dummies for the dog to attack. Knowing that killing was wrong, she left home to go church and requested God not to reprimand her, since it was her duty. She travelled to
Ajaccio after weeks of training her dog to slaughter Ravolati. The night Mrs Saverini let her dog tear the throat of Ravolati; she slept soundly as well as feeling relieved from stress and anger.
The setting in the “Lamb To The Slaughter” is peaceful since Mary Maloney has the curtains drawn, table lamps on, and has two glasses of whiskey along with ice cubes waiting for her husband to arrive. This creates a calm and romantic atmosphere. The mood and tranquillity was ruined when Patrick Maloney, slammed the car door, proving he was displeased with something. However, the serenity and peacefulness re-emerged whilst he drank his whiskey. Once again, the soothing ambience was broken, by the tinkling of the ice against the glass this had been done intentionally, to hint to his wife that he was in a deep thought. Creating suspicion and mystery, the light was exposed half across his face.
The story “A Vendetta” is situated in Sardinia. The story changes places such as the setting starting at Bonafacio then moving to Ajaccio; these both are islands of Sardinia. The home of Mrs Saverini is on the outskirts of Bonafacio. Her house is a small cottage, which overlooks the island Ajaccio. There is miniature harbour, where ships come and go from Ajaccio. Across the strait, Mrs Saverini can noticeably see the village of the murderer, every time. Therefore, she can always feel the hatred and power, because her son Antoine’s murderer is hiding out there. Since, Mrs Saverini always sees Ajaccio; she has power and sense the influence she has. The setting relocates to a church then subsequently to Ajaccio.
Mary is the character who is the pregnant wife of detective Patrick Maloney. She is a proud housewife. Mary is a compassionate person, since she calmly waits for her husband to come home from work whilst sewing, along with that she even has whiskey ready for herself and her husband. Mary is middle class person, this can be seen by the type of home she lives in, plus she has all the necessary things in her cottage. She relies on a bread winner which is her husband. She is a very sensitive and loving wife of Patrick; she does this through knowing as well as doing her job given by her husband, performing certain things which every man would love her wife to do. Intelligence and cleverness helped her to get away with the murder she had committed. After she murders her husband; she promptly goes to the grocers, so she creates an alibi, this corroborates that she is sharp and cunning.
Patrick is normal husband, he needs everything right and on time. His caring wife is pregnant. He is a detective and has his daily routine. Through being a detective, he is able and wise with his moves. Patrick is selfish man, he’s also arrogant and rude, and along with all that he has lack of emotions. Always frustrated and has anger on the top of his mind. It is still a mystery on what sort of husband he is. The way he does and says things is very subversive, in addition he is disloyal. He is a disgraceful husband to Mary.
Mrs Saverini was an old widow. She was the mother of Antoine yet is a sorrowful, lonely woman after her only son was killed. She is also very wise and has a good faith in Christianity. After, the murder of her son she was in an awful state, as she was distraught, shocked and was full of revenge. Although, Mrs Saverini was weak and subtle, she was extremely determined to see justice. When she made a promise on her son’s soul, she kept it in her heart; this shows us that Mrs Saverini is spirited and has sheer determination. She is extremely courageous and confident. This is shown by the lines that say “Kept her without food for another two days” and “For three months she trained the dog to this kind of fight, making her use her teeth to get her food” this proves that since she risks her dog’s life by not giving it food, she is very courageous and she also is confident, since she assumed that she can kill Ravolati. Mrs Saverini is smart and is also shrewd. She used her mind intellect and made smart moves such as; acting as an old beggar with shabby clothes on; thinking before hand that since her old, she is not capable of killing Nicolas Ravolati, so she used her dog to make it kill him; whilst the murder was proceeding she was watching with anxiety and with tense excitement.
The murderers were both women yet both killed a man each. The murderers, Mary Maloney and Mrs Saverini, had an easy and peaceful life before their heart was broken. Both were brave, therefore used their mind to predict future events, hence they were equally cunning and used great amount of ability.
Mary used a frozen weapon to kill Patrick. Since, she was just married, young and pregnant, her capability and skill to undertake an assassination would vary from Mrs Saverini. She murdered her husband through hatred and anger. Mary expresses her emotions by killing with intense dislike, also wanted empathy from her husband. Mrs Maloney reacted sharply and modestly with nothing in her mind besides pure detestation whereas Mrs Saverini premeditated, she took time preparing her murder. Since, Mrs Saverini is old she has different skills to undertake a murder from Mary, so therefore, Mrs Saverini utilized a dog as a weapon. The old widow murdered for revenge and since she was a very religious woman, she needed god’s content before she murdered Ravolati.
Mary and Mrs Saverini gained help from their knowledge of the environment and luck of fate on their side. They used intelligence they had, such as Mary creating her alibi and Mrs Saverini’s stand in as an old beggar with baggy clothes on. The killers are presented in a peaceful setting and are also proven to be caring and loving to their close ones.
The reason Mary murdered Patrick was because she was full of hatred and saw a lack of empathy from her husband for her own situation. Mrs Saverini was forced to kill Ravolati because of anger, frustration and anguish.
The two murderers were both incapable of doing murders since one was old and the other was pregnant. We feel sorry for both murderers since:
- Mary is pregnant and is proud of being Patrick’s wife and is heartbroken
- Mrs Saverini’s husband is already dead in addition her only son dies and now she is alone.
Mrs Saverini is an old widow, who has lost the only one close to her, therefore has little to live for, however, Mary Maloney is still young and pregnant, moreover, she has a long life to live and a child to look forward to. This is the focal difference between the two killers; furthermore this affects the style and reaction to the murders each one has committed.
Mrs Saverini’s premeditated murder had to be precise, to fulfil her aim, yet Mary in a moment of insanity hit a piece of lamb on the back of Patrick’s head without a second thought. She then starts worrying about getting caught since she has a long life ahead and doesn’t want it to be spent in jail, while Mrs Saverini is relaxed and calm, therefore this suggests the difference between the two characters.
Name: Bashiruddin Khansab Coursework: English