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How Is Irony Used In Lamb To The Slaughter

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A common theme found in almost any crime-related genre of literature is figurative elements such as irony, characterization, and symbolism. Using such elements in literature allows the author to help the reader understand the message they are trying to describe. Susan Glaspell's Trifles and Roald Dahl's "Lamb to the slaughter" Have many similarities in their use of figurative language. The figurative elements that both stories share are characterization, symbolism, and irony. First, Trifles and "Lamb to the Slaughter" share similar symbolism. One instance of symbolism in Trifles is the connection between Mrs. Wright and the bird. The imprisonment of the bird in the birdcage symbolizes Minnie Wright's imprisonment in her marriage and the oppression of her freedom, and the bird's death represents Minnie losing her only source of companionship. Additionally, In "Lamb to the Slaughter," an instance of symbolism would be between Mary Maloney and the lamb itself. Lambs are considered innocent, docile animals …show more content…

In "Lamb to the slaughter," one of the police officers that are eating the lamb states," Probably right under our very noses." (Dahl 386). In the story, the officers are looking for a conventional weapon, such as a steel club, used to murder Patrick Maloney. However, the lamb they are eating is the weapon they are looking for, making the officer's statement an example of verbal irony. Verbal irony is saying something that ultimately has a different meaning. Furthermore, an example of irony in Trifles can be found at the end of the story when the women decide to hide the evidence from the men. This decision is an example of situational irony, as the situation's outcome differs from the expected outcome of them giving the evidence to the men. Both of these instances are examples of the use of irony in the story to create suspense and better emphasize the theme of both

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Lamb to the Slaughter Essay A person's true identity will not be revealed if only noticed by their physical appearance. In Roald Dahl’s short story “Lamb to the Slaughter,” a frozen lamb leg is used by Mary Maloney, a housewife, to kill her husband. Next, she creates a crime scene, tricking the cops into eating the cooked lamb and erasing the evidence. Substantially, Dahl’s short story uses the murder of Patrick Maloney to show readers that everyone is not always as they seem.

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438 Words | 2 Pages

One of the officers mentions "[the weapon is] probably right under our noses. What do you think, Jack?" (4).This displays irony because they keep discussing how the weapon is so big it must be noticeable and the weapon must be near the house, but it’s actually in their stomachs. Another example of dramatic irony is when Mary gives them the lamb leg to eat she says “Here you all are, all good friends of Patrick's, and you're helping to catch the man who killed him” (4). This is dramatic irony because the readers know that Mary was the one who killed Patrick , her husband, and is trying to look innocent but the officers don’t know this and genuinely think they’re looking for another man and that Mary is just a nice

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185 Words | 1 Pages

Verbal irony occurs when what is said is different from what is meant. In Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado,” an example of verbal irony is the final line of the story when Montresor, the protagonist, has just killed Fortunato by walling him up in a tomb in the catacombs beneath Montresor’s palazzo. Montresor says, “In pace requiescat!” (214) which in English translates to “May he rest in peace!” This is verbal irony because, as Montresor has just murdered Fortunato, the reader can infer that Montresor does not wish Fortunato to rest in peace, though that is what he said.

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434 Words | 2 Pages

In Ronald Dahl's short story “Lamb to the Slaughter,” situational irony and dramatic irony create suspense in the story. Mary, a stay at home wife happily awaits for her husband to return every single day, but this day was different. Her husband returns home and claims he is unhappy in their marriage and is leaving her. In the short story the author writes, “She carried it upstairs, holding the thin bone-end of it with both her hands, and as she went through the living room, she saw him standing… At that point, Mary Maloney simply walked up behind him and without any pause she swung the big frozen leg of lamb” (Dahl 136-138.).

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878 Words | 4 Pages

The Trifles of the Lamb In “Lamb to the Slaughter” and Trifles the author uses irony to emphasize the men’s foolishness and intellectual invariability and highlight the women’s intelligence and mental flexibility. In “Lamb to the Slaughter,” Roald Dahl uses situational irony to ridicule the male officers' foolishness within their positions of power. The men are officers who are currently investigating Mrs. Maloney's husband's murder. After having murdered her husband with a frozen leg of lamb, Mrs. Maloney tempts the men into the kitchen where the murder weapon has been cooked thoroughly: “There was a good deal of hesitating among the four policemen, but they were clearly hungry, and in the end they were persuaded to go into the kitchen and

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1101 Words | 5 Pages

It isn’t Irony, it’s the Truth! In “Lamb to the Slaughter” and “Trifles,” the authors use irony to underscore the women’s acuity, as well as emphasize the men’s sexiest incompetence First, the authors of “Trifles” and “Lamb to the Slaughter” use irony to emphasize the men’s sexiest and most biased actions. For example, in the short play Trifles the male investigators on the crime scene completely disregard the kitchen as a place with criminal evidence. They believe that the only thing the kitchen contains is women’s culinary tools.

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The story "The Necklace" and "Lamb of the Slaughter" both show situational irony. "The Necklace" shows a better job of showing situational irony. I chose the story "The Necklace" because it showed a lesson. The lesson it showed was that you should always tell the truth no matter how bad it is.

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Feministic Irony from History Irony appears quite frequently in “Lamb to the Slaughter” and Trifles, and is hard to miss in these radical writings. While not necessarily bad, the authors use irony to emphasize the men’s carelessness, as well as underscore the women’s intelligence. First, the authors use situational irony to emphasize the men’s carelessness.

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Another example of symbolism that enhances to the theme is when Mrs. Maloney returns from the grocery store, and calls the police with no emotion of what she just done. As the police investigate the mysterious crime, they have no idea they ate the lamb that killed Mr. Maloney. Mrs. Maloney’s innocence symbolizes the police have no clue she is responsible. Lastly,

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657 Words | 3 Pages

One example of situational irony is first, the name “Fortunato” means “Fortunate” in Italian, but Fortunato is actually very unfortunate. Next, the word “cask” means “wine barrel,” but coffin also comes from the same word. So in other words, Fortunato believes he will reach a cask of wine, but in all actuality he will reach his coffin. Also, another great example of situational irony comes when Montresor has just dismembered Fortunato and exits the catacombs. Then, Montresor claims, “My heart grew sick-“(240).

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913 Words | 4 Pages

Having a pregnant wife could sometimes end in ways you couldn't imagine. That's the idea in “Lamb to the Slaughter” , a short story by Roald Dahl. In the short story, a woman named Mary Maloney waits for her husband Patrick to get home from work. When he comes, he is very tired and wants to have a divorce with Mary. While Mary is stunned, she kills him with a leg of lamb.

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638 Words | 3 Pages

Throughout the story, Dahl used the leg of the lamb as a symbol to show the cowardice in Mary. Also what occurred was “Don’t make supper for me i’m going out.” (Patrick 2) this is a perfect example of symbolism because Patrick used going out to supper instead of having Mary cook for him. Instead of owning up and being a man Patrick is trying to run away from his mistake.

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686 Words | 3 Pages

Examples of Situational Irony from Literature: Example one: A very famous example of this form of irony occurs towards the end of a short story “The story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin. In this story, the wife of Mr. Brently comes to know that he is no more alive and has died from an accident, so she feels contended to live a long life with freedom, with no restrictions. However, at the end of the tale, her husband comes back unexpectedly

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737 Words | 3 Pages

Thirdly, Glaspell uses the literary device of irony to maintain the audience's attention and to build suspense in the drama. Irony is defined as the usage of words that are opposite of its literal meaning (“Irony”). Trifles is a dramatic irony where the audience is able to understand the main point of the story but, a few of the main characters in the piece cannot. One major moment of irony in the drama is when the intelligence of Mrs.Hale and Mrs.Peters is underestimated. They use it as an advantage when keeping quiet as they find clues the men were overlooking and figure out the murder on their own.

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823 Words | 4 Pages

This irony occurs when the audience understands a concept or situation that the characters do not. Written in the 1900’s, “Trifles” deals with the rights of women and the assumptions about women in society at that time. Throughout the play, the Court Attorney, the Sheriff, and Mr. Hale are so deep into the fact that the women are focusing on the little things, such as the trifles. In reality, the men are the ones focusing on the little things, such as the bad housekeeping. “Dirty towels!

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