Lamb To The Slaughter Characters

“Lamb to the Slaughter”, written by Roald Dahl, is a short story about a seemingly normal couple that appears happy and is expecting their first child. Patrick is a police officer who works long hours. Mary, his wife, stays at home. There is nothing in the beginning of this story that portrays her as an extraordinary character. She appears to be a simple, loving and caring. This image quickly changes when her husband returns home from work one night to inform her that he is leaving her. This creates major changes in the characterization of the character of Mary, from the loving, caring and simple wife, into a vindictive murderer. Characterization of Patrick is less described except when he returns home that night to inform his wife of his intent to leave. At first impression, the couple is portrayed as a loving couple. Patrick works as a police officer and Mary, who is currently pregnant, stays home to take care of the house, meals and very attentive to her husband’s needs. The husband is seen as a hard working police officer who has a rigid routine when he returns home. At the surface, it appears that the couple is happy. The author
She again, uses her friendship and is able to convince them to eat. Little do they know, they are actually eating the murder weapon. Mary seems to consider herself clever when she hears the detectives talking about how the weapon must be near the house, how strong the murderer must have been and specifically when the referred to the weapon as being “right under our nose”, (Dahl, page 4). The transformation of Mary, as being the simple, loving and caring, wife and expectant mother, has the reader question what may have happened to this character. How could she change so fast? Was it the news that her husband had given her on the day he arrived home from work, or was this the act of a vindictive and well contemplated