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Comparing Lamb To The Slaughter And The Possibility Of Evil

622 Words3 Pages

In both stories Mary Maloney and Miss. Strangeworth appear kind and loving but both demonstrate betrayal and hatred towards people at the end of both stories. Sometimes we get fooled by the appearance of others. In “ The possibility of Evil” by Shirley Jackson and “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl both share a common theme of appearance could be deceiving . At the beginning of “The Possibility of Evil” Mis. Strangeworth was caring about others when they were together,but when they left Mis. Strangeworth betrays them and talks negative about them. In “Lamb to the Slaughter” Mary murders her husband with a leg of lamb when he tells her that he is leaving her and acts like the protagonist but is the antagonist. In the beginning of “The …show more content…

She had a soft mouth, her eyes with their new placid look. She was waiting for her husband to come home from work to make dinner. He finally got home and he said he didn’t want dinner. He told her that he is leaving her but she will be fine. Mary gets up and goes to the cellar and grabs a frozen leg of lamb and walked to the living room. “ at this point, Mary Maloney simply walked up behind him and without a pause she swung the big frozen leg of lamb high in the air and brought it down as hard as she could on the back of his head” (Dahl 4). Mary killed her husband because he was leaving her. She decides to go to the grocer so it looks like she is the protagonist but is the antagonist. She practices what she is going to say so it seems like she doesn’t know anything. She got to the grocer and acted calm and was talking about Patrick so that Sam wouldn’t be suspect anything. “ ‘ Patrick’s decided he’s tired and doesn’t want to go eat out tonight’ she told him ‘ we usually go out Thursdays, you know, and now he’s caught me without any vegetables in the house’”(Dahl 5). Mary is acting like her husband is still alive and is telling Sam how he is too tired to eat and she needs food to cook for him. Looks can be deceiving because she looks innocent at the grocer’s but in reality she has committed a crime and is covering it

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For instance, Mary is dressed up waiting for her husband to get home, she is looking forward to going out to dinner with her husband. lamb to the slaughter Dahl writes, “she laid aside her sewing, stood up and went forward to kiss him as he came in.” (380). Mary loves her husband at the beginning of the story. She is expecting her first baby and

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

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Mary Maloney, who was a character written by Dahl, murdered her husband because he was going to leave/ divorce her while she was pregnant. Minnie Foster, from Glaspell’s story, also killed her husband because he strangled her only real companion, a bird. Although they committed these acts for different reasons, they were both still the ones being neglected in their marriage. Mary Maloney would sit in her chair, opposite from the empty one, wait for her husband to walk through the door from work. Once he was home, he’d said little to none

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How Does Mary Maloney Get Sympathy For The Slaughter

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After Mary had been pregnant for 6 months, he came home to say that he was leaving her for someone better. For anyone, this would not be an easy topic, especially for a woman who has been carrying her husband's baby for six months. Mary Maloney has always loved her husband and never thought of killing him until he announced that he was leaving her. It says in the book that "Mary's favorite part of the day was waiting for her husband to come home with his drink," which shows that she did love him.

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John Proctor's Loyalty In The Crucible

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John Proctor was very unfaithful in his marriage, Mary Warren was awfully committed to Abigail Williams, but lacked commitment to Proctor. The character that had zero loyalty or respect to his spouse was John Proctor. Proctor was an unfaithful, deceiving man. Proctor had

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Theme Of Irony In Lamb To The Slaughter

294 Words | 2 Pages

Mary Maloney provides the detectives with lamb that she kills her husband, Patrick, with. When the detective declares that the murder weapon is probably right under their noses, it is ironic because the reader knows that they are eating the weapon that the detectives are seeking. Furthermore, situational irony is displayed when Dahl narrates, “At that point, Mary Maloney simply walked up behind him and without any pause, she swung the big frozen leg of lamb high

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Direct Characterization In Lamb To The Slaughter

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"(155). This is showing that she didn’t something that she regretted because of what he told her. conclusion In “Lamb to the Slaughter” Dahl uses conflict, imagery, and direct characterization to develop feelings for Mary’s husband. This is important because the feelings Mary has for her husband are a main purpose in the story.

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1734 Words | 7 Pages

Mary Maloney “simply walked up” behind Patrick and struck him with a “big frozen leg of lamb” “as hard as she could”. This completely contrasts the starting character of Mary as a housewife whom was patiently waiting for her husband to return home, which no one had expected. She did it “simply” which moulds an image of her not needing to think through her action, effortless and swift. The readers would be disgusted at how fast her character changes, thus suspense would be created as they would constantly question themselves about how it was possible. Additionally, after she struck her husband, she thought that it was “funny” on how “he remained standing” for a while.

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

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There are a lot of similarities between “Lamb to Slaughter” by Roald Dahl and “A Jury of her Peers” by Susan Glaspell and an abundance of differences. The largest one thing in common being, the wives in each story kill their husbands. Another comparison are the women 's roles. They are both victims to their husband 's’ cruelty. In “Lamb to Slaughter”, Mary Maloney waits patiently for her husband to get home from work so she can make him dinner and get him a drink, do anything to make him happy basically.

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“Patrick! She called. How are you darling. She put the parcel down and went into the living room and when she saw him lying on the ground.” Mary also creates an act that makes the detectives believe that she did not do anything to do with the murder.

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Lamb to the Slaughter is an action packed short story about a wife who is let down by her husband and proceeds to kill him as an act of revenge. Obviously much more happens in this story consisting of humour, action, mystery and irony. Roald Dahl is a master of writing short stories in ways that attract readers, draw them into what is happening through using literary elements and universal themes to make the story relatable to the readers. In this story the main literary elements were foreshadowing, situation and dramatic irony, imagery and symbolism which really drew me in and kept me attached to the story. Literary elements are what make a story powerful and attracts readers to continue reading in the story and in this story they highlight the universal theme of Revenge and Betrayal.

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Once she settled down she acts fast with faking a story by going to the store and coming home to the police. She ends up using the weapon as dinner for the police. The author showed how Mary used cowardice throughout the story through the literary devices of Symbolism, Foreshadowing, and Tone.

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In the stories, “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin and “Lamb of the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl both have a similar aspect in furthering the plot and creating an aesthetic impact on its target audience. In the story, “The Story of an Hour”, Mrs. Mallard not only has heart trouble but her husband was pronounced dead. Whereas, in “Lamb to the Slaughter”, Mary Maloney kills her husband after finding out that he was leaving her, while she was still pregnant. Furthermore, what makes these stories similar is having two female protagonist feeling strong emotions towards their husband’s motives. Given this fact, “The Story of an Hour” uses a gloomy exposition and depressing ending whereas, “Lamb to the Slaughter” begins in a calm exposition to a clever ending in order for both of their stories to have a climactic resolution and have an aesthetic impact on its readers.

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Mary Maloney was sitting in her living room when her husband, Patrick Maloney, came home. This was the premises of the short story, “Lamb to the Slaughter,” composed by Roald Dahl. Patrick was a police officer; his wife stayed at home, which was typical for the 1950s, which was the time period of the story. The couple had been, so it seemed, happy throughout their marriage. In fact, Mary was pregnant with a baby boy.

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