Synopsis

The story, Lamb to the Slaughter, is about a type of round character that is

Mary Maloney that has change along the story. She is a good wife as she very

understanding her husband and always knows what her husband will do after come

back from work. She suddenly changes character when she was very shocked that

her husband tells her that he wants leaving her during her pregnancy. She kills her

husband using a hard frozen leg of lamb. When she realise that she have kills him,

she tries to get away with murder by creating an alibi.

Describing Mrs. Maloney

The author, Roald Dahl has develops Mrs. Maloney character well. Mrs.

Maloney dynamic character has makes the story, Lamb to the Slaughter success.

Mrs. Maloney is the main character of the story. She is also the story’s protagonist.

Mrs. Maloney six months pregnancy also has make the story become very

interesting that make we think how a pregnant mother thinks a non-wisely idea to kill

her husband, Patrick Maloney after he reveal the truth that he will leaving her. From

the part of the story also, we can see that Mrs. Maloney loves her child although she

not yet giving birth and willing to do anything to save her child.

Mrs. Maloney is a good and responsible wife. She keeps a neat home and

busies herself with preparations for the baby. She and Patrick Maloney usually will

drink whisky together after him coming back from work. Mrs. Maloney also quite

understands her husband attitude when he comes back from work. “She knew he

didn’t want to speak much until the first drink was finished, and she, on her side, was

content to sit quietly, enjoying his company after the long hours alone in the house.”

Everything seems normal until she notices that Patrick drains most of his drink in a

single swallow and then pours himself another very strong drink. She also ready to

prepare supper for her husband as she thinks that her husband too tired to eat out

like they always do every Thursday. She wants to have everything perfect for him

coming in but the thing is he won’t even notice that she has gone to any bother.

Besides that, Mrs. Maloney is a type of round character as she has changes a

lot along the story. At the first scene of the story, Mrs. Maloney is a boring character.

Her life revolved around her husband. Her character suddenly changes when Patrick

unexpectedly announces that he is ending their marriage as she enters a state of

shock. “And I know it’s kind of a bad time to be telling you, but there simply wasn’t

any other way. Of course I’ll give you money and see you’re looked after.” Mrs.

Maloney first instinct was not to believe any of it, to reject it all. She thought that all of

it is just a dream. She acts normally. Then, she goes down to the freezer in the cellar

to collect the supper. She finds a hard leg of lamb in the deep freezer. “Everything

was automatic now, down the stairs to the cellar, the light switch, the deep freeze,

the hand inside the cabinet taking hold of the first object it met.” She carries it back

up the stairs, approaches her husband from behind and stops. Suddenly, she strikes

her husband on the head using the hard leg of lamb. The he crashed to the carpet.

He falls to the floor dead.

She is also an intelligent woman. As the wife of a detective, she knew quite

well what the penalty would be. She thinks that if there are the laws about

murderers with unborn children, did they kill them both mother and child or did they

wait until the tenth month. Mrs. Maloney carried the meat into the kitchen, placed it

in a pan, turned the oven on high, and shoved it inside. She goes upstairs in her

bedroom and practices in front of the mirror what she will say and how she will act

when the police show up and ask her questions and puts on little make up to get

herself ready. She uses Sam from the butchers shop as an alibi. She says to Sam

that she wants to prepare dinner for her husband. “Patrick’s decided he’s tired and

doesn’t want to eat out tonight”. For making her alibi more stronger, Sam has ask her

what will Mrs. Maloney give to her husband afterwards while waiting for her cook the

dinner. “How about a nice big slice of cheesecake? I know he likes that.” And when it

was all wrapped and she had paid, she put on her brightest smile and said, “Thank

you, Sam. Good night.”

 In addition, Mrs. Maloney has managed to get rid of the murder weapon in a

very clever way. When she is coming back from home, she told herself to do

everything right and natural. She went to the living room and sees her husband died

on the floor. No acting, she cried her heart out. She phones up the police and

explains to them what was happened. They come round to the house very quickly to

support Mrs. Maloney. They interview Mrs. Maloney all night asking her all sorts of

questions. She also has told them that she has leaving to the grocery shop. “She told

how she’d put the meat in the oven-it’s there now, cooking-and how she’d slipped

out to the grocer for vegetables, and come back to find him lying on the floor.” Then,

Sergeant Noonan points out that the oven is still on and the leg of lamb is done. Mrs.

Maloney asked the policemen a favour to eat the lamb in the oven as they all are

good friends of dear Patrick’s too and helping to catch the man who killed him. They

were clearly hungry and in the end they were persuaded to go into the kitchen and

help themselves. Mrs. Maloney stay in the other room and began to giggle.

Last but not least, the story was very good and it is a pity it’s only a

short story. I would like to know what has happened to Mrs. Maloney after last

incident in the short story. From the beginning I read the story, it makes me want to

read and read in again. From the Mrs. Maloney character, I have learnt many things.

I have learnt to think wisely and be patient. I will practice all the lesson learnt that I

have learnt in the story in my normal life.