Lamb to the Slaughter is about a married couple named Mr and Mrs Maloney. The story revolves around the character of Mrs Mary Maloney a loving housewife and psychopathic killer. The basic
Theme of the story is revenge. One day when Patrick Maloney comes home from work, Mary Maloney is waiting for him. He starts to tell Mary that he has done something very bad and hopes Mary doesn’t blame him too much for it. Mary already knew that he had been cheating on her. So she murders him with a piece of lamb and then calls the police. But before the police arrive she puts the lamb to cook. When the police arrive and have done their work, she gets rid of the murder weapon by feeding it to the policemen. This story contains dramatic irony when the policemen are eating the lamb and one of the policemen comments “for all we know the murder weapon could be right under our noses”. The author has created a very intelligent and ironic twist in this story.
‘The Withered Arm’ is about a lady who is known as Rhoda Brook and was partner of Farmer Lodge; they had their child together who Farmer Lodge just left Rhoda to bring up on her own. Later Farmer Lodge was wed to Mrs Lodge. Rhoda Brook became jealous because Farmer Lodge’s new wife was younger and more attractive than she was and she was also angry because Farmer Lodge was not interested in the son that they had conceived together. Gertrude had a dream that Rhoda Brook came to her house, had thrown her to the ground by her arm and had permanently left finger marks on her arm. Later she became good friends with Gertrude and learned from a wizard that what she had dreamt was true and that night Rhoda had put a curse on her. This is when Gertrude decided to break their friendship.
In both of the stories the theme is revenge and retribution. Revenge means getting your own back. In The Withered Arm, it is Rhoda Brook who takes revenge. She does this through magic, but in doing so she hurts her friend. In Lamb to the Slaughter, it is Mary Maloney who takes revenge. She takes it swiftly and completely. Retribution means payback, just like revenge when you give something back to someone, because they have given something to you.
Again in The Withered Arm it was the deserted person (Rhoda) who took revenge. It started as Rhoda Brook being in love with Farmer Lodge who we presume was in love with Rhoda Brook too until one day when Rhoda found out that she was to have Farmer Lodge’s child when he decided to desert her. When Farmer Lodge moved into the town with his new wide Gertrude Lodge, Rhoda was jealous as Gertrude had “hair of a lightish tint and her face s commonly as a live dolls.” When Rhoda dreamt that she had cursed Gertrude she thought nothing of it, until the pair became really good friends and found a=out that this event did actually take place when Gertrude revealed her arm to Rhoda. The story continues with Gertrude’s quest to heal her arm. She found out that Rhoda Brook had cursed her and allowed their relationship to deteriorate. It eventually turned out that her only chance of healing came from Rhoda Brook’s son
It is clear that the first woman of the relationship took revenge. In Lamb to the Slaughter, it was Mary whom took revenge she seems like the type who couldn’t put up much of a fight. A fairly typical victim and then you look at the title ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’. Mary Maloney seems to be the perfect choice of character for the victim of the story, but she turns out to be the murderer. So in-keeping with the theme of opposite characters, we ask ourselves, “Who would be the least likely to be the victim?” The answer is her husband- Patrick Maloney!
Firstly, he’s a policeman- a sergeant- so that gets rid of the anxious, terrified image. Secondly he seems quite aggressive, but that could be just the whisky or soda, or the news that he’s just about to tell her. Also he’s not particularly rich, and the only wealth he’s likely to come into the near future is his pay packet. In short, he definitely is not the typical murder victim. Patrick returned from work. He isn’t acting normal, doesn’t eat and drank his drink much faster than normal. When Patrick said to Mary he had some bad news, Mary knew straight away that Patrick was seeing another woman. This is when Mary decides to take revenge she says that she is going to go get the lamb and she says she is going to get the lamb and she brings it back and hits it in Patrick’s head she has committed a murder she is scared and tells the police that Patrick is dead. Mary puts the lamb back to cook before the police come. The police are confused and come to take a look when they take a look they see him dead they do their work, and then Mary asks them if they would like some Lamb. They agree to have some; this is her very clever way of getting rid of the evidence. She does this in a very clever way. While they are eating one of the policemen say “for all we know the murder weapon could be right under our noses”, this is dramatic irony. The author has created a very intelligent ironic twist in this story.
In The Withered Arm, Rhoda’s decision never to see Gertrude again was taken away from her when Gertrude paid them a visit to bring her son a new pair of shoes, as she saw him in the market place and saw the both a ruined pair of shoes. In her basket, Mrs Lodge brought a new pair of boots that she had promised to the boy, and other useful articles. “This shows that Mrs Lodge liked to help out the poor with her wealth. It was because of this that she became a friend of Rhoda. When Gertrude decided to visit Conjurer Trendle it resulted in the breakdown of her relationship with Rhoda Brook as she found out that it was Rhoda who cursed her. The second time she goes to Conjurer Trendle he tells her she must touch the neck of a freshly hanged person to turn her blood and heel her arm. She later goes to the hanging and sees Rhoda Brook, Farmer Lodge and their son being hanged. So it turned out that she had to touch the neck of Rhoda’s son! Rhoda decided not to touch any of Farmer Lodges money. Absolutely refusing, however to have nothing to do with the provision that was made for her. I feel she did this for her pride, as he was never interested in their son in life so why should he be interested in him in death?
Although in the two stories the storylines are rather similar it’s weird that the settings are really different. In Lamb to the Slaughter the story is set in the USA. It is in New York in the late 20th Century. They live in an apartment, in an urban environment. They live in a comfortable home, in a sad atmosphere. She is alone waiting for her husband she is weak without him, and knows every action he does. The Withered Arm is set in rural England. In Victorian times, she works on a farm. She is a milkmaid.
These two stories come to a close in very different ways; one ends up with a boy dead and the other a man dead, but the boy in ‘The Withered Arm’ does not die due to revenge. But in ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ the man dies due to revenge.
In The Withered Arm the story ended with Rhoda Brook returning to her old job that she had at the start of the story which was milking of cows, Gertrude became too old and frail and died. Farmer Lodge became a kind, caring and thoughtful man! Gertrude died three days later in the town “Her blood had been turned indeed, too far. After this Rhoda had lost her friend and her son so she decided to resume to where she had started “her monotonous milking at the dairy was resumed” Farmer Lodge on the third corner of this triangular relationship gave up his farms and become a member of the parish after he overcame is remorse and moodiness. “…He eventually changed for the better, and appeared as a chastened and thoughtful man”
To conclude this essay revenge takes place all the time and will continue to take place for years to come and it doesn’t make any difference which century it happened in or if it is for good or bad. People will take revenge for things that happen to them, or their friends or family.