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   sullymonster Teacher
   Community / Jr. College

   eNotes Editor

   Mary Maloney is a caring and devoted housewife.  She is happy with her life.  However, Mary is both intelligent and capable of very clever deception.  When her husband tells her he is ending the marriage, she not only kills him, but hops into action to create an alibi and hid the evidence.  She goes off the store, comes back and calls the police.  She then serves them the leg of lamb as they investigate the murder, thereby getting rid of the evidence.  This is the act of a very clever woman.

   Mary also has a vindictive streak.  The murder can been seen as an act of passion and not revenge - after all, Mary weeps over her husband's body, showing obvious remorse.  However, at the end of the story, when she hears the policemen discussing possible murder weapons, "Mary Maloney began to giggle."  A part of her is clearly reveling in her own clever act, and is happy not only to have done it, but to have gotten away with it.

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   Posted by sullymonster on Saturday May 31, 2008 at 6:49 PM