Often, women are not suspected of violent crimes. Yet, in “Lamb To The Slaughter”, the main character, a pregnant and jilted wife, Mary Maloney, violently murders her fickle husband. The murder was spontaneous and provoked by her husband’s announcement that he was leaving her. Prior to his announcement, she had been a devoted housewife as seen through the many kind thoughts and actions that occur throughout the exposition. This kind nature, coupled with her cunning ability to think on the fly makes her an unlikely suspect.
To begin, Mary Maloney’s soft and kind-hearted personality as demonstrated through her kindnesses towards her husband and her worries concerning her unborn child makes her an unlikely suspect. Firstly, shows her kindness …show more content…
Firstly, after her husband dies, Mary Maloney is overcome with concern for her unborn infant and quickly devises a way to give herself an alibi. She dresses and practices using a normal voice, to protect her true emotions and to ensure that the grocer would not be suspect that she had committed a crime. She is very conscious of her actions as she practices her facial expressions multiple times: “Both the smile and the voice felt better now, she thought, as she tried to act as if everything was perfect” (Dahl 179). This quick thinking illustrates that she is cunning since she successfully gives herself an alibi which the grocer can corroborate. Secondly, she persuades the officers to consume the evidence, the leg of lamb, which she used to murder her husband. As Mary waits in a room beside the officers, “she could hear them speaking among themselves, their voices thick and sloppy because their mouths were full of meat” (Dahl 182). The officers were intent on finding the murder weapon which they thought would lead them to the murderer. By feeding them the lamb, Mary Maloney has ensured that they will never find the weapon. As a result of Mary Maloney’s cunningness, she quickly provides herself with an alibi and disposes of the murder weapon, making her an unlikely