Reasons Why Mary Maloney is not a Sympathetic Character

“When you’re in love, love can make you do crazy things and can take you down a whirlwind of a road.” In the short story “Lamb to the Slaughter”, detective Patrick Maloney was murdered by his devoted wife Mary Maloney, when she unexpectedly is told her husband has been having an affair and is leaving her. Leaving Mary stunned she acts without thinking as she impulsively kills him with a lamb leg. Leading me to the question, is Mary Maloney a sympathetic character? In the story “Lamb to the Slaughter”, Mary Maloney is not a sympathetic character because she killed her husband without thinking, she giggled as the detectives ate the murder weapon, and she acted as if she was remorseful.

Lack of Sympathy: Mary Maloney's Impulsive Act and Manipulative Behavior

In the story “Lamb to the Slaughter”, Mary Maloney was not a very sympathetic character because she killed her husband without thinking. After Patrick told his wife he was leaving, Mary “simply walked up behind him and without any pause she swung the frozen leg of lamb high in the air and brought it down as hard as she could on the back of his head'. Mary was in shock about how her husband was cheating on her so she had to impulsively react. This emphasises the fact that Mary was not thinking logically when she decided to kill her husband. All in all, the action of killing her husband shows how much of an unsympathetic character Mary Maloney can be.

Another reason Mary Maloney wasn’t a sympathetic character was because she giggled as the detectives at the murder weapon. As the investigation was coming to an end Mary offered the detectives “the lamb in the oven”. As the detectives are eating the lamb, they all seemingly agree that the murder weapon is” probably right under our noses”. This is important because this is Mary’s way of getting rid of her murder weapon. After the detectives say that “ in the other room, Mary begins to giggle”. This would suggest that Mary knew that if she got the detectives to eat the lamb her murder weapon would be gone. Mary knew that if the cops didn’t find the weapon they wouldn’t be able to find the murderer. For this reason, it is believed that Mary was an unsympathetic character because she giggled when the detectives ate the murder weapon.

There are a few reasons some may believe Mary Maloney was a sympathetic character. One, Mary Maloney was a dedicated housewife who devoted all her time to taking care of her husband. She was carrying her and her husband's unborn child, so it was just unlawful that her husband would ever have an affair on her and on top of that tried to leave her. They may also say that she was sad and crying after she killed her husband. However, she didn’t have to kill her husband. When Mary decided to kill her husband, she wasn’t thinking about her or her baby’s future. She wasn’t thinking what could happen to the baby if she went to jail or anything. Patrick also told Mary he would give her money which would’ve helped take care of her and the baby. Killing someone just because they didn’t want to be with you anymore is just as unlawful as cheating.

In brief summary, Mary Maloney wa not a sympathetic character because she killed her husband without thinking, she giggled as the detectives ate the murder weapon, and she acted as if she was remorseful.

Reference List

• Dahl, R. (1953). Lamb to the Slaughter. In The Complete Short Stories of Roald Dahl (pp. 96-105). Penguin.