Mary Maloney who is now the widow of Patrick Maloney, had came home from going to the neighborhood market to get some vegetables; to find her husband dead on the living room floor near the window. We do not know yet why this incident happened, but we will get to the bottom of this. There were no suspects or a weapon found yet, if anyone knows any faces please call the Biddeford Police Station. Mary Maloney is 6 months pregnant, came home after going out to the market to get vegetables for dinner around 5:30 on Friday October 31, 1956. Came home to find her husband Patrick Maloney dead on the living room floor.
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.
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.
Mary Maloney provides the detectives with lamb that she kills her husband, Patrick, with. When the detective declares that the murder weapon is probably right under their noses, it is ironic because the reader knows that they are eating the weapon that the detectives are seeking. Furthermore, situational irony is displayed when Dahl narrates, “At that point, Mary Maloney simply walked up behind him and without any pause, she swung the big frozen leg of lamb high
On a normal night, Patrick Maloney came home from work and his beloved wife, Mary Maloney, waited for him. Patrick was acting different and was strict towards Mary. Though, with the news of Patrick’s betrayal saying he had an affair, Mary was so furious at the moment that she slaughtered him! Mary Maloney is guilty of 2nd degree murder and here is how. Poor Mary, after being told from Patrick having an affair while she was pregnant, she was filled with anger from this news.
Mary goes from being very caring and loving, to being crafty and maternal, to finally being manipulative and victorious. Throughout the beginning of the story, Mary shows the reader how much she truly cares and loves her husband. She constantly asked Patrick Maloney if there is anything she can get him. She offered to get him his slippers, cheese, and also on crackers.
Despite the fact that Mary Maloney, the main character in the story “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl, murders her husband, her actions can be justified and she should get away with it. First of all, based on Mary's shaken and dazed reaction to what her husband says, it is implied by the author that he wants a divorce even though she is already six months pregnant, which the narrator mentions in the beginning of the story. Although he seems uncomfortable and reluctant to hurt her feelings, it is not a valid enough reason to sympathize with him. Now that I have mentioned Mary being pregnant, let me also mention the fact that she will have to take care of the baby by herself. This puts her in a difficult spot as she is just a housewife, meaning
The fact that she had to manipulate the policemen shows she is guilty. In most action movies, the Antagonist kills a person then tries to kill the witness. Mary Maloney killed her husband, then tries to manipulate the policemen to cover up the evidence. The author says, “ She carried the meat into the kitchen, placed it in a pan, turned the oven on high, and shoved it inside ( Dahl 4).”
Mary Maloney is a very loving and devoted house wife and mother-to-be. Though her dream of having the perfect American family was destroyed by the bewildering news of Patrick choosing another women over Mary and their child. Innocent is all Mary Maloney is, due to her indistinct state of mind caused by her heinous husband’s decision to desert her and her child while she is unable to control her emotions due to her being pregnant. Mary is not guilty of murder instead innocent due to diminished capacity.
Mary Maloney makes up an act and gets away with the murder. Mary Maloney is a dynamic character because she changes throughout the story. She changes from a caring and loving wife to a murderer and a crazy person. Mary has more traits like caring, ruthless and clever.
(Dahl 3) Mary Maloney uses her knowledge as a policeman’s wife to recognize the importance of an successful alibi. She hide the murder weapon in a intelligent way. Mary Maloney is a very cunning person. She kills her husband out of impulse.
“Adam no” thought Mrs.Maloney “If they find out it was me, I can’t follow through with my plan and keep my child safe and my child with a mother in jail and a father dead I can’t do that to my child.” As she thinking the same thoughts that came into her head when she killed her husband about her child kept repeating. Mrs.Maloney knew after everything that she been through she was going to have to stand strong and make it through this. All this stress on a pregant women is not good as you will see soon.
Miss Mary serves as a motherly figure to the narrator, Miss Mary represents safety and comfort to the narrator because she gave the narrator housing and food without immediate payment. Miss Mary represents the good in the narrator life while he is in the north, bringing a sense of family and structure to the narrator’s life. 41. The narrator feels alienated for he has “lost his sense of direction,” the narrator’s mentality has been broken which causes him to feel dissociated from society.
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.
Lamb to the Slaughter I believe that Mrs.Maloney is innocent because she was insane. She had a mental issue and when she became angry she was not able to control herself. She always was so nice to him and would never anything like this. Every Day she would greet him ask about his day and get a nice drink.
