ipl-logo

How Does Mary Maloney Get Sympathy For The Slaughter

475 Words2 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. After Mary had been pregnant for 6 months, he came home to say that he was leaving her for someone better. For anyone, this would not be an easy topic, especially for a woman who has been carrying her husband's baby for six months. Mary Maloney has always loved her husband and never thought of killing him until he announced that he was leaving her. It says in the book that "Mary's favorite part of the day was waiting for her husband to come home with his drink," which shows that she did love him. …show more content…

Research says that symptoms of emotional trauma may be panic, anger, denial, numbness, and disassociation. These symptoms show the exact feelings Mary was feeling the night her husband told her he was going to leave her. What Mary Maloney did may not have been correct, but it was due to the emotional shock of her husband's saying he needed to leave her. This news caused Mary Maloney to have a psychotic break, which causes confused and disturbed thoughts. This adds to the reason why she kills her husband—she couldn't bear to want anyone else to be with him other than

Show More
Related
1096 Words | 5 Pages

Upon returning to the Maloney residence she acted as a distraught wife who had just found her dead husband. Mary Maloney then continued to cook dinner after the officers arrived, she told them it would calm her down, when in reality she was cooking the murder weapon. Mary Maloney does not stop there, she then begs the officers at the scene to eat the leg of lamb, telling them it would be doing her a favor. “ ‘Please,” she begged.

Read More
452 Words | 2 Pages

She was forced into submission by the man she devoted her life to. “She stood up ‘sit down’ he said ‘just for a minute sit down’. It was not until then that she began to get frightened. This piece of evidence clearly shows a hostile relationship between Mary and Patrick Maloney.

Read More
739 Words | 3 Pages

This is also an example of her being a dynamic character because she changed from being unsure of her abilities, to being cunning and prepared to protect herself and her unborn baby. At the very end, when “Mary Maloney began to laugh” to some readers could become apparent that rather than killing out of anger and sadness, she was happy to complete a long planned mission (Dahl). However, she was likely laughing out of hysteria. She realized that she wasn’t going to be persecuted for her crime, and we can infer that she was happy that she could live the rest of her life without being outcasted as a single mother. Clearly, Mary’s actions after the homicide further back up that she had made significant changes from the beginning to the end of the short

Read More
1044 Words | 5 Pages

Would you be able to kill the person you love the most? In the short story, “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl, Mary Maloney the wife of Patrick Maloney, murders her husband using the frozen leg of a lamb. Due to the information given to the reader on Mary Maloney, she should not be convicted of murder due to her mental health. In the beginning of the story the readers are introduced to Mary Maloney, who is sitting at the table waiting for her husband to come home.

Read More
1421 Words | 6 Pages

In this case, Mary didn't do it for herself; she was six months pregnant, and if she were caught, she would have to give birth while in custody. After Mary kills her husband, the story reads, "All right, she tells herself. So I’ve killed him" (Dahl, 3). There is clear proof from the quote that Mary Maloney killed her husband and has no remorse for doing so. Mary knew exactly what she did to him, which means she was completely sane while this scene took place.

Read More
608 Words | 3 Pages

When comparing Roald Dahl's short story "Lamb to the Slaughter" to Alfred Hitchcock's movie adaptation, Lamb to the Slaughter, audiences find it easier to sympathize with Hitchcock's live portrayal of Mrs. Mary Maloney; this is because in the film, the reason for divorce is clearly stated, Mrs. Maloney vocalizes her feelings more often and is met with harsher opposition from Mr. Patrick Maloney, and her emotions are clearly shown. In Dahl's original short story, the idea of divorce is danced around. What Mr. Maloney talked to his wife about is never explicitly stated, so it is left to be inferred by the audiences. On the contrary, Hitchcock's Mr. Maloney is shown explicitly stating what is making him upset: "Patrick: The truth is, Mary, I want to leave you. You understand me, don't you?

Read More
193 Words | 1 Pages

Of course not. I’m not agreeing that murder is okay, because it most definitely isn’t. In Mary’s defense, her husband whom she loved, was happily married to, and pregnant with their baby, came home and announced that he was leaving. I can’t blame her because she was overwhelmed. Mr. Maloney should have prepared her for his.

Read More
1734 Words | 7 Pages

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.

Read More
195 Words | 1 Pages

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.

Read More
952 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More
837 Words | 4 Pages

Mary Maloney 23 years married. Accused of killing her husband Mr. patrick. The particular reason for the crime was that he wanted to get divorce. He was murdered by a piece of lamb that could be extracted very easily later, in the most ideal manner. Additionally, Mary presented herself as the very last person who could have committed the crime.

Read More
912 Words | 4 Pages

“Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl follows the life of Mary Maloney and her husband Patrick. Patrick gets home from work and tells Mary some detrimental news, when Mary decides to pull a frozen leg of lamb out of the freezer for dinner and ends up slamming it into the back of his head. She adds it into the oven and goes to the store to pick up a few things. When she returns, she realizes what she had done and she calls the police and they announce Patrick dead.

Read More
605 Words | 3 Pages

As Dahl explains “She loved the warmth that came out of him when they were alone together. She loved the shape of his mouth, and she especially liked the way he didn't complain about being tired”(1), although this could just be justified by loneliness, it also shows that Mary was fond of her husband. She also shows her overwhelming love for him with her need to provide everything he wants or needs for him. Even though she offers all these things she still gets brushed off by her monotone husband. She is eventually sat down and the news is broke that some event is going to seperate them, and at first

Read More
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.

Read More
467 Words | 2 Pages

What did they do? Mary didn 't know and she certainly wasn 't prepared to take a chance. ”So this means that Mary Maloney is a very ruthless person.

Read More

More about How Does Mary Maloney Get Sympathy For The Slaughter

Related Topics

Open Document