Use Of Irony In Lamb To The Slaughter

Peters and Mrs. Hale are the ones who find clues to solving the murder. Glaspell foreshadows this outcome by having the county attorney say “‘…[n]o telling; you women might come upon a clue to the motive…’” (Glaspell). Once the men leave the women alone they begin putting together items to take to Mrs. Wright in jail and no one is concerned with what they are taking her because the men do not see anything from the domestic realm to be dangerous. While they are putting together items, Mrs. Peters stumbles upon a birdcage that has clearly been roughed up, and eventually they locate a deceased bird.

Since Mrs. Wright does not have any children, this canary almost replaces this aspect that she is missing. The death of her almost “child figure” would lead Mrs. Wright to eventually murder her husband, the same way as her bird was killed. The women use this secret evidence as a way to side with the woman, even Mrs. Peters who is deemed to be “married to law” eventually sides with Mrs. Wright. This is an example of situational irony because the sheriff’s wife, Mrs. Peters, begins to secretly tamper and drift the case away from the truth Therefore, the irony the authors use helps to highlight the womens rebellious nature throughout these

There have been around 286,000 cold murder cases since 1980 and more 90% than of people in the world have lied about something. In Lamb to the Slaughter, Mary lies to the cops because she knew the cops well and knew in the situation that was all she could do. She has to lie because she killed her husband by using a piece of lamb to hit him in the head. Then she cooked the lamb to get rid of the weapon. In lamb to the slaughter, Mary lies because she didn’t wanna go to jail.

While investigating the death of Mrs. Maloney’s husband, Mrs. Maloney requests a drink. “ ‘Sure I’ll give you a drink. You mean this whiskey? ‘ ‘Yes, please. But just a small one.

From the women’s own experiences they have an understanding of why Mrs Wright would want an animal to keep her company. The final piece of evidence that solidifies Mrs Wright as the killer is the dead bird from the empty cage. Martha and Peters find a box that they assumed was from Mrs Wright’s childhood, “What a pretty box! I 'll warrant that was

Talking about Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters “the two characters begin to reconstruct the accused woman’s life. They do so through several means; memories of her, memories of their own lives (similar to hers in many ways), and speculation about her feelings and responses to the conditions of her life” (Holstein 283.) The two women immediately placed themselves in Minnie Wrights position. And while reconstructing Mrs. Wright life based on their own memories and emotions they acknowledge the murders missing clue “Minnie’s dead pet bird” (Holstein

“He said he was in love with another woman” said Mary Maloney. “but I was 6 months pregnant. What was I supposed to do?”. Mary Maloney had said she hit her husband with a kitchen utensil, but does not remember where she had placed it. Detectives had searched all of the Maloney’s house, inside and out, and had no idea what weapon was used exactly, or where it was left.

A prominent piece of evidence that was found in the house was a broken bird cage and the question lies within what her personal interpretation of this object was. With a solemn tone, Martha replied, “I believe Minnie’s husband ripped the cage door open when in a rage and snapped the bird’s neck, so she did the same to him.” It is hard to believe that one’s emotions could so greatly influence their actions but in this case, it seems as if the Wright’s were involved in an unhappy, abusive marriage. To connect back to the bird queries, I also asked Mrs. Hale what she did with the deceased creature that Minnie Wright held so dearly. Martha without hesitation mentioned that she “grabbed it without a second thought” and that she wishes to bury it because Minnie would have wanted that.

“Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb. Mary had a little lamb, but she used it’s leg for murder.” Mary Maloney was heartbroken with the news of her husband’s affairs, she became angered and struck her husband on the head with a frozen leg of lamb. She quickly staged the perfect murder by finding a witness that can prove she was out of the house. And when the cops arrived, she fed them the only piece of evidence, the lamb’s leg.

In “Lamb to the Slaughter”, Mary Maloney manages to get the police to unknowingly destroy the murder weapon she used to kill her husband. Mary carefully coerces the officers into doing what she wants: “‘Please,’ She begged. ‘Please eat it. Personally I couldn’t touch a thing, certainly not what’s been in the house when he was here. But it’s all right for you.

Hale can be described as a leader which is a quality that Mrs. Peters does not possess. After discovering the dead bird, the women both decide to not inform the men of their discovery. When the men come back downstairs, the discover the empty birdcage. The county attorney asks the women if “ the bird has flown” (1119). Mrs. Hale quickly replies with “we think the—cat got it” (1119).

This refers to Mrs. Wright worrying about her preserves while she is detained in jail for suspected murder of her

Once she settled down she acts fast with faking a story by going to the store and coming home to the police. She ends up using the weapon as dinner for the police. The author showed how Mary used cowardice throughout the story through the literary devices of Symbolism, Foreshadowing, and Tone.

In Roald Dahl’s riveting short story “Lamb to the Slaughter” dramatic irony is used to build tension. Dramatic irony is defined as a literary device where the reader knows more about a situation than the characters in the story. The main character Ms. Maloney, a devoted and tender wife, suddenly turns into a reckless murderer as her husband tells her he wants to leave. Throughout the narrative a prominent example of dramatic irony is when the policemen eat the leg of lamb. " ‘That's why the weapon should be easy to find.’

The reason for the murder is what the men are trying to find, she speculates that Mr. Wright killed the bird they had found as soon as they started to investigate. Then Mrs. Peters becomes defensive repeating “we don’t know” in different lines. This is a major confusion to the audience as these two characters hare having very different moral struggles throughout the show and it should have been clear the character Glaspell