How Does Mary Maloney Use Motive In The Lamb To The Slaughter

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. In the text at the beginning of the story it states how happy she was waiting for her husband to come home, “Now and again she would glance up at the clock, but without anxiety, merely to please herself with the thought that each minute gone by made it nearer the time when he would come. There was a slow smiling air about her, and about everything she did.” After her husband told her that he was cheating she was in shock. The text states, “And he told her. It didn’t take long, four or five minutes at most, and she stayed very still through it all, watching him with a kind of dazed horror as he went further and further away from her with each word.” When her husband

Mary shows hysteria when she swings at her husband with the frozen lamb. In the text it states, “She stepped back a pace, waiting, and the funny thing was that he remained standing there for at least four or five seconds, gently swaying. Then he crashed to the carpet.” She is hysterical because she didn’t ultimately understand what she had done. She didn’t realize until, “The violence of the crash, the noise, the small table overturning, helped bring her out of her shock. She came out slowly, feeling cold and surprised, and she stood for a while blinking at the body, still holding the ridiculous piece of meat tight with both hands.” In result of her husband being a detective, she knew what she would be punished with which leads to her being conniving by making her