Use Of Irony In Lamb To The Slaughter

This is an example of situational irony, as Mary’s actions are contrary to the expectation. The use of irony elevates the plot beyond a simple case of domestic homicide, resulting in a much more interesting and exciting story. Therefore, the use of situational irony is significant to improving the plot and its development. In addition to situational irony, dramatic irony was also used to further enhance the story. To destroy the murder weapon, Mary says to the officers, “Why don’t you eat up lamb that’s in the oven?... It’d be a favour to me if you’d eat it up.” The dramatic irony of this situation is when Mary urges the officers to eat the lamb, which unbeknownst to them, will destroy the murder weapon. The officers conclude that Mary only wants them to finish the lamb so she would not be reminded of her husband, while Mary wants the lamb eaten so the murder weapon would be destroyed. The discrepancy between the perception of the officers and the reality shown to the reader is the dramatic irony. Its use greatly improves the plot and brought on a better conclusion as opposed to Mary simply disposing of the

On these terms, Patrick’s poor announcement to the pregnant Mrs.Maloney immediately imposed fear upon her. With doing so, Mary was utterly livid and let her emotions get the best of her. As expected, Mary Maloney then went on to viciously attack and kill her unwitting husband. Clearly, Mary could not manage to control her emotions, and took matters into her own hands by be ridding of the

Patrick coming home interrupts the perfect domestic picture. The tension builds up until Patrick breaks the bad news, and Mary reacts by killing him – striking on the back of the head with a frozen leg of lamb. Tension then build up again as the reader begins to wonder what Mary will do, and if she will get away with it.

When he arrived Mary set out to do what she normally does and she sees something peculiar in which her husband, Patrick gulps

“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

She puts the meat in the over in order to erase the evidence and practices her expression and voice. Then she goes out to a nearby store and chats with Sam, the grocer, about what she needs to buy for her husband's dinner, to use that as a protection for her and show that she is not the murderer. On her way home, she purposefully acts everything to be normal and then is "shocked" to discover Patrick's body lying on the floor, however, her tears were real. She calls the police, and two policemen, who were friends and colleagues of Patrick. Mary maintains her act and claims that she went to the store and when she returned she saw her husband's body lying on the floor.

Dramatic irony is the audience’s or reader’s understanding of events or individuals in a work surpasses through a work’s structure. When the policemen are eating Mrs. Maloney’s cooked lamb leg, one of the men says, “It’s the old story, get the weapon, and you’ve got the man” (Dahl). This is dramatic irony because men are clueless as to knowing Mary is the murderer, and little do they know, they are eating the murder weapon. Another example of dramatic irony that is expressed is when Mary just stands by the kitchen listening to the men talk amongst each other. As the men continue to eat, one of them states “she wants us to finish it. She said so. Be doing her a favour (Dahl). Mary told the men that Patrick would not appreciate the situation if they men did not eat; she told them to finish the lamb leg so it would not go to waste, but in all reality, the reason why she wanted the meat eaten up is because it is the murder weapon, and so if it is all gone, there will be no proof of anything. These examples of dramatic irony that are expressed in the story help to create

Dahl uses six examples of verbal irony throughout the short story. Mrs. Maloney feels tension from her husband, Patrick Maloney, and he suddenly expresses to his wife that he will be leaving her. Dahl uses an understatement, or a statement that seems better than the actual situation. “This is going to be a bit of a shock to you, I’m afraid” (Dahl 88). At the time, she IS six months pregnant, and does not expect her husband

Just like a hot spoon can look like a cold one. Mary Maloney switches from a loving housewife to a cunning murderer. In the story,” lamb to the slaughter,” by Roald Dahl, the character Mary Maloney changes from a loving housewife to a cunning murderer, Illustrating the theme that nothing is as it seems.

In “Lambs to the Slaughter,” Roald Dahl uses dramatic irony to build suspense and create tension. In this short story, a woman named Mary Maloney waits for her husband to come home. When he comes home, he is unhappy, and tells her something shocking, to a point where she wants to “reject it all.” She returns to him and swings “the big frozen leg of lamb high in the air and [brings] it down as hard as she [can] on the back of his head.” This kills him, and she decides to telephone the police, putting the murder weapon, the leg of lamb, in the oven. After the police arrive, they begin “looking for the murder weapon.” Mrs. Maloney offers them the leg of lamb, and they eat it while discussing how to find the murder

Patricks emotionless, short, and raw phrases rob Mary of her ability to think properly. Patrick’s selfishness knocks Mary out of her state of mind, making her disbelieve every word he says. “It wouldn’t be very good for my job,” He tells her selfishly. As he went on,” She sat still through it all, watching him with kind of a dazed horror as he went further and further away from her with each word.” He was leaving her alone with her soon expecting baby to go and create a better life for himself without thinking of her feelings or emotions.

Mary refuses to believe it and says, “I’ll fix some supper” the she grabs a frozen leg of lamb out of the freezer and went back upstairs(Dahl 2). She then swings down on Patrick’s head with the leg of lamb. Afterwards she accepts that she killed and soulesly starts to form and alibi by practicing what she will say to the store clerk, she says that “The smile was rather peculiar, too. ‘I want some potatoes, Sam. Yes, and perhaps a can of beans.’

Mary Maloney was six months pregnant which could have maybe swayed her mental state. She also loved her husband so much to the point where she wouldn’t even think of leaving him. So when Patrick told her how he feels of course she would be shocked by the news. Don’t forget, she was also with child when the whole ordeal went down. As she stated, she was nauseous and lightheaded when she pulled the lamb leg from the freezer. Since she couldn’t make him stay what else was she to do in her dazed

Mary’s pregnancy influences the story by making the reader more sympathetic towards her.The fact that she is pregnant immediately causes the reader to want to protect her. After, Patrick announces that he is leaving her we care for Mary, not Patrick. I believe if Mary wasn’t pregnant we probably would’ve had more empathy to Patrick, thoughts like “how can someone be so cold into taking away someone’s life”. The text states that she knows what her punishment will be like, and that it would be a relief. She doesn't know what will happen to her unborn child though, and that fear motivates her to find a way to get away with her crime. She's not willing to risk the baby's life for her crime. Therefore it is crucial that Mary is pregnant or else the story would be different.

In “Lamb to the Slaughter”, the author, Roald Dahl, portrayed a distraught woman as she attempted to conceal her husband’s murder. As the story took place in the 1950s, a majority of it was in the Maloney household. As the story began, Mary Maloney, a pleasant woman, awaited her husband’s arrival home from work. It was around five o’clock when Mr. Patrick Maloney, a policeman, arrived. Mary, Patrick’s wife, was a content woman who had a strong admiration for her husband. That evening, however, Patrick did not want to eat any food; on the other hand, he kept drinking alcohol. In consequence of Patrick’s unusual behavior, caring Mrs. Maloney tried to comfort him as it was obvious to her that something bothered him.