How Does Lamb To The Slaughter Doloney Commit The Perfect Crime

In Roald Dahl’s "Lamb to the Slaughter," Mary Moloney commits the perfect crime as she never gets caught. She comes up with a plan to not seem suspicious by going to the store and pretending to be in a good mood. After Mary kills her husband, she goes to the store and states, "I want some potatoes, please, Sam. Yes, and I think a can of peas" (Dahl 14). Even though she murders her husband, she keeps her composure and comes up with a plan since she could face consequences.

Realizing she needs to do something she thinks of a alibi. She goes to the grocery store and invites the cops over for dinner. They eat the evidence leaving her off the

Mary Maloney proves to be extremely intelligent and very deceiving, which leads her to not only be an effective murderer but a strong actress as well. In the first place, by using her intelligence, she is able to escape away with murder, showing that she is a very effective murderer. Firstly, she is shown killing her husband with a frozen piece of lamb, “Mary leg of lamb high in the air and brought it down as hard as she could on the back of his Maloney simply [walks] up behind him and without any pause she [swings] the big frozen head” (Dahl 4). Obviously, knowing that the police is going to show up and search for the murder weapon, Mary kills her husband with a frozen piece of lamb. When Mary kills her husband with an edible item that can later serve as a delicious meal, her talent of being really smart is displayed clearly and is evidence of her intelligence.

On July 24, 2002, David Lynn Harris was brutally murdered. David had been seeing another woman in secrecy; when his wife, Clara Harris, found out, she ran over him three times with their daughter in the passenger seat witnessing everything. Clara was sentenced to 20 years in prison along with a fine of $10,000. Just as Clara was found guilty, so should Mary Maloney from the short story, Lamb to the Slaughter by Roald Dahl. This story was based in the fifties and clearly shows the roles of men and women. However, when Patrick, the husband of Mary, came home, he spoke of bad news and Mary hit him on the head with a leg of lamb, hence the name of the story. Readers can automatically come to the conclusion that Mary Maloney is guilty. Her mental stability before, during, and after the incident, the logical cover up story, and her emotions and actions towards her wrong doings all prove that she was aware and responsible for the hostile act towards Patrick, and therefore should be proven guilty.

she said” (Dahl 67). The landlady kept Billy from finding out what happened, by interrupting him, to the other two guests and what would happen to him when he stays there. Mary Maloney, in “Lamb to the Slaughter”, put the murder weapon in the oven to hide the evidence, and she got an alibi by talking to Sam, the grocer. Mary rehearsed what she would say to Sam after she killed Patrick. After Mary rehearsed and got ready, she walked down to the grocer and talked to Sam about buying dinner for Patrick.

At first glance, the woman on trial today seems caring, but looks can be deceiving. Mrs. Maloney’s demeanor portrays innocence, but this woman is maniacal. I bet the jury is wondering why and how an frail, sweet, and seemingly loving housewife could kill the love of her life. The death of Mr.Maloney only has one logical explanation. The vile housewife went to the store after she killed Patrick, even though she claims she went to the store and then found her husband dead.

Is it possible for a loving wife that is six months pregnant to love her husband with all her heart, but then moments later is found to be the wife that murders her husband? Well, Mary Maloney is the wife of a detective named Patrick, an alcoholic man that comes home from work only to see his wife that he no longer loves. One day, when Patrick is not sober, he attempts to deliver some upsetting news to Mary about a divorce. Sadly, she does not believe it and carries on with her life, but after having to believe it, Mary takes revenge on Patrick by taking his life from him. Mary Maloney is extremely intelligent and is a very deceiving female character in the short story called, Lamb To The Slaughter. Throughout this story, her character traits do not just portray how she is an effective murderer, but a strong actress as well.

Lamb to the slaughter The story Lamb to the slaughter by Ronda, Mary from the beginning was a loving, and a happy character but she changed dermaticly close to the middle of the story. For example Mary Malone was loving and patient but when her husband told her something that made her angry, confused and violent. But She thought she was dreaming so she went to get a lambs leg to cook for her husband but she then realized she wasn’t

After, noticing he was dead she hurried to cook the evidence and putting on makeup then going to store to cook with the lamb leg. When officers came to the house they knew her and she was acting like she didn't know he was dead or even what happened. They believe she didn't do it so leading them to eat dinner

In the short-story “Lamb to the Slaughter,” written by Roald Dahl, the main characters were emotional Mary and selfish Patrick Maloney. The exposition began when Mr. Maloney arrived home from his occupation at the police station. Mary Maloney had been watching him closely, seeing that he was acting in an odd manner that was against his usual self. When she questioned his peculiar actions and the purpose behind them, Mr. Maloney declared that he was going to abandon her, due to the fact that she was pregnant. Shocked at his reasoning, Mary Maloney begged him to stay and not leave her; nevertheless, her husband was unmoved in his reasoning. In a low state of mind, Mary Maloney decided to cook up a dinner of vegetables and lamb. When she

In the story Lamb to the Slaughter the protagonist is a 6 month pregnant woman named Mary Maloney who murders her husband after he informs her of some devastating news. The murder tool was a frozen lamb leg from her kitchen. Later once she informs the police about someone coming and murdering her husband, the end up staying for dinner, and unknowingly they eat that lamb leg. Firstly I feel that Mary is a very prepared person. This is because in the text it explains how she was always watching the clock for until her husband gets home.

She lifted it out, and looked at it---a leg of lamb “ (Page 2). The fact that Mary Maloney can’t even feel herself doing anything, corresponds to how shocked she is. As a matter of fact, that is when her consciousness of her action momentarily fades away. She cannot accept the fact that her beloved husband would betray her like this, but in a way, the introduction to the story already tells us that their relationship isn’t strong and loving. Also, Mary is shown to have picked the very first thing she found, which was a lamb leg. This proves that she had no intention of premeditating a weapon beforehand, but instead used whatever she could find to let out her emotions. In addition, pregnant women are more emotionally unstable and because of that Mary Maloney couldn’t handle the stress of the news her husband told her. The final quote that proves her temporary insanity is, “She stepped back, waiting, and the strange thing was that he remained standing there for at least four or five seconds. Then he crashed onto the carpet. The violence of the crash, the noise, the small table overturning, helped to bring her out of the shock… It was extraordinary, now, how clear her mind became all of a sudden. She began thinking very fast. As the wife of a detective, she knew what the punishment would be…In fact, it would be a relief. On the other hand, what about the baby ” (Page 2)? Not only did she regain her consciousness, moments after her husband’s death, but she also

Dahl’s use of dramatic irony during the story helps displays the actions of Mary Maloney and other characters. Mary Maloney swings the leg of the lamb to the back of the head of her husband. Dahl says, “ she swung the big frozen leg of lamb high in the air and brought it down as hard as she could on the back of his head” (Dahl 320). As a result, this quote is effective because the lamb was used as a weapon, instead of food; which shows that Mary could use anything to harm someone without her trying or when it was her attempt to hurt that someone. The story writes, “Probably right under our very noses. What you think, Jack”. In the same way as the first quote, this sets back to Mary because she sabotages the police to eat the lamb. With the police eating the lamb she is getting rid of the evidence so she does not get caught. From the use of dramatic irony in the story, Dahl's builds Mary as a character; he also uses different irony to create her.

Her act continues when the police arrive, offering them the cooked lamb, which they unknowingly ate, literally destroying the evidence.

Mary is very manipulative in that she is able to create the character of the poor, pregnant wife, whose husband has just been murdered. She is able to convince the police to take pity on her, to mix her a drink and then to even eat the evidence, the leg of lamb that she has left in the oven. "Why don’t you eat up that lamb that is in the oven" (Dahl, p. 17). Mary realizes that if the police find the evidence she will go to jail. Her quick thinking and manipulative character results in the police officers eathign the evidence and therefore she cannot be charged of this crime. These actions show the complex character that Mary Maloney truly is.