Lamb To The Slaughter Irony

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. While she thinks about her choice, she tries to act casually and hide as much evidence as she can to be proven innocent. Through the storys use of characterization, irony, and symbolism, the reader realizes that you wouldn't expect a pregnant woman to commit such a crime.

Roald Dahl States his belief about pregnant women by using characterization. First, in the text it states

Starting off, On the last page of the story, this is what's shown in the text “Personally, I think it's right here on the premises." "Probably right under our very noses. What do you think, Jack?" (Dahl 8).They are talking about the murder weapon. This shows irony because they are implying that the murder weapon is right under their noses as a metaphor, but it is literally under their noses because they're eating it and the smell is right under their noses. Next, As shown in the story, “She carried the meat into the kitchen, placed it in a pan, turned the oven on high, and shoved it inside” (Dahl 3).She is placing the murder weapon into the oven to eat later. This proves irony because the murder weapon is being disguised as food and the weapon being placed into the oven shows the symbol of innocence being used as a weapon. Lastly, Within the reading, I found “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. The drop of a head as she bent over her sewing was curiously tranquil”(Dahl

First, the story shows “Please," she begged. "Please eat it. Personally I couldn't think of a thing, certainly not what's been in the house when he was here. But it's all right for you. It'd be a favor to me if you'd eat it up. Then you can go on with your work again afterwards"(Dahl 7). She is talking about the lamb that she prepared. This shows symbolism because she is sacrificing the lamb to the officers as food so they would believe more that she is innocent because she has such a kind heart. For example, the text states “Why don't you eat up that lamb that's in the oven. It'll be cooked just right by now”(Dahl 7).This shows symbolism because she is also using it as a weapon against them, as it destroys the evidence they needed to solve this case. She is also persuading them to get rid of the weapon. Moreover, I believe Roald Dahl chose this title for the story because in the bible, it shows how Mary sacrificed a lot of things to make Jesus believe his goal. Another example of symbolism is that in the bible, a lamb was often used as a sacrifice and slaughtered. Yet again, Dahl uses symbolism to express his belief about the dangers of