Dynamic Character In Lamb To The Slaughter

What secret, when revealed, motivates a wife to murder her dearly beloved husband and commit a heinous crime? We may never know the secret, however, we know that for Mary Maloney a secret from her husband had an effect where it changed the disposition of her character in a dramatic way. In the short story, “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald dahl, his characterization of Mrs. Maloney classifies her as a dynamic character because she experiences a significant change in her feelings about Patrick and also in her actions throughout the story. One example of how Mrs. Maloney is a dynamic character is that she undergoes a drastic internal change in terms of her feelings and motivations. At the beginning of the story Mary thinks, “She loved the warmth that came out of him when they were

It was easy. No acting was necessary,” (3). This quote reveals how dynamic a character Mary is by showing how she has shifted through emotions of love and that although Mary anticipated pretending to mourn the loss of her husband, when she saw her dead husband (for the second time) she did not have to pretend in that moment. As the story, “Lamb to the slaughter”, unfolded, Mrs. Maloney is seen as a dynamic character because of how Dahl characterized the change in her feelings and her actions. These changes in feelings and actions are demonstrated when Dahl indirectly and directly characterizes Mary as a loving and doting housewife who is content to please Patrick and share time with him in the beginning of the story. However, Mary’s character shifts to becoming a calculating and manipulating person who not only kills her husband but finds a clever way to destroy the murder