Maloney In Roald Dahl's Lamb To The Slaughter

Would you be able to kill the person you love the most? In the short story, “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl, Mary Maloney the wife of Patrick Maloney, murders her husband using the frozen leg of a lamb. Due to the information given to the reader on Mary Maloney, she should not be convicted of murder due to her mental health. In the beginning of the story the readers are introduced to Mary Maloney, who is sitting at the table waiting for her husband to come home. Once her husband arrives he tells her that he wants a divorce. This news was very devastating, and shocking to her. Based on the setting the reader can infer that the story takes place in the 1950-1960’s. In the story Mary Maloney is waiting for her husband to come back from work, while sewing. The text states, “The bent of a head as she bent over her sewing was curiously tranquil.” (Dahl,1)) Also, later on when the police comes over to investigate the death of her husband, they don’t DNA test. “Later a photographer arrived and took pictures, and a man who knew about fingerprints. There was a great deal of whispering and muttering besides the corpse, and the detectives kept asking her a lot of questions.” (Dahl,6) The police did take a lot of pictures but never DNA tested. These two quotes prove that since there was no DNA testing and the fact that she was sitting at home sewing, the story takes place in the 1950-1960’s. When Patrick told her that he wanted a divorce she did not know how to react. It was very