Compare And Contrast Lamb To The Slaughter And Jury Of Her Peers

Comparative Essay
Thesis- Throughout both of these stories, there are ideas and elements that are shared between the two, such as similar themes, and the same point of view. However, there are also disparities that are prevalent within the stories, like the setting and how much the reader knows.

Both of these stories describe the similar narrative of a wife murdering her husband, due to him treating her bad. This sets up a theme of sympathy, or understanding for the killer in both stories, as they only kill them because they were treated so badly by their husbands. In “Lamb to the Slaughter”, the reader can infer that the man told his wife, Mary, that he was leaving her, and most likely that he had another woman. Likewise, “Jury of Her Peers”

“Jury of Her Peers” is written in third person limited, with the focus on Martha Hale. Martha, also a housewife and a former friend of Mrs.Wright, describes the Minnie Wright she used to know, as lively and talks about how she used to wear pretty clothes before she married Mr. Wright. This perspective we get from focusing on Martha allows more sympathy and contributes to the shared theme, as throughout the story, Martha and the other wives shows their understanding of Minnie’s reasons to kill her husband. Similarly, “Lamb to the Slaughter” is also written in third person limited, but focused on the killer, Mary Maloney. The point of view allows the reader to see how devoted, caring, and loving she is and how devastated she was by her husband’s actions. Also, generally it is easy for the reader to feel sympathy for the main character, whom which we know the most about as many make connections to those characters. The shared theme and similar perspective of these stories are important reasons why the two are easily connected, share some of the same ideas, and evoke similar responses from their