Mary Maloney, a character in Road Dahl’s “Lamb to the Slaughter”, goes from being caring and loving, to a cold and unforgiving woman, to a self-possessed and calculated widow putting on show for the police, due to a series of events in the story. At the beginning of the story, we are introduced to Mary Maloney as woman who loves and cares about her husband deeply. When Patrick arrives home from work he comes in the door, Mary takes his coat and hangs it up. Then she pours him and herself a drink and they sit back and relax in their chairs. While Mary is sitting in her chair she thinks to herself, “She knew he didn’t want to speak much until the first drink was finished, and she, on her side was content to sit quietly, enjoying his company after …show more content…
the long hours alone in the house. She loved to luxuriate in the presence of this man, and to feel-almost as a sunbather feels the sun-that warm male glow that came out of him to her when they were alone together,” (Dahl 87).From this quote we know that Mary loves and cares for her husband very much.
Although, in the next event, when Patrick reveals his shocking want for a divorce, Mary’s attitude and feelings towards Patrick change as she becomes a cold and vengeful woman. When Patrick drains his drink in one swallow, Mary knows something is wrong, but she didn’t expect the want for a divorce to be what was bothering him. After Patrick asks for a divorce, Mary’s first instinct is “not to believe any of it, to reject it all,” (Dahl 88). She pretends nothing happens and goes to the garage to get the lamb for dinner. Then Patrick says one last time he doesn’t want her to make dinner, that he is going out, and, “At that 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 hard as she could on the back of his head… She came out [of shock] slowly, feeling cold and surprised, and she stood for a while blinking at the body, still holding that ridiculous piece of meat tight with both
hands. All right, she told herself. So I’ve killed him,” (Dahl 88-89). Mary couldn’t process the news of her husband’s want for a divorce and became a cold and unforgiving woman as she murdered her husband. In the next scene, when Mary returns home from the grocery and the police come, Mary becomes self-possessed and calculated after a small breakdown of grief after the reality of what she has down hits her. After she returns home and sees Patrick laying dead on the floor she has a small breakdown, “All the old love and longing for him welled up inside her, and she ran over to him and began to cry a her heart out,” (Dahl 90). A few minutes later, she recovers and calls the police to report the accident, when the police arrive, “... she nearly fell right into Jack Noonan’s arms, weeping hysterically,” (Dahl 90). Then she tells her fabricated story of what happened. Mary’s smart yet deceitful plan show that she become a self-possessed and calculated woman. Because of the way Mary acts in these different events, Patrick arrives home, Mary kills Patrick, and Mary puts on a show for the police to maintain her innocence, we know her changes in character and attitude were due to this series of events.
Often people are not what they seem. According to Roald Dahl, in “Lamb to the Slaughter,” “But there needn’t really be any fuss. I hope not anyway. It wouldn’t be very good for my job.” When in public Patrick Maloney was the doting husband, but when the doors hid outside eyes Patrick revealed his true feelings. He wanted a divorce. He wanted to ruin his wife and soon-to-be child, but without anyone knowing. Thought the passage, the tone is revealed as condescending. The way Mr. Maloney talks to his wife is as though she is a small and unknowing child.
In the story Lamb to the Slaughter written by Roald Dahl, the writer emphasizes the woman's loyalty to her husbands will, despite the constraint in her social life. Mary Maloney obeyed her husband's commands forgetting her own, making sure he had everything he needed. Offering to grab her husband whiskey, he commanded her to sit down insisting that he get it himself. (Dahl 1) Although she could have taken time to do stuff for herself she did as her husband told her to without question. Another scenario of Mary's loyalty to her husband was proved to him as she selflessly asked him about his day rather than putting the spotlight on herself. For instance, she asked him if he was tired forgetting her own concerns. (Dahl 1) In place of telling him
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
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...
Preliminarily, had been established that Mrs. Maloney was the murderer of her husband Mr. Maloney. Despite this, it was for good reason, as it was due in part to mental anguish. This can be concluded by the reactions and behaviors Mrs. Maloney presented in Dahl’s eyewitness account. To start, Mrs. Maloney was headed for the store at around 6 o’clock. Why would she continue to act even if her husband is dead? “Hello, Sam,” she said brightly, smiling at the man in the shop. “Good evening, Mrs. Maloney. How are you?” “I want some potatoes, please, Sam. Yes, and perhaps a can of beans, too. Patrick’s decided he's tired and he doesn't want to go out tonight,” she told him. … “Anything else?” The grocer turned his head to one side, looking at her. “How about a dessert? … How about a nice piece of cake?” … “Perfect,” she said. “He loves it.”” This quote, from Dahl’s account, shows that she obviously cannot completely function mentally. She murdered him, then went and bought him cake. At this point, she is very confused about herself and the events that occu...
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
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,
In “Lamb to the Slaughter,” Dahl highlights how the the truth is closer than you think. Mary Maloney is reactive when she finds out her husband wants to put an end to their marriage. After she finds
Would you kill the husband you love, to save your unborn child? Would you deceive yourself and those around you; to save your unborn child? In Roald Dahl’s short story, “Lamb to the Slaughter”, the protagonist, Mary Maloney is a very dynamic character. She has a dual nature since she is very cunning yet very caring, making her the perfect murderer along with the perfect mother. Firstly, she is very deceitful and has the ability to easily cover up her lies. Not only that, Mary is a very clever character who always makes the most intelligent choices. Lastly, the woman is very dutiful, caring and is very aware of her responsibilities as both a wife and a mother. Therefore all of these characteristics make Mary Maloney a very dynamic character
In the story “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl, Mary Maloney is shown to have a very sinister and manipulative character. In the beginning of the story, Mary Maloney was a normal, loving and caring pregnant housewife that loved and cared for her husband, Patrick Maloney, very much. Earlier at the start of the story we see Mary was waiting for her husband to come home from work. She had set up the house with two table lights lit and plates on the dining table so they can have a very romantic dinner when Patrick comes home. When Patrick came home, Mary was very excited to see him. She would try to offer him some drinks and insisted she would get things in the house he needed so he didn’t have to get up himself. The countless times that Patrick said no to her offers and helpful doings, she still tried to serve and tried to make him feel comfortable and relax after work.
“She moved uneasily in her chair the large eyes still watching his face, “but you must have supper. I can easily do it here. I’d like to do it. We can have lamb chops. Or pork. Anything you want everything is in the freezer” (318). Even though Mary was uncomfortable she still tried to make supper for her husband. She just wanted to be the perfect housewife and do what she is supposed to do. At this point Mary is feeling uneasy, and she is also worried. Even though her husband did not want her to do anything she ignored him. Mrs. Maloney did not want to accept the fact that her husband is trying to tell her something, and she does not want to hear it from
An additional view point of the story could be from a woman. A female reading Lamb to the Slaughter would most likely side with Mary Maloney. Dahl starts the story describing Mary’s behavior before her husbands’ arrival. She sits ...
As soon as Patrick came home, Mary gave him a glass of whiskey. Patrick finished his glass in one swallow. Mary saw Patrick going to fetch himself another and offered to bring , but Patrick told her to sit down. Mrs. Maloney also offered to bring him his slippers but Patrick instantly turned down the offer. She also tried starting a conversation, offering cheese and crackers, and asking if he wanted her to make dinner but he continued to refuse Mary’s offers. This examination supports my opinion because seeing Patrick acting strange made Mary curious. Refusing all that Mary tried to provide and ignoring her remarks made Mary question his every move and feel
“All right, she told herself. So I’ve killed him” (Page 2). Imagine what that means. Why did she do it? How did she do it? Will she get away with it? All those questions are answered and more is revealed. In the book “Lamb To The Slaughter” by author Roald Dahl, it depicts the story of pregnant housewife Mary Maloney and how she copes with the knowledge her husband Patrick Maloney gives her. Mary Maloney's coping skills are not up to par though, so she precedes to murder her husband with a frozen leg of lamb. She then sets up an alibi and reports the murder. Her cover up was that the cops would eat the lamb, therefore discarding evidence and she would be scott free. This eventually happens and Mary is now riding alone with her unborn baby.
When Patrick gets home from work, exhausted, she tries to tend to his every need. After Patrick told her how exhausted he was, she offers to cancel dinner plans to appeal to him by saying, “‘If you’re too tired to eat out tonight, as we had planned, I can fix you something. There’s plenty of meat and stuff in the freezer’” (Dahl 1). This caring tone is completely absent when the police arrive to investigate. In order to get rid of the murder weapon, a leg of lamb, Mary offers it to the policemen as token of thanks, persuading them by stating, “‘Personally, I couldn’t eat a thing, but it’d be a favor to me if you ate it up. Then you can go on with your work’” (Dahl 4). She goes from tending to Patrick’s every need to pretending to be too distressed to eat as to trick the officers into getting rid of the