Does Mary Maloney personify the "lamb" in Roald Dahl's "Lamb to the Slaughter" based on the provided reasons?
She is the lamb because of her weak-mind and innocence. When she's sewing & trying to comfort her husband (innocence). Then she turns into the Slaughterer because of she can not accept the fact that her husband is leaving her (weak minded like a lamb needing a herd to move). When she becomes the slaughterer, she has traits of a serial killer being both deceitful and unsympathetic.
I don't necessarily disagree with the first answer, but I think that there is an alternative way to look at this question. I think that the title is ironic. I think that Mary is the lamb, but only in the minds of others.
I think that Patrick sees Mary as a lamb that he can lead to slaughter. That is really what she looks like at the start of the story. She looks like a steretypical submissive wife from that era and Patrick thinks he can do what he wants.
It is at that point that the title becomes ironic. Patrick has completely misread Mary. She is not submissive and passive at all but rather strong and decisive. The police also overlook this fact.
I would say that Mary is the lamb, but I would say that Dahl is being ironic when he uses that phrase.
By the way, I...
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really like Mary in this story and I don't think what she did is reprehensible...
It seems as if you have misinterpreted Mary Maloney's character. First, the title of the story does not imply that a lamb turns into a slaughterer; rather, it represents an innocent creature being led to its death--that does not describe Mary.
While Mary does "slaughter" her husband, it would be more appropriate to argue that the police (her husband's comrades) are the lambs. When the story opens, Mary's husband, a police officer, springs the news on his pregnant wife that he is leaving her. If you keep in mind the time setting of the story, you see that Mary views herself as the dutiful wife who waits for her husband to come home each day, hangs on his every word, caters to his every need, and then he repays her in such a manner. Divorce during the Maloneys' time would have still carried somewhat of a social stigma especially when coupled with Mary's pregnancy. As the reader considers that all these thoughts fly through Mary's head as her husband talks, he must admit that Mary's quick action--while reprehensible--is hardly that of an innocent lamb.
Similarly, after Mary murders her husband, she uses her innocent appearance and demeanor to fool the grocer and the men who would have known her husband best. In contrast, the police who show up to Mary's house might as well be figurative lambs going to the slaughterhouse. They pander to Mary's needs and comfort her, refusing to see her as a suspect, and they eat the murder weapon to appease the "distraught" young widow. Their failure to look past Mary's outward demeanor demonstrates that they are the ones with the herd mentality.
Which words from "Lamb to the Slaughter" can be used to describe Mary Maloney?
Roald Dahl chose not to have Patrick Maloney explain why he wanted out of their marriage. The author purposely made Patrick's motivation vague because he wanted to avoid suggesting anything that might arouse suspicion of Mary. For instance, if Patrick was having an affair with another woman, it was likely to be known to other people. He and the other woman would have been seen together. It is hard to conduct extramarital affairs without causing gossip. Then it could be surmised that Mary was jealous and might have murdered her husband in a fit of jealous rage.
Patrick is not abusive, as can be seen in the measured way in which he talks to his wife.
Patrick is not a heavy drinker, as seen by the fact that she is surprised to see him drinking two strong drinks on this occasion.
Since Patrick's motivation isn't brought out in his dialogue, the reader is left to deduce it from the description of the way Mary treats him.
"Tired, darling." "Yes," he said. "I'm tired.
He is tired of her. Who wouldn't be tired of a homelife with such a needy, clinging, suffocating wife? She is blameless, she is devoted, and yet she is driving him crazy with her possessiveness.
She took his coat and hung it in the closet. Then she walked over and made the drinks, a strongish one for him, a weak one for herself; and soon she was back again in her chair with the sewing, and he in the other, opposite.
This suggests the cloying nature of their relationship. He can't escape from her loving attentiveness. There is just too much togetherness.
"I'll get it!" she cried, jumping up. "Sit down," he said.
"Darling," she said. "Would you like me to get you some cheese?"
"If you're too tired to eat out," she went on, it's still not too late. "There's plenty of meat and stuff in the freezer, and you can have it right here and not even more out of the chair."
It should be noted that she has no conversational aptitude. This is largely because she is confined to her home almost all the time, with nothing to do but wait or her adored husband to come home. She can only talk about him and ask him questions. Consequently, he is made to feel a prisoner and as someone who has to provide the entertainment for his wife. No doubt she will want him to tell her all about his day.
The story is strongly reminiscent of John Collier's "The Chaser," which is thoroughly covered by eNotes. In Collier's story, the old man who sells love potions also sells undetectable poisons to be used by men who have gotten tired of their wives' possessiveness.
"She will want to know all you do," said the old man. "All that has happened to you during the day. Every word of it. She will want to know what you are thinking about, why you smile suddenly, why you are looking sad. . . . How carefully she will look after you! She will never allow you to be tired, to sit in a draught, to neglect your food. If you are an hour late, she will be terrified. She will think you are killed, or that some siren has caught you."
You should quote directly from Mary Maloney's dialogue, as I have done, to show what kind of a woman she is and also to suggest why her husband wants a divorce.