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Examples Of Betrayal In Lamb To The Slaughter

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Roald Dahl’s “Lamb to the Slaughter” shows how any individual, when forced to, is capable of betrayal if it means gaining something they desire enough, no matter how innocent they may seem. For one, Patrick Maloney chooses to (presumably) leave his spouse, Mary, for what he deems a better life, and in doing so chooses to betray her. Based on how eagerly Mary is waiting for her husband at the beginning of the story, the reader is given the impression of a hard-working husband who is loved dearly by his wife. That impression changes quickly, however, as Patrick is seen betraying his wife by delivering some news that causes Mary to watch “with a kind of dazed horror.” Judging by the fact that he also tells her that he will “give [her] money” and “see [her] looked after” (Dahl 12:13), it can be inferred that Patrick is …show more content…

She is angry at him for delivering the news, shocked, and “couldn’t feel anything at all” as she went into the cellar to fetch the leg of lamb (Dahl 13). Mary can’t stand the idea of a life without her husband and impulsively decides to kill him to prevent his leave. She, much like Patrick, appears to be a loving and committed spouse up to the moment she carries out such an unexpected action. The final betrayal in the story is when Mary Maloney chooses to betray the detectives in order to erase evidence of her involvement in the murder and remove risk of being caught guilty of the crime. Mary “[begins] to giggle” when she hears a detective saying that he thinks the murder weapon is “right under [their] very noses.” (Dahl 18) She is amused at the irony of the statement, since the detectives are oblivious to the fact that the weapon is literally under their noses, and also because she is satisfied at her success in fooling them. The statement makes it clear that the detectives do not suspect her in the

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476 Words | 2 Pages

She had gone out to get groceries, and when she had come back, she saw her husband lying on the floor, dead. Mary Maloney had said “I was just out to get meat and vegetables, and when I came home I saw Patrick dead on the floor! I immediately called the police.” Detectives have not found the weapon used to kill yet.

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1096 Words | 5 Pages

And in the other room, Mary Maloney began to giggle. ”(386). While listing in on the officers talking Mary began to laugh because she knew she had fed the officers the weapon she used to kill Patrick with. Now the floor is open for the Defence to set up a counter

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475 Words | 2 Pages

Though a lot may disagree, Mary Maloney deserves some sympathy for killing her husband in Roald Dahl’s Lamb to the Slaughter. Mary Maloney deserves sympathy for killing her husband because, although murdering him would not have been the most reasonable way to deal with the betrayal of her husband Mr. Maloney was still a cold man. Patrick's brutal Diener is presented in the fact that Mary Maloney was six months pregnant and waiting for her husband to come home she states her favorite part of the day was to see him.

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207 Words | 1 Pages

In the book “Lamb to the Slaughter” Roald Dahl uses deliberate imagery to show Mary changing from a caring, attentive housewife to a psychotic, cruel murderer. Dahl provides hidden and suspenseful images of Mary Maloney to characterize her as a cruel and psychotic murderer. After buying groceries and killing her husband, Mary attempts to recreate the scene by making herself seem innocent, “‘Patrick!’ She called. ‘How are you darling?’”

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471 Words | 2 Pages

(#1)In the short story, “Lamb To The Slaughter by Roald Dahl, the character Marry kills her husband, but due to her intent to kill, her crime is second degree murder. (#2) This is proven when Mary’s husband informs her that he wants a divorce, as well as by the way she holds the frozen lamb leg and hits her husband’s head. (#3) Mary's husband, Patrick, comes home from work and notifies her that he would like to get a divorce, saying, ‘and I know it is a tough time to be telling you this but there simply wasn't any other way,’ (12) also after the fact Mary was in disbelief to what happens, “ her first instinct was not to believe any of it she thought perhaps she’d imagined the whole thing,” (13).

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581 Words | 3 Pages

The Expository Paragraph In Roald Dahl’s “Lamb to the slaughter”, Mary the main character, appears to be a loyal, caring house wife. However throughout the story, through her misleading appearance, she reveals herself as an evil genius. Mary shows loyal and caring gestures to her husband, Patrick, but after she gets some bad news her kind actions turn into unpredictable actions. Which is the turning point into the story and when she becomes a shady character.

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1734 Words | 7 Pages

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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638 Words | 3 Pages

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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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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776 Words | 4 Pages

One of the well-known writer Roald Dahl’s interesting short story is “lamb to the slaughter”. This story describes a life of a wife and her husband “Mary, who becomes murderer of her husband since he betrayed her. This story took place at early 1953 and the author used simple but suitable vocabulary to write his novel. Indeed, novel crashes genres that of fiction (realistic fiction). To further support my point the story reaches a comical climax in the dinner scene, in which the detectives eat the cooked lamb’s leg and discuss the opportunity of finding the blunt tool used to kill poor Patrick.

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524 Words | 3 Pages

Roald Dahl's short story Lamb to the Slaughter is a very intriguing read. Dahl uses a lot of characterization throughout the story, giving subtle descriptions of what the characters are like. This happens the most with the main character, Mary Maloney. In the beginning of the story, Dahl describes Mary as as being six months pregnant, with big calm eyes. This displays a picture of innocence.

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812 Words | 4 Pages

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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1237 Words | 5 Pages

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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467 Words | 2 Pages

“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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834 Words | 4 Pages

Her thoughts soon become clouded with animosity which leads her to make rash decisions. Although Forbes says “the way people assess and understand others is compromised”, the reader sees how these stereotypes can be used to a character’s advantage when getting away with wrong doing. The story “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl depicts how betrayal can provoke characters to commit crime in order to emphasize the inaccurate perception of women. The author uses irony and characterization to portray how once betrayed women may not be as innocent or fragile as they seem. Dahl uses irony to show the effects of betrayal on a character’s behaviour.

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