Insanity In 'Lamb To The Slaughter'

In the text “Lamb to the Slaughter”, the main character, Mary, acts impulsively without planning out her actions. She walked up behind her husband and “without any pause she swung the big frozen leg of lamb high in the air and brought it down as hard as she could on the back of his head”(Dahl 1). Therefore, she doesn’t think at all before killing her husband. This is highlighted when the author uses the words “without any pause”(Dahl 1). Her impulsive and violent actions display traits of sociopathy. When sociopaths in the real world commit a crime, they “often say, in explaining their horrible actions that they ‘just snapped’”(Thomas 11). This is why they often do violent and reckless things; it is because they aren’t thinking and also do not feel much guilt. This is reflected in the text when Mary Maloney kills her husband the day he told her bad news, without thinking about the consequences. Adding on, Mary is very manipulative with the detectives. She convinces the detectives to eat her food, even though they aren’t allowed to. She nicely asks the detectives to “eat up that lamb that’s in the oven” (Dahl 3). This works for her, and her manipulative actions end with the detectives eating the murder weapon, which was a good thing for her because they can easily tell who the murderer is if they find the weapon. sociopaths often use their “charm and confidence to get

The story, “A Rose for Emily,” was written by William Faulkner and was published in April 30, 1930. This story is about a woman named Emily and her dealing with a lot of problems. Emily is very quiet and during this story, she losses her father. She also has problems with relationships. In the story, “Lamb to Slaughter,” was about a woman and her husband. The woman, Mary Maloney, loved her husband so much in the story and then he gets home one day and something wrong happens, so in this story, Mary Maloney is having problems.

BOOM! To the front of the head. In a blink of an eye, she was gone. Betty Williams was a young Christian girl, but she also liked getting people’s attention by doing crazy things. Betty was well known for being in different plays. Betty talked to a lot of different guys throughout high school, but that did not get her anywhere. She had the biggest crush on the high school quarterback Mack Herring. Betty was well known around the school as a “Slut”. Betty was not happy with her life, so she was constantly asking her friends to kill her, but her friends always thought she was messing around. Then she asked Mack, and he had agreed to take her out of her misery. After she was killed, her parents had begun to wonder where Betty went. The police

If someone you knew was mentally ill, do you think the best choice would be to keep them alone? Do you think treating them like a five year old is what they need or want? In The Yellow Wallpaper, the narrators husband John treating her as if she were a child that needed to be protected from the outside would only lead her closer to insanity. John made her stay in the house as if she were one of his patients. He completely cut her off from the outside world and wouldn 't let her see her friends simply because he thought they 'd worsen her condition. She was like a child and John was her strict father, he wouldn 't let her do anything besides eat and sleep.

Mary Maloney is a very loving and devoted house wife and mother-to-be. Though her dream of having the perfect American family was destroyed by the bewildering news of Patrick choosing another women over Mary and their child. Innocent is all Mary Maloney is, due to her indistinct state of mind caused by her heinous husband’s decision to desert her and her child while she is unable to control her emotions due to her being pregnant. Mary is not guilty of murder instead innocent due to diminished capacity.

Since the early times, people have discussed whether those among them are truly sane or not. During the Shakespearian Era, nobody actually understood who was insane and those who were merely more eccentric than most. One of the most debated plays of all time is Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Many professors and scholars have analyzed and questioned Hamlet’s sanity. Hamlet displays the characteristics of sanity throughout the play.

Guilt is the cause of the destruction of many, particularly in Shakespeare’s Tragedy of Macbeth. As Macbeth and Lady Macbeth continue to murder for the sake of power, they embark on opposite journeys but their guilt ultimately drives them both to insanity. Macbeth goes from being driven mad with guilt, to his instability causing him to murder recklessly. His wife goes from expressing no compassion or guilt to her guilt overcoming her and driving her to madness.

One definition of madness is “mental delusion of the eccentric behavior arising from it.” However, as Emily Dickinson once wrote, “Much madness is divinest Sense/ To a discerning Eye.” In Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, the main character, Prince Hamlet, shows apparent madness which proves to serve an important role throughout the story. This erratic behavior consists of his seemingly senseless dialogues, his loss of care for Ophelia, and his increasingly aggressive nature. Such behavior often proves justified by the play’s audience due to its convincing nature despite Hamlet’s predisposition towards insanity.

Edgar Allan Poe left the ending of most of his stories enigmatic and therefore, open to controversial interpretations. Many debate whether the endings are the result of insanity or of haunting. It is evident that “The Black Cat” ending is caused by insanity, based on multiple re-occurrences that happen to the narrator. Many situations from the story support this claim.

Mary Maloney “simply walked up” behind Patrick and struck him with a “big frozen leg of lamb” “as hard as she could”. This completely contrasts the starting character of Mary as a housewife whom was patiently waiting for her husband to return home, which no one had expected. She did it “simply” which moulds an image of her not needing to think through her action, effortless and swift. The readers would be disgusted at how fast her character changes, thus suspense would be created as they would constantly question themselves about how it was possible. Additionally, after she struck her husband, she thought that it was “funny” on how “he remained standing” for a while. Usually after committing a crime, people would immediately feel guilty and sorry, but Mary though it was “funny” and even “giggled” when the detectives ate the evidence. The readers would say she went insane after killing her husband and feeding his colleagues with the murder weapon, which creates tension within the readers. Briefly, Roald Dahl uses insanity to create suspense in ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ as people that are insane are unpredictable, leading the audience to anticipate the ending of the

I’m defending Mary in the short story, “The Lamb to Slaughter,” written by Roald Dahl. I am pleading for my client, Mary who is not guilty in the murder of Mr. Maloney. Mary would have never murder her husband, because she is six months pregnant. She couldn’t lift the heavy weapon used to kill him while carrying a baby. Mrs. Maloney was at the neighborhood grocery store at the same time the murder happened. She went to see Sam at the store and even bought her husband a cake. It is impossible for Mary to be at two places at once so therefore she cannot be guilty for this crime. She is six months pregnant, and she would have needed her husband for support. Mary is an unemployed pregnant women who would have needed the money from her husband’s

Imagine the President of the United States admitting to having mental instability. This scenario may rattle some, but it clearly plays out in William Shakespeare’s tragedy, Macbeth. The play’s title character uses violence to maintain power but gradually plummets into mental illness. Before Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth, conspire to murder his cousin Duncan, the King of Scotland, in order to attain authority, Macbeth foreshadows the possible repercussions; afterward, he experiences an immediate sense of remorse. The subsequent murder of a friend displays his progressive unsteadiness, but the massacre of an entire family demonstrates his transformation from instability to deviance. Lady Macbeth tries to mask her guilt by covering up for her husband, but eventually comes to grips with her own instability. In Macbeth, Shakespeare asserts that power drives the title character and his wife to insanity, particularly after their conspiracy to kill Duncan.

Mary Maloney was sitting in her living room when her husband, Patrick Maloney, came home. This was the premises of the short story, “Lamb to the Slaughter,” composed by Roald Dahl. Patrick was a police officer; his wife stayed at home, which was typical for the 1950s, which was the time period of the story. The couple had been, so it seemed, happy throughout their marriage. In fact, Mary was pregnant with a baby boy. It felt like another normal day when Mr. Maloney stepped through their home’s door.

She has killed her husband and didn 't care. “All right she told herself, so I’ve killed him” Still Mary does not care about what happens to her. She is ready to pay justice. But she cares about what happens to the child. “ She wonders, or did they wait until the tenth month? What did they do? Mary didn 't know and she certainly wasn 't prepared to take a chance.”So this means that Mary Maloney is a very ruthless person.

Roald Dahl's short story Lamb to the Slaughter is a very intriguing read. Dahl uses a lot of characterization throughout the story, giving subtle descriptions of what the characters are like. This happens the most with the main character, Mary Maloney. In the beginning of the story, Dahl describes Mary as as being six months pregnant, with big calm eyes. This displays a picture of innocence. The way she addresses her husband, Patrick, is caring and compassionate. As the story progresses she gets more and more uneasy until Patrick tells her very bad news, and the entire mood of the story shifts. Mary becomes removed, cold, in shock. At this point, she “simply walked up behind him and without any pause, she swung the big frozen leg of lamb high in the air and brought it down as hard as she could on the back of his head” ( ). Patrick died within seconds. Since the audience previously saw Mary as innocent and harmless, the audience is even more surprised by this sudden murder. By now her entire character has changed. She is cold, calculated.