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Roald Dahl's Lamb To The Slaughter

Decent Essays

The short mystery by Roald Dahl “Lamb to the Slaughter” details how Mary Maloney murdered her husband, Patrick, as well as remain unpunished for her crimes. The day seemed similar to every other as Mary waited patiently for her husband to return home from work. When he finally walked in through the door, Mary dotingly tended to Patrick, the way she always did. She removed his coat and made him a drink, content with the fact that he was home with her. Unfortunately for Mary, after Patrick downed his first drink, he coldly told her the terrible news: he was going to leave her -not only that, divorce her- due to the fact that he had fallen in love with another women! Such an event could not have been happening to Mary, she loved her husband, as did he love her (apparently not). She was pregnant, he could not just …show more content…

The impact to his skull left Patrick dead, not to mention Mary a murderer. Consequently, Mary was completely fine with facing the death penalty, to her, a life husbandless was not a life she could bear to live. Oh no! Her child, her unborn, innocent baby should never be forced to suffer for her crimes. Once again forced to act quickly, Mary Maloney shoved the leg of lamb into the oven, afterwards she traveled to the local grocery to buy potatoes and a can of peas (more probably to give herself an alibi). upon her arrival home, Mary ran to her (dead) husband’s side and sobbed, after which she called the police to report Patrick’s death. When the police arrived on the scene, Mary performed an Oscar worthy performance of innocent, loving, and mourning wife of a dead man. The detectives did not suspect Mary of having any involvement in her husband’s death (a relief to her). They had, however, concluded that the murder weapon had been a large club of sorts, presumably still located on the

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