Mary Maloney In 'Lamb To The Slaughter'

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

with a dual personality making her the ideal murderer.
Mary Maloney, wouldn’t have been able to carry out the murder of her own husband if it weren’t for her deceitful character and her ability to cover up her lies. Firstly, Mary was very devious since she acted as if everything was normal after she killed her husband and furthermore she used her innocent appearance to fool others. In the story, after she killed her husband, she goes to the grocery store as if everything was normal, to secretly create an alibi for herself. She says to the grocer that “Patrick’s decided that he’s tired and doesn’t want to eat out tonight...We usually go out Thursdays, you know, and now he’s caught me without any vegetables in the house (Dahl 4). This part of the story shows how Mary Maloney is attempting to deceive the officers by creating an alibi. Therefore, when they come to look for a strong witness to support her, they have the grocer. Furthermore she is acting very deceitful, by saying every little detail of the situation and making her seem like a very kind and innocent person; therefore the grocer has much to say about her. The second time Mary Maloney proved the deviousness inside of her was when she got rid of her proof in a way that would make her seem very innocent, but would also take her off the suspect list. This is because when the officers were in her house she said to them, “You must be terribly hungry by now because it’s long past your suppertime, and I know Patrick would never forgive me, God bless his soul if I allowed you to remain in his house without offering you decent hospitality. Why don’t you eat up that lamb that’s in the oven. It’ll be cooked just right by now” (Dahl 7). This quotation proves how Mary Maloney deceived the officers into eating the lamb in a way that made the officers think that she cared about them and wanted to help them find the culprit. Thus, she shows her deceitful character once again and due to this reason the officers respected her and even took her off the suspect list by this point. In conclusion Mary is a very deceitful character who was able to fool everybody around her and possibly even herself.
Secondly, Mary’s cleverness and intelligent choices helped her create a very sneaky plan to cover up the murder. She portrayed her cleverness in the story since she thought very quickly and used her brain, not her emotions in tough, high pressure situations making her very intelligent. In addition to that, right after the murder, to Mary “It was extraordinary now, how clear her mind became all of a sudden. She began thinking very fast. As the wife of a detective, she knew quite well what the penalty would be” (Dahl 3). This shows how cleverly Mary Maloney handled the situation and used her strong memory and intelligence to use certain key points she had remembered from her husband’s profession to make a fool-proof plan without getting caught. Furthermore, Mary Maloney proved her cleverness in the story once again because she was always fully prepared with what she was going to do or say and she gave thought to her plan before she took any step further. This is because she pretends to mourn for Patrick and then “A few minutes later she got up and went to the phone. She knew the number of the police station, and when the man at the other end answered, she cried to him ‘Quick! Come quick! Patrick’s dead!’”(Dahl 5). This part of the story shows how Mary Maloney was very clever and called the officers after she had done what she had to do. This way the police officers wouldn’t really think of suspecting her, because normally the murderer doesn’t call the police asking for help. And so this was a very clever move by Mary Maloney once again. Therefore Mary Maloney was a very clever character who always made clever and intelligent choices. Along with that, she always thought quickly and efficiently.
Mary Maloney was not only very cunning, but she was also an extremely dutiful wife, but transitioned into an even more dutiful mother throughout the story.

Mary played the role of a very caring wife at the beginning of the story, since she was always there for her husband and tried to do anything to serve and satisfy him. Firstly, as soon as her husband came home “She took his coat and hung it in the closet. Then she walked over and made the drinks”(Dahl 2). Later on when she notices that her husband seemed depressed, she asked him, “Would you like me to get you some cheese” (Dahl 2). When he says no, she replies “But you must eat! I’ll fix it anyway” (Dahl 2). This shows the care she had toward her husband at the beginning of the stroy and how her life used to revolve him. Furthermore, it shows how she used to do anything to please him. Therefore this proves how she knew her duties and responsibilities toward her husband really well. Although, in this story, Mary Maloney was not only a very a dutiful and caring wife, but during the story she transitioned into becoming an even more dutiful mother who was well aware of her responsibilities. After she killed her husband she thought of her child and wondered, “What were the laws about murderers with unborn children? Did they kill the both- mother and child? Or did they wait until the tenth month? What did they do? Mary Maloney didn’t know. And she certainly wasn’t prepared to take a chance” (Dahl 3). This shows how Mary Maloney had created this entire plan just to save her child and didn’t care what harm came to her. Therefore this definitely makes her a very caring mom, because it takes a lot of love to do such a thing. So this definitely makes her the perfect mother. In conclusion, Mary Maloney is strongly aware of her duties and responsibilities. Therefore, she was able to carry out the entire plan because people knew how much she loved her husband and so people trusted her. Also, she created this plan because

she knew her duties as a mother. Therefore this made her the perfect murderer along with the ideal mother.
In conclusion, Mary Maloney is a very dynamic character with a dual nature. She has the ability to be very cunning yet very caring. Therefore, this makes her the perfect murderer along with the perfect mother. Furthermore, Mary is not only caring and dutiful, but she is also deceitful and clever. Those qualities helped her make the perfect plan to save herself and her child. Thus Mary Maloney, the protagonist in the story, was very successful toward her plan, making her not only the perfect murderer, but the perfect mother as well.