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Comparing The Black Cat And Roald Dahl's Short Stories

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A researcher in criminal psychology named Robert D. Hare once said that the motives of psychopaths “are to manipulate and take, ruthlessly and without remorse.” Edgar Allen Poe and Roald Dahl’s short stories create characters that display the traits of psychopathy and sociopathy that Robert D. Hare describes. Often, people think of psychopaths and sociopaths as being the same.The common belief is that both psychopaths and sociopaths are both crazy and don’t know right from wrong. However, they are two completely different types of people, both know what they are doing is wrong, and these short stories illustrate these traits. It’s easy for readers to pass off the characters in these short stories as simply being crazy when in reality their …show more content…

In the text “Lamb to the Slaughter”, the main character, Mary, acts impulsively without planning out her actions. She walked up behind her husband and “without any 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 1). Therefore, she doesn’t think at all before killing her husband. This is highlighted when the author uses the words “without any pause”(Dahl 1). Her impulsive and violent actions display traits of sociopathy. When sociopaths in the real world commit a crime, they “often say, in explaining their horrible actions that they ‘just snapped’”(Thomas 11). This is why they often do violent and reckless things; it is because they aren’t thinking and also do not feel much guilt. This is reflected in the text when Mary Maloney kills her husband the day he told her bad news, without thinking about the consequences. Adding on, Mary is very manipulative with the detectives. She convinces the detectives to eat her food, even though they aren’t allowed to. She nicely asks the detectives to “eat up that lamb that’s in the oven” (Dahl 3). This works for her, and her manipulative actions end with the detectives eating the murder weapon, which was a good thing for her because they can easily tell who the murderer is if they find the weapon. sociopaths often use their “charm and confidence to get

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( Armitage, page 7). In simpler terms, Moriwaki’s has a great lack of emotions and has been labeled a “psychopath”. A psychopath is defined as a person that suffers from a chronic medical disorder and has a violent or abnormal behavior. Psychopathic traits are often associated with criminal behavior. With this in mind, Moriwaki’s lack of emotions and psychopathic personality has lead to the murder of Kurose.

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Throughout the centuries, many people have been diagnosed with the title “Psychopath.” A psychopath is someone who has a mental disorder that causes them to act violently towards people in society and is unable to show sympathy or remorse after what they have done. Canada has had many notorious psychopaths over the years, but there is always one that must outshine the rest; so to speak. Paul Bernardo was not only a psychopath, but he was also named “Canada’s notorious Serial Killer and Rapist” or better known as “The Scarborough Rapist.” This essay will examine Paul Bernardo’s case from beginning to end, and also prove why he is properly labeled as a psychopath.

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In the short story "Lamb to the Slaughter" by Roald Dahl, Mary Maloney betrays everyone with her intense, violent emotions, manipulation, and selfishness when finding out about bad news. In The Lamb to the Slaughter, Mary Maloney becomes violently emotional after discovering her husband’s devastating news. During the murder, "At that point, Mary Maloney simply walked up behind him, and without any 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 3). Mary’s reaction to bad news reveals how violent she is on the inside. Externally, Mary may appear like the perfect housewife and soon-to-be mother, as she is very loving, caring, and thoughtful.

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There have been around 286,000 cold murder cases since 1980 and more 90% than of people in the world have lied about something. In Lamb to the Slaughter, Mary lies to the cops because she knew the cops well and knew in the situation that was all she could do. She has to lie because she killed her husband by using a piece of lamb to hit him in the head. Then she cooked the lamb to get rid of the weapon. In lamb to the slaughter, Mary lies because she didn’t wanna go to jail.

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Usually after committing a crime, people would immediately feel guilty and sorry, but Mary though it was “funny” and even “giggled” when the detectives ate the evidence. The readers would say she went insane after killing her husband and feeding his colleagues with the murder weapon, which creates tension within the readers. Briefly, Roald Dahl uses insanity to create suspense in ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ as people that are insane are unpredictable, leading the audience to anticipate the ending of the

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In Roald Dahl’s short story; Lamb to the Slaughter, Mrs. Maloney murders her husband after he announces that he’s leaving their marriage. At the beginning of the story, Mrs. Maloney appears to be living a normal, healthy life as a housewife. However, Mrs. Maloney does not react rationally after she hears the news of her husband’s departure. I believe Mrs. Maloney was fully aware of her actions throughout the story, but I think that her reasoning and idea of rationality was distorted. Mrs. Maloney acts out of impulse and rage, and she lacks empathy for her deceased husband after she murders him.

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On the other hand, what about the baby?”(Dahl 2) To add on, Mary carefully plans her cover up so no one will guess she is guilty of the crime. Mrs. Maloney tries everything possible to make sure everyone thinks she is innocent. For instance, as she practiced what she would say so people thought she was shopping during the murder. “The smile was rather peculiar. She tried again.

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In the story of “The Lamb to the Slaughter” written by Roald Dahl the main character, Mary, has killed her husband with a club of frozen lamb. Mary Maloney is guilty of voluntary manslaughter of her husband. The evidence shows motive, hysteria, and connivence. Motive is a reason for doing something, especially one that is hidden. Mary Maloney shows motive when her husband tells her that he cheated on her and that he will be leaving.

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Planning with Cowardice In the book “Lamb To The Slaughter,” written by Roald Dahl, was a really cliffhanger story. During the story Mary’s husband decides he wants to leave Mary after she’s already six months pregnant with her husband. Something tweaks in her head and ends his life with a leg of lamb, that she was going to cook for dinner.

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The theme in the writing piece is that love can lead to deception. Mary Maloney had adored and been a good wife to her husband, Patrick, for many years, so for her to pretend to be faultless and shocked was not difficult. In the short story, Dahl states, “Both the smile and the voice sounded better now. She practiced them several times more” (2). Mrs. Maloney uses her features and gentle speech in order to deceive Sam and the detectives.

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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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All the narrator’s actions, from the abuse to the murders, are some effects of his alcoholism and insanity. A sane person clearly would not carry out these heinous acts and behave the way the narrator did after committing

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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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Exploring Psychopathy: Issues with empathy and emotional intelligence Student ID #: Governors State University Jaroszewski Fall Term 2015 Exploring Psychopathy: Issues with empathy and emotional intelligence A person’s emotions, and or feelings, are an important part of what makes them ordinary or human, and without them it is hard to imagine how someone could function in the world. That is, until one meets a psychopath. Most of the time when people think of psychopaths they think of their erratic and irrational tendencies, and the horrible acts that go with them.

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“She asks them, please eat it” Mary made the detectives eat the murder weapon (the lamb). All these examples make Mary Maloney a very clever person. Therefore, Mary Maloney has many Traits. But these are her best caring, ruthless and clever.

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