actions was, and how she was physically and mentally through her day-to-day life. Mary Maloney awaits
happily each night for the arrival of her husband, Patrick home from work, now and then she would she would
glance at the clock, without anxiety merely to please herself with the thought that each minute gone by made
it nearer to the time he would come. The following states again Mary’s serenity, by the fact that she is able to
relax without any worries about her husband getting hurt in his dangerous profession. The prior evidences
illustrate Mary Maloney’s calm nature.
Although it wasn’t clearly exhibited, throughout the story, Mary Maloney expressed her self-consciousness by
her evident actions. Mary’s behavior changes from being a loving and faithful wife to a self-conscious women
immediately after her husband after her husband reveals his burden. She becomes unstable and quite
aggressive. It was almost as if she hits her husband over the head with the leg of lamb naturally, and without
hesitation, “… Mary Maloney simply walked up behind him and without any pause she swung the bid frozen leg
of lamb high in the air and brought it down as hard as she could on the back of his head.” (Dahl 13) The
following quote proves that she was a self-conscious because even though she admired her husband very
much she was self-conscious and killed him. After murdering her husband Mary Maloney knew all of a sudden
exactly what to do, as part of her “alibi” Mary, made her way to the closest grocery store and was able to
make a conversation with Sam, the owner. So later on he could tell the police that Mrs. Maloney was present
during the murder. As soon as she arrived home she called the police. As part of Mrs. Maloney’s “alibi,” going
to the shop and calling the police, which she clearly knew exactly what she was doing proves again that she
was self-conscious, because all this she just did naturally , but wasn’t comfortable with it. For these reasons self-
consciousness was conveyed through Mrs. Maloney’s actions.
Lastly Mrs. Maloney reveals through her words and her self-conscious actions her duplicity and deceitfulness. By
which she eradicated all the evidence, and during the presence of the police officers’ investigation. Mrs.
Maloney asks intrudingly for her husband’s whiskey. “Jack…would you mind giving me a drink?”…”Sure I’ll get
you a drink. You mean this whisky?” “Yes please…” (Dahl 17) The following quote proves Mrs. Maloney’s
deceitfulness, because as a result of distracting one detective from searching for the murder weapon, all the
other detectives end up having a drink and abstain looking for the murder weapon, which was her main
purpose. Mary’s deceitfulness increased and she had kindly offered the detectives to have supper at her
place. “Why don’t you eat up that lamb that’s in the oven? It’ll be cooked just right by now.” (Dahl 17) This final
quote demonstrates Mary Maloney’s deceitfulness, because Mary tricks the detectives into eating up their own
evidence, so it will be impossible to accuse her of her husband’s murder. When the officers consumed the
lamb, the reader further realizes that Mary gets away easily by using deceitful lies and a concrete set of
plausible words.
In conclusion, Roald Dahl, developed the protagonist successfully in “Lamb to the slaughter,” through a way
that is important in this short story. Where direct quotation was the most dominant in the protagonist, Mary
Maloney’s actions, words, and how he develops her personality traits like her calm nature and serenity, self-
consciousness, and deceitfulness in a well-developed manner. Overall Mary Maloney was indeed independent
and not entirely subservient and able to make her own decisions based on her own thoughts. She was no more
the loving and faithful wife as described at the beginning of the story. We were with Mary Maloney from the
very start, and only at the end do we realize that we never really knew her at all.