Guilt In Roald Dahl's Lamb To The Slaughter

When Innocence Turns to Guilt

She loves him, yet she kills him. Mary Maloney is a dynamic character in Roald Dahl’s “Lamb to the Slaughter”. She is a cheerful, loving housewife in the 1950’s, but what caused her to snap? Was it a conscious murder, or was it an accident? Roald Dahl answers these questions by demonstrating how innocent people can unconsciously let their emotions take control when Mary Maloney kills her husband. Mary Maloney does not mean to kill her husband; she loses control after being emotionally hurt and then hits him. The chaos all starts when Mary’s husband arrives home in an exhausted, uninterested mood, and confesses to her something that would be “a bit of a shock” (Dahl 2). Dahl is not specific with what the husband

After she kills him, although she is relieved, “she [begins] thinking very fast”, asking questions regarding her child’s safety and the penalty for the crime. Mary has so much to worry about that she did not worry about before even though it was a relief that he was gone. “As the wife of a detective”, one would think that she would think through the crime plan in advance (Dahl 3). This clearly proves that Mary’s fear and frustration comes so quickly that she loses regulation over her emotions. Mary’s dynamic personality shows her inner conflict as it changes from innocent to guilty. She does not try to kill him; her actions are unexpected even to herself. She does not even think about the consequences earlier on, because she does not think about the reasons for murdering him. Roald Dahl uses Mary Maloney’s inner conflict to convey a theme of innocence versus guilt through Mary’s unconscious decisions. Dahl implies Mary is in some sort of stupor before she kills her husband; she loves him and grieves over his death, and does not start planning the crime and cover-up until after she kills him. All evidence proves that Mary had no control over herself and did not mean for the murder to take place at all. When innocent people make mistakes, they often respond to them by worrying, hiding, and lying, even to the point where they are no longer