Lamb to the Slaughter Group

Question:

nahila
nahila
Student
High School - 12th Grade

Who are the central characters in "Lamb to the Slaughter"? What details or lack of details does the author provide to develop these characters?

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Posted by nahila on Wednesday November 19, 2008 at 6:05 PM and tagged with characters, lamb to the slaughter.

Answers:

  1. accessteacher
    accessteacher Teacher
    High School - 10th Grade

    Mary Maloney is the main character of the story, a character that Dahl takes pains to establish carefully at the beginning of this masterful short story. Mary is clearly a devoted wife to her husband, Patrick. Dahl takes time to explain her care and love for her husband - her desire for everything to be ready for Patrick's return, her selflesness (in spite of being pregnant) in waiting on him and so on. What this carefully constructed portrait clearly does not prepare us for is the situational irony that comes when Mary kills her husband, her ability to plan the "perfect murder" and likewise her "giggle" at the end of the story, which rather disturbingly suggests a darker side to human nature that is in us all, even the most "perfect" of people.

    Patrick Maloney, Mary's husband, is a character who we are made to feel dislike for. He treats his wife with disregard, and his act of leaving Mary, who we know is devoted to him, definitely does not endear him to the reader, thus the reader "sides" with Mary and secretly is pleased that Mary gets away with her crime at the end of the story.

    Other minor characters include the policemen who come to Mary's house to investigate the murder and are easily duped into believing Mary's story and (a classic example of dramatic irony) eating the murder weapon, thus ensuring Mary's freedom.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/lamb-slaughter/
    http://www.enotes.com/lamb-slaughter/characters

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    Posted by accessteacher on Wednesday March 11, 2009 at 8:39 PM