Lamb to the Slaughter
Yusuf Walli-Attaei
Ms. Klimitz
ENG 3U1-01
21 July 2012
Clever Killer
What was the last mistake you made that really ruined things for you?
In the short story "Lamb to the Slaughter" by Roald Dahl, Mary Maloney the protagonist is seen as the average house wife living, until she murders her husband, Patrick Maloney, a police officer with a frozen leg of lamb. Mary discovers about a divorce her husband wanted and acted upon it killing him. Mary Maloney’s personality traits such as her cleverness to fool the cops to believe what she says, her loyalty to make her seem as an unsuspicious suspect, and lastly being observant knowing when she should make a decision, help her get away with killing her husband making her the perfect example of a successful murderer. Mary Maloney’s cleverness is shown when she convinces the police officers to believe she was not home at the time of the murder, when she cries in the in front of police officers and when she calls police officer for help whom knows her. After Mary Maloney kills her husband with the leg of lamb she then puts it into the oven to cook and goes to the groceries, "She told how she'd put the meat in the oven-'it's there now, cooking'- and how she'd slopped out to the grocer for vegetables" (Dahl 6). Mary quickly goes to the grocery store to make it seem as if she were not home, and so when the police officers came and asked questions it would be true that she really did go to the grocers and did not lie also hiding the murder weapon. These actions display Mary’s cleverness on how she can get away with murder and hide the murder weapon without being caught. The second instance Mary displays her cleverness is when Mary came home from the grocers and pretended to cry after seeing her husband dead, "she ran over to him, knelt down beside him, and began to cry her heart out." (Dahl 5). Mary had cried at the scene of the crime making it look like as if it was a surprise to her and she was sad even though she
Ms. Klimitz
ENG 3U1-01
21 July 2012
Clever Killer
What was the last mistake you made that really ruined things for you?
In the short story "Lamb to the Slaughter" by Roald Dahl, Mary Maloney the protagonist is seen as the average house wife living, until she murders her husband, Patrick Maloney, a police officer with a frozen leg of lamb. Mary discovers about a divorce her husband wanted and acted upon it killing him. Mary Maloney’s personality traits such as her cleverness to fool the cops to believe what she says, her loyalty to make her seem as an unsuspicious suspect, and lastly being observant knowing when she should make a decision, help her get away with killing her husband making her the perfect example of a successful murderer. Mary Maloney’s cleverness is shown when she convinces the police officers to believe she was not home at the time of the murder, when she cries in the in front of police officers and when she calls police officer for help whom knows her. After Mary Maloney kills her husband with the leg of lamb she then puts it into the oven to cook and goes to the groceries, "She told how she'd put the meat in the oven-'it's there now, cooking'- and how she'd slopped out to the grocer for vegetables" (Dahl 6). Mary quickly goes to the grocery store to make it seem as if she were not home, and so when the police officers came and asked questions it would be true that she really did go to the grocers and did not lie also hiding the murder weapon. These actions display Mary’s cleverness on how she can get away with murder and hide the murder weapon without being caught. The second instance Mary displays her cleverness is when Mary came home from the grocers and pretended to cry after seeing her husband dead, "she ran over to him, knelt down beside him, and began to cry her heart out." (Dahl 5). Mary had cried at the scene of the crime making it look like as if it was a surprise to her and she was sad even though she