During the investigation of Mary’s murder there were two notes that were discovered. (Photos of the notes attached.) The notes claimed that a tall black person committed the crime, while the other suggest that the person who wrote the notes was forced to write them to throw suspicion away from the actual murder. There was also some physical evidence such as, human feces at the bottom of the elevator shaft. It is said that the investigation into Mary’s murder was very sloppy.
In “Lamb to the Slaughter”, Mary Maloney knows what happened to her husband. Not only did she kill her husband with the lamb leg but she fed it to the detectives for dinner as a “Thank you”! In the story, the detectives were talking about the case over dinner. They said “The murder weapon had to be on the premises.
She had a whole scheme planned out to her advantage in order to make her look like the sweet and kinder wife which she poses as. She acted and mislead Sam the grocer to have a witness in her behalf, and persuaded Sergeant Noonan along with his team to eat the evidence. Finally, when Mary Maloney got her plan to succeed, she laughed at the foolishness of the officers with no dolefulness about Patrick’s death. “And in the other room Mary Maloney began to giggle” (p.18). This line in the story occurred afterwards the investigators were eating the murder weapon (lamb), Mary Maloney was laughing at this moment which is bizarre and deranged behavior.
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
The police were easily tricked by Mary’s cheerful appearance, and this displays her ability to change her appearance to deceive the police easily. Thus, this should serve as a warning to people to be more cautious. Secondly, Mary also uses a kind gesture as a way to get rid of the murder weapon without a trace. For instance, while the police are searching her house for clues leading to the murder, Mary convinces them that, “It’d be a favor to me if you’d eat it up. Then you can go on with your work again afterwards” (Dahl 10).
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.
It appears as though Mary’s conscious does not bother her. It also seems like Mary’s conscious is not bothering her at all. The lack of display of motions demonstrates that Mary recovers a little too quickly and is able to get back on her feet despite what she has just done. This proves that she does not think properly and is mentally disturbed. Finally, at the end of the story, when the policemen are eating the leg of lamb which Mary utilizes the end Patrick Maloney’s life , Mary Maloney begins to laugh simply because of the irony she sees.
Mary murdered Patrick in cold blood and appeared to keep calm and appear normal. This story has a twist in it as the reader expects something and the story
The fact that she had to manipulate the policemen shows she is guilty. In most action movies, the Antagonist kills a person then tries to kill the witness. Mary Maloney killed her husband, then tries to manipulate the policemen to cover up the evidence. The author says, “ She carried the meat into the kitchen, placed it in a pan, turned the oven on high, and shoved it inside ( Dahl 4).”
The opposing side of the argument may say Mary planned on the death of her husband though evidence says otherwise. When Mary went down to the freezer she “took hold of the first object she found” displaying how Mary didn’t deliberately grab a weapon to use on Patrick’s death and his actual killing was not clearly thought-out by Mary, proving diminished capacity and not murder. Mary Maloney deeply loved her husband and her child, through Patricks’ violence push her to her limits. No criminal intent was for sought when Mary’s state of mind obscurely went after Patrick. All in all Mary wasn’t in her right mind whyen all of this took place.
“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.
Police withal interviewing people who have an idea about where Mary Maloney might have gone. Anne Smith, Mary Maloney’s neighbour had said she had no idea what Mary Maloney’s plans were, and had nothing to do with the situation. “I was only responsible for taking care of her child”, says Anne Smith, “I never knew she was a murderer and would run away without her child.” Police had also interviewed the grocer, Sam Stone. Stone had said Maloney has been visiting the grocers a lot, and she was most likely preparing aliments for when she would run away.
First impressions to characters never lasts, Mary being the desired wife who unconditionally loves her husband, on the other hand, ironically what readers can foreshadow did not seemed to be Mrs. Maloney to be the antagonist of the whole situation. Based on the story, “...enjoying his company.. She loved the warmth that came out of him when they were together alone”. Mary Maloney depicts the woman who is out of his husband’s league. This is a representation of situational irony because “she loved” him and in the end, she ended up murdering her husband.
Soon after, Mary’s once lonely home is flooded with officers that consistently tried their hardest to solve the case as well as comfort Mary at the same time. The events that follow are a flawless example of what the police officers think of Mary; weak and vulnerable. The officers that come to Mary’s home manage to completely the dismiss the fact that Mary herself might be the one to blame. A few paragraphs after the call with the police, we can see how Mary was treated by the detectives. A section of the paragraph reads, “The two detectives were exceptionally nice to her.
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.
