walking up towards him. Dahl reveals this unexpected transformation of Mary Maloney through her actions and thoughts. Another phrase that exemplifies Mrs. Maloney’s change in character is when she thinks to herself, after killing Patrick, “‘All right,’ she told herself. ‘So I’ve killed him.’” This illustrates Mrs. Maloney’s impeccable life, or what she conceives to be her life is demolished. At this point of the story, Dahl uses direct and indirect sentences to develop the protagonist and to show the complete transformation of Mrs. Maloney and brings her to

Mary was a horrible role model for her two children.She had two sons whose names were Tony and Wes Moore.She partied instead of parenting her children, along with “hiding ” Marijuana in her family's home.On page twenty Mary blatantly lied to her own child’s face.She looked At Wes and said, “Mommy got some bad news about school, and I want to go see some friends

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.

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

Characterization shows the reader how Mary’s demeanor changes throughout the story. “...Do everything right and natural. Keep things absolutely natural and there'll be no need for any acting at all…(3)” This quote shows that Mary is referring to when she murdered her husband that she has to play the part of an innocent wife. Secondly, “As the wife of a detective, she knew quite well what

This is where the reader knows more then the characters, having seen the murder from Mary’s point of view and now watching the police officers discuss the crime. Also ironic, is that the police officers are doing Mary a huge favour by eating the evidence, making her practically undiscoverable. What is also special about the story, is that in the very beginning, Mary Maloney is described as a weak woman, only devoted to her husband and submissively in love with him. The reader is completely shocked when she murders her husband.

Dahl’s protagonist in “Lamb to Slaughter”, Mary Maloney, displays her deceitful nature when her husband comes home from a long day of work. Mary kills Patrick with a frozen leg of lamb after he informs her that he wants a divorce. Immediately thereafter, she goes to the store to purchase vegetables. This is the beginning of her deceit. Mary clearly does not need vegetables. Her trek to the store is her way of creating an an alibi. This adds another layer to her deception. Here, she engages in a conversation with a seemingly familiar clerk, Sam. She informs him that Patrick “decided he’s tired and doesn’t want to eat out tonight” (Dahl 3). This gives Sam the impression that her husband is still alive when in all actuality, he is dead. She has added yet another layer to her level of deception. Mary’s deception has no limits. She eventually deceives herself into thinking she did not murder her husband. She convinces herself that she is “not expecting to find

Mary killed her husband by her hitting him on his head with a frozen leg of lamb. Her being a detective’s wife, knew how to set up her alibi. First, she cooked the murder weapon. She went to the grocer to establish her alibi; she was shopping for the evening dinner and was not home when her husband was killed. Mary called the police and told them her husband is dead. After verifying her alibi, Mary insisted on the detectives eating the murder weapon.

After the murder of Mr. Maloney is done, she strays even further from the path of the lamb when she creates an artificial alibi by going through extreme lengths to protect her child from harm, which can seen within text. Her first step to create her artificial alibi was going to the grocery after the murder. Before going, she “rehearse[s] [her smiles and dialogue] several times” (Roald 3). By rehearsing, she keeps her appearance as a lovely housewife when conversing with the shopkeeper; maintaining her appearance and using her innocent semblance as her tool for manipulation. Afterwards, when the police arrive at the scene of murder due to Mrs. Maloney’s call, she manipulates the officers by setting setting the mood of sorrow and despair while she “sob[s]” (Roald 4) over the phone and conversing with the officers, then she manipulates the officers by using the artificial alibi she created while shopping for groceries, and further manipulates the officers by clouding their judgement with whisky. Mrs. Maloney’s reason for manipulation can be inferred when she questions what happens to the unborn child of a murder on the third page, which further infers that when Mrs. Maloney puts all her effort into deceiving the officers, it wasn’t for her