Character Sketch Of Mary Maloney

Mary Maloney is waiting for her husband to come home from work.and has made everything just right, after he comes home Mary offers him supper be he refuses saying he needs to tell her something. Mary’s shock grows after his husband tells her that she will be leaving him.. She gets a frozen lamb leg from the freezer for “dinner”. Then, she swings the lamb leg at the back of his head instantly killing him. She pretends everything is normal as she comes back from the grocer and in “surprise” calls the police mentioning that her husband “Patrick” is dead. As they come and investigate they are confused but try to comfort Mary. As they think the weapon is a steel bar. At the end Mary offers the detectives the same lamb leg she used to kill her husband

First of all, her emotions do not show she is psychopathic enough to go crazy and kill her husband. For example, at the beginning of the story she seems quite happy with her husband, looks like she loves him and listens to his orders. The author shows no sign that previously, Mary was a murderer or had a mental disorder. She also takes care of her unborn baby. Second of all, when her husband Patrick told Mary that he will leave her,even though she is a good wife it sounded really “cold” and was careless. In the story he says “I’ve got something to tell you,” and also says “Go on, sit down” this to me sounds a bit harsh considering he didn’t say “please” or “may”. All of these variables : her shock at the news, the pregnancy she is going through and rough news, made her think of a life in ruin, which consequently lead her to a sudden frenzy. The third reason why Mary is a sane individual is because she was smart enough to plan a positive order of events to cover up her murder. For example, in the story it states “It was extraordinary, now, how clear her mind became all of a sudden,” and also “She began thinking very fast.” This explains how she was not insane and the murder was a temporary weakening in her judgement. After this she made a series of events from going to the grocer to making the officers eat the leg of the lamb proves that she thought hard about what to do and did not run around the city and cry “I’ve killed

Therefore, Mary was just someone whose circumstances in life made her something which she is not : an insane woman

Conflicts :

Human vs. Human → Mary faces a conflict against her husband Patrick. When he tells her that she is leaving her Mary feels a bit of an insane episode because of the shock and horror at the news as the relationship is going steadily. In the text it states “......and she sat through it all,watching him with puzzled horror.” This is the scene where Patrick tells Mary he will be going away. She is experiencing a conflict that separates them apart as Patrick ends the relationship with “So there it is.” Mary's Life will never be the same after this again

Human vs