Use Of Irony In Lamb To The Slaughter And Trifles

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. In Trifles, the sheriff and county attorney are searching for evidence that may point to an impetus for the killing of Mr. Wright. During their search, the sheriff claims there is “nothing important here” and “nothing but kitchen things” (Glaspell 26-27). Ironically the sheriff and county attorney both believe women belong in the kitchen, and also believe that Mrs. Wright was the killer

Furthermore, the sheriff, despite his clear role in protecting the law and any evidence, dismisses Mrs. Peters as someone capable of destroying evidence: “I suppose anything Mrs. Peters does’ll be all right. She was to take in some clothes for her, you know, and a few little things” (Glaspell 51). The sheriff is supposed to make sure nobody is at the scene of the crime, as to prevent tampering. However, this situational irony shows his obvious careless behavior in his job, emphasizing it even more when we hear that Mrs. Peters is allowed to explore an evidence mine. Aside from that, she also is allowed to go and bring stuff to the suspect in question, showing she has too much illegal power due to her husband’s negligence. Likewise, in “Lamb to the Slaughter”, Dahl uses irony to expose the police officers’ negligence. While the premise is being searched for a murder weapon, an officer is offered a drink and carelessly accepts it with little to no convincing needing to be done: “‘Well,’ he answered. ‘It’s not strictly allowed, but I might take just a drop to keep me

In “Lamb to the Slaughter”, Mary Maloney manages to get the police to unknowingly destroy the murder weapon she used to kill her husband. Mary carefully coerces the officers into doing what she wants: “‘Please,’ She begged. ‘Please eat it. Personally I couldn’t touch 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 121). This indicates Mary, and women’s, clear intelligence by convincing the men to destroy the evidence they were searching for. Doing such covers up a crime that would be extremely hard to, but with quick thinking and careful planning, Mary Maloney is able to do it. Similarly, her intelligence is highlighted by her planning of going to the grocer: “‘Hullo Sam,’ She said brightly, aloud. The voice sounded peculiar too. ‘I want some potatoes please, Sam. Yes, and I think a can of peas’” (Dahl 53-55). This emphasizes her careful planning and intelligence through the meticulous manipulation of emotion and morals in order to later remove herself from the list of suspects who may have killed her husband, although it was simply herself who committed the crime. This further adds to the idea that women are intellectually superior to men and also that men are careless fools. Likewise, in Trifles, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale outthink the bumbling