Patrick Maloney's Symbolism In Lamb To The Slaughter

A wife who is fully devoted to her husband and having the house clean is what every man desires near the end of his lifetime. Patrick Maloney had just that. In “Lamb to the Slaughter,” by Roald Dahl, Patrick, a chief detective, was no longer satisfied with his wife or anticipating the birth of his unborn child. Dahl creates a character who is a loyal, loving wife who faces the betrayal of her husband and things do not turn out as expected. The short story, is presented to the readers in the perspective of the wife only. The author uses extensive symbolism and an extreme metaphor to create a victimized wife. While I analyze why did the author used Mary’s point of view. In the short story, Dahl uses symbolism to catch the theme of the passage in the title itself, “Lamb to the Slaughter.” The lamb is known to be innocent, harmless, and a follower. The origin of this phrase is from the Bible, Jeremiah 11:19, “But I was like …show more content…
The Last Supper that Jesus had with his disciples was the last meal they all had with him before his crucifixion. In the short story, Mary’s thoughts are unclear and makes the reader guess whether if she is being avoiding her husband’s discussion or if her intention is to actually execute him. She could have planned to prepare a meal, his last meal, before killing him. Patrick tried to stop her several times but maybe after every try, it got her closer to making the ultimate decision.
Mary has been pushed into her limits and now seeks revenge for what her husband was about to tell her. While Mary is devastated, she finds the will power to seek revenge over his wrong doings by swinging a frozen lamb leg on the back of head leading into his death. A new level of defense against her husband was raised and she was forced to use her cleverness and wisdom against law enforcement in protection of herself and her unborn child. Dahl has created a lamb who now became the