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This short story by Roald Dahl is a very interesting selection. I believe the main themes of this book are your identity and capabilities you may not have known you’ve had. After Patrick Maloney tells his wife that he wants a divorce, Mary’s only reaction is to prepare dinner, but as she comes up from the cellar with a lamb leg, Mary hits her husband with the frozen solid leg, and his body falls, bringing her out of shock. She creates an alibi and goes to the grocer to get vegetables for dinner. She comes home and is hysterical when she “finds” her dead husband on the floor and calls the police. Mary feeds the lamb to the detectives as they say the murder weapon is probably “right under their noses”.____________________ …show more content…
There is a theme of identity in the story, of not really knowing yourself. If you had asked Mary if she would have killed her husband on purpose before the incident, she most likely would have said no, so when she did murder Patrick, it probably shocked her as much as it shocked readers. This shows that some people don’t really know themselves and what they are capable of. “She was content to sit quietly, enjoying his company after the long hours alone in the house”. This shows that Mary is happy with her spouse and enjoys spending time with him. “The violence of the crash, the noise, the small table overturning, helped bring her out of her 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”. Mary is surprised because I doubt that she had ever wanted to kill her husband and she shocked herself by actually doing it. The plot and the characters actions helped in getting the theme across by showing how loving and selfless Mary was at the start of the story, but after she had killed her husband, she seemed malicious and pernicious. This selection is similar to another Roald Dahl story that I have read called “Royal Jelly”.
These two stories are both very odd and slightly disturbing, but interesting and attention-grabbing. “Royal Jelly” and “Lamb to the Slaughter” both include a character that is maybe seen as crazy or just slightly “off their rocker”. In Royal Jelly, a beekeeper and his wife have a long-awaited newborn baby that will not drink the milk it needs, so the beekeeper uses a substance called royal jelly, that is supposed to feed bee larvae for three days and make it grow 1,500 times its size, and he puts it into the baby’s milk, without his wife’s knowledge. The baby gets addicted to the royal jelly infused formula and drinks about 10 times as much as it did before. His wife notices that her husband slightly resembles a bee and her baby looks like a larvae. In this story, it is the beekeeper that is a bit out of his mind and in “Lamb to the Slaughter”, it is the woman who feeds the police the weapon she used to kill her husband. The beekeeper probably never would have thought he would basically have drugged his newborn baby, but he was apparently capable of doing so, without regret, just as the lady whom had killed her husband seemed to feel no
remorse.________________________________________ In conclusion, I have picked up a theme of “not knowing what you are capable of until the time comes to put your willpower to the test”. In both stories, one character did something that they probably never could have imagined doing, but when they were either in a desperate situation or a state of shock, they both committed an act that others may see as wrong or evil. I would highly recommend reading the story “Lamb to the Slaughter” if you enjoy reading odd, or slightly disturbing stories. I believe Roald Dahl is a wonderful author and many of his stories are very intriguing, to say the least._____________________
Mary Maloney is accused of murdering her husband with an unknown weapon for an unknown reason. Chief detective, Patrick Maloney was murdered last night at his own house, no suspects have been identified yet and the search for the murder weapon was futile. Apparently, the officer had come home exhausted from work and was waiting for his wife Mrs. Mary Maloney, who left to buy food across the street for their dinner. According to a statement, Mary arrives home from the grocery store to find her husband dead on the living room floor.
The speckled band and the lamb to the slaughter are both a comparison of two short stories from the murder mystery genre. The speckled band was written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (in 1892 and was published in the following year). The lamb to the slaughter was written by the famous Roald Dahl (in 1953). Arthur was a Scottish physician and writer, he wrote a series of books featuring Sherlock Holmes and his side-Kick Dr. Watson. The stories were a big hit, the speckled band was also one of his adventurous chronicles. The lamb to the slaughter was a story written for older children and was also, satisfactory. Roald Dahl was an author and an intelligence officer –he was most famous for his great storytelling-His short stories are known for their unexpected endings and his children’s books for their unsentimental, often dark humour.
In Lamb to the Slaughter, Mary Maloney, doting housewife pregnant with her first child, commits a heinous crime against her husband. After he tells her that he is leaving, she become distraught and strikes him in the head with a leg of lamb. Afterwards, Mary...
Life. Life is what gives you the ability to think, to speak, to breath and to be a part of this world. It is worth more than any amount of money, your life is priceless. Without it, we would seize to exist; our world would be utter darkness. Honourable Judge, Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, today Mary Maloney stands on trial before you. A woman who took the away the life of not just an innocent citizen, but her very own husband. She was thought to be an ordinary women, a typical housewife and a soon to be loving mother. However, the facts presented before you today conclude that Mary Maloney was not just an unordinary detective’s wife, but also a murder. On April 13th 1953, the life of Patrick Maloney came to a tragic end because of leg of lamb in the hands of Mary Maloney. For the following reasons, Mary Maloney, wife of the deceased, is guilty of 1st degree murder.
The Lady, the Tiger, or the Lamb Reading is a common pastime and hobby for many people. Whether it’s poetry, fiction novels, or biographies, there is a type of literature for everyone. Short stories are a great type of writing because while they are not too long, they have a fair amount of plot and literary devices. “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl and “The Lady, or the Tiger” by Frank R. Stockton are two short stories that engage readers and leave them to infer various big details. While they both are excellent passages, “Lamb to the Slaughter” is a far superior story.
It was a normal evening in the Maloney home. Mrs. Mary Maloney sat sewing, while waiting for her husband to return home after an involved day as a police officer. Around 5 o’clock Mr. Maloney returns home with shocking news and… Bang! …a leg of lamb hit over his head and Mr. Maloney falls to the ground dead. All evidence and theories, point to Mrs. Maloney being the killer of her husband, but why? Mrs. Maloney did not kill her husband out of anger after the recent marriage incident, but she did it as a result of mental anguish, self defense and trauma inflicted upon her by her husband. All these events explain exactly why Mrs. Maloney murdered her husband out of reasonable measures.
To illustrate, in the author’s words, “Why don’t you eat up that lamb that’s in the oven?” (Dahl, p. 324) In this quote the author proposes that Mary deceived the detectives into eating the murder weapon. This quote models the author’s use of character development as Mary went from the beginning of being good-natured and honest to deceitful. This brings the immoral evolution of Mary out. Moreover, the author plainly asserts, “And in the other room, Mary Maloney began to giggle.” (Dahl, p. 324) In this quote, the author describes how Mary laughed as the detectives ate the murder weapon. This quote reminds the reader that Mary is now “innocent” in a different sense than she was in the beginning of the story. “Perfect”, unaware, self-sacrificing, wife Mary is gone. Revealed to the readers is wicked, manipulative murderer
Comparing Lamb to the Slaughter and Captain Murderer In this essay, I am going to compare and contrast the two short stories "Lamb to the Slaughter" and "Captain Murderer", picking out. techniques used by the authors which make it different to a typical murder mystery. When one thinks of a murder mystery, one usually thinks of images like a large, stately home, a cunning butler, and a bloodstained. candlestick, and an intelligent and observant detective with a comparatively incompetent sidekick of the game.
Near the middle of the story we see Mary exhibit her bad sinister character; her personality and feelings suddenly change when she murders her own husband by hitting him at the back of the head with a frozen lamb leg. After denying all of Mary’s helpful deeds, Patrick told her to sit down so that he can tell her something serious; the story doesn’t tell us what he says to her but Mary suddenly changes after he tells her something, her “instinct was not to believe any of it” (Dahl 2). She just responded with “I’ll get the supper” (Dahl 2) and felt nothing of her body except for nausea and a desire to vomit. She went down the cellar, opened the freezer, grabbed a frozen leg of lamb, went back upstairs, came behind Patrick, and swung the big leg of lamb as hard as she could to the back of his head killing him. This act of sudden violence shows how much she has gone ...
Lamb to the Slaughter, by Roald Dahl, instantly grabs a reader’s attention with its grotesque title, ensuing someone’s downfall or failure. The saying “lamb to the slaughter,” usually refers to an innocent person who is ignorantly led to his or her failure. This particular short story describes a betrayal in which how a woman brutally kills her husband after he tells her that he wants a divorce. She then persuades the policemen who rush to the scene to consume the evidence. This action and Patrick’s actions show the theme of betrayal throughout the story which Roald Dahl portrays through the use of point of view, symbolism and black humor.
The short story, "Lamb to the Slaughter" by Roald Dahl, tells the troubling story of young, pregnant Mary Maloney, who finds out that her husband Patrick plans to divorce her. She loves her husband, but responds with a crime of passion. Dahl uses predictable behavior and brief dialogue to create suspenseful undertones and emotional tension. In Roald Dahl's "Lamb to the Slaughter," The decision to hit him with a lamb leg. Mary's response to Patrick's news of divorce is unexpected.
Short stories everywhere all have exceptional ideas, and interesting plots. They are able to share literary terms of murder and irony, or even love and romance. The stories The Gift of the Magi, by O.Henry, and Lamb to the Slaughter, by Roald Dahl, both have great plots, author's craft, and symbolism. One, The Gift of the Magi, about two lovers who cannot afford a Christmas gift, and will sacrifice it all for love, and another, Lamb to the Slaughter, about a murder, and its cover up. While both stories are compelling to readers, The Gift of the Magi is the better compared to Lamb to the Slaughter because of its symbolism, imagery and is able to identify with readers.
The short story “Lamb to The Slaughter” by Roald Dahl is about the death of a detective who has been murdered by his wife. As officers arrive they can’t seem to find the murder and the murder weapon. The short story Lamb to The Slaughter is interesting to read because the author allows readers to put their own perspective into the book. Another reason is the storyline and finally the theme.
The two texts are about murder cases where the only reliable evidence is interfered with. The Trifles is a play in which Mr. Hale and Sheriff Peters are investigating the cause of death of John Wright. Wright appears to have been strangled with a rope and the first suspect in the crime is his wife, Mrs. Wright. Her friends, Mrs. Hale and Peters are fascinated by the female stuff in the house. In their conversations, Glaspell (2014) notes,
Desiree’s Baby by Kate Chopin and Lamb to the slaughter by Roald Dahl are two fictional short stories. Although written by two different authors, both stories display remarkable similarities in the them. Each narrative conclude in a tragic way, Desiree’s baby ends in Desiree’s death and Lamb of the slaughter ends with Marry getting away with her husband’s murder.These intelligent stories portray various similarities. Each is about women who are involved in horrible actions, and are petrified to face the consequences, if discovered. Though both stories are about tragedy, each has a unique style of writing which gives the reader different thoughts and images to the fictional texts.