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Examples of Situational Irony
Examples of Situational Irony
Examples of Situational Irony
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“Lamb to the Slaughter” “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl took place at the Maloney household, in the 1950’s. Mary Maloney is a married woman; her husband is Patrick Maloney. Meanwhile, Mary was pregnant. Mary loved Patrick, she enjoyed his presence once he arrived home from work. Mary would wait for Patrick to come home; she would even gather refreshments upon his arrival. Mary was compassionate and understanding of him, until one evening when he arrived from work. Patrick told Mary he was exhausted; although something seemed to be on his mind. Mary offered to retrieve his slippers, make him another drink, as well as cook him dinner, but he shockingly denied everything. Suddenly, Patrick asked Mary to sit down and listen to him. Despite of …show more content…
He exclaimed that he fell in love with another woman; therefore, breaking Mary’s heart. Mary was in shock; she could not believe what she was hearing. Mary grabbed the lamb chop she was going to prepare for dinner, then suddenly slammed it onto Patrick’s head, killing him. This is an example of situational irony due to the fact that Patrick’s demise was unexpected. Mary understood that she needed to cover her tracks, she needed to hide the fact that she murdered Patrick. Mary decided to head to the grocery to store, to make it seem as though she was not home when Patrick met his sudden death. She acted normal at the grocery store, she did not want to act suspicious. Obviously she needed to act surprised when she saw her husband lying dead on the floor. Mary dropped her purse as well as her groceries, she even destroyed her items around him, to make it seem as though there was an intruder. Finally,
All of Roald Dahl’s stories seem to be brimfull of irony and wry humor, and “Lamb to the Slaughter” is no different. Mary Maloney, a pregnant, but cheerful woman is very much in love with her husband and we certainly don’t expect her to be of any trouble. It’s shocking enough to learn that her husband, who seems such a nice guy, is cheating on her and plans to move out. This changes the expectation of the story right off the bat, and we feel a compassion for the poor woman. We’re not sure how she’s going to cope with this news, especially since she’s six months pregnant with his child. So when she acts rather compulsively and strikes him over the head with the leg of lamb that was going to be his supper, we really are shocked. She’s acted
Patrick’s muscle tightens as hear Mary coming closer to him. Is she suspecting something? He thought nervously, what should I do now? What should I say? He was lost in his thoughts when Mary walked up behind him and swung the big frozen leg of lamb on the back of his head. Patrick’s vision suddenly when darken and t-- to the ground with the sounds of overturning tables and crashing
This was to keep Mary quiet; the text accuses Patrick of caring more for his job
Striking, the boy conveyed an unparalleled impression. Deeper into this utopia however, his once charming disposition, slowly cracked to reveal his true monstrous nature. Out of the dream, emerged a nightmare. Malevolent, malicious, masks fell off to reveal a mentality concealed before. First impressions are not always accurate, sometimes underneath the perfection lies a different character waiting to be awakened. Take Mary Maloney in Roald Dahl’s “Lamb to the Slaughter” for example. Mary’s character development, along with her interactions with her husband, Patrick Maloney, and the detectives from his department reveal the theme of, “Seemingly “perfect” people have a dark side.”
After she heard the news she convinces herself that he (Patrick) is still alive, she also speaks to herself/ practices her speaking to sound ‘normal’, and it shows how she felt about getting away with it. Mary Maloney was over tasked with the keeping of the house and being a doting wife to her husband, all she had going in her life was looking after her husband. Mary only wanted to be there for her husband, wanting to be with him no matter the problems they might have. Mary refused to see that her relationship was in rambles. To make her husband happy she took on as many tasks she could, along with keeping their marriage together as it was slowly falling apart. “Insanity is often the logic of an accurate mind overtasked”. (Oliver Wendell Holmes,
Have you ever been deep into a story that you want know what happens next. Many authors use different techniques to entice the reader to read more. In the story lamb to the slaughter, by Roald Dahl, the three literary devices that are used to advance the plotline include imagery, foreshadowing, and irony. To start, Dahl uses imagery to significantly impact the story. In lamb to the slaughter imagery was used the the character Mary , “swung the big frozen leg of lamb high in the air and brought it down as hard as she could to the back of his head”(Dahl).The way Dahl described how she swung the leg of lamb created a vivid and gruesome picture of the murder making it more suspenseful.
Now, with her husband dead, Mrs. Maloney must find a job to support herself and her child. Why would she bring that upon herself? All good questions with the same answer, Mary did not murder Patrick Maloney. During the case, the police found a suitable alibi for Mrs. Maloney, which was solidified by Sam the grocer. Sam told the police Mary acted normal and wanted to make Patrick a good supper, and the grocer even went to say it was impossible Mary murdered Patrick.
The murder accusations between the government officials and Mrs. Abbott are examples of situational irony. Being a part of Mrs. Abbott’s nearly perfectly formulated plot, she accused the twelve men of murder. Consequently, the men
Mary was able to manipulate the police by appearing to be kind and hospitable, and using the memory of her dead husband to get them to eat the lamb. Mary was able to deceive police because of her pregnancy and alibi. Mary was betrayed, which caused her to act the way she did. Focus of this essay was to see how Mary’s mind worked throughout her whole ploy to cover up her husband’s murder. All this evidence leads to why Mary decided not to tell the police to kill her husband, and why she killed her husband in the first place. Mary could have been bottling up her emotions about being underappreciated, so when Patrick told her he was leaving, that probably set her off and caused her to go into shock. The future could be that Mary gives birth and is able to provide for her child, without anyone ever knowing who killed Patrick
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.
Firstly, Mary Maloney is seen as innocent and loving because she is pregnant and has the appearance of a delicate fragile woman. When she waits for Patrick to come home she seems excited and waits patiently by the door which shows that she loves him very much and no one would think that she can murder him. She seems pure because she is carrying his child and people do not usually think a pregnant woman is capable of doing much. She is six months
Patrick would go home and ignore her when all she wanted to do was make sure he wasn’t hungry. Mary was so in love with him she would wait on the couch because she was anxious to see her husband. She was a very loving wife and would do anything for her
She is now methodical, coming up with an alibi and practicing holding a normal conversation in the mirror with the neighborhood grocer (Dahl 2). Returning home, Mary prepares to act shocked when she arrives to the scene of the crime, telling herself if she “found anything unusual or terrible when she got home..she would have to react with greift and horror” (Dahl 3). At this point, Mary is very calculated and in control. She knows how to react and what to do to avoid facing the repercussions of murder. Once back at home, she calls the police, and once they arrive she begins to play the part of a grieving wife, crying endlessly. But she was still well-organized and managed to manipulate the situation into her control. Knowing full and well all she needs to do is get rid of the evidence, her now calculating mood formulates a plan. Still under the rouge of a grief stricken wife, she asks the officers, “Would you do me a favor?...Why don’t you eat up the lamb in the oven?” (Dahl 4). This showcases how methodical she is, using the situation to her
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 ...
When the police arrived they try to understand and figure out how Patrick has been killed. But unluckily the officers can not notice Mrs. Maloney was the killer. At the end of the book Mary Maloney giggles when the officers said, “Probably right under our very noses. What you think, Jack?” (Dahl 18). Throughout the beginning, Mary Maloney seemed like a nice caring wife but what Patrick said caused her to do a crime. At that point, Mary knew she got away she eliminated the evidence and managed to escape. Mary laughing shows readers that the killing of her husband was not important to her at all. Therefore the theme of this story is to not trust everybody.