Lamb To The Slaughter By Roald Dahl Analysis
The main idea I identified in Helen Fisher's TedTalk is that love is more than an emotion, it is an inner drive which can push people to do dangerous things. This idea is represented in the short story “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl, through the character Mary Maloney.
The story focuses on Mary Maloney, the housewife of policeman Patrick Maloney. Her husband returns one evening and confesses (it is implied) that he had an affair. While in shock and disbelief, Mary finds a frozen lamb leg and murders him with a blow to the head. The rest of the story follows Mary as she tries to conceal her murder.
Helen Fisher describes romantic love as three characteristics. Craving or yearning to be together with your partner, being obsessed with your partner and being possessive of your partner. All of these characteristics are represented through Mary Maloney.
In the beginning of the story, Mary waits for Patrick to return home, “Now and again she (Mary) would glance up at the clock, but without anxiety, merely to please herself with the thought that each minute gone by made it nearer the time when he would come.” (Dahl, 31). Mary’s behaviour demonstrates her craving to be with her husband. Just the thought of him returning home was enough to make her happy. Being a housewife, she must've …show more content…
felt lonely at home by herself, which would explain her excitement waiting for her husband to return.
Mary repeatedly tended to Patrick’s needs, regardless of how trivial. She offered to pour him drinks, bring his slippers, make him cheese and crackers and cook, even though he declined each time. This shows that Mary is obsessed with Patrick. She can’t stop thinking about him. Everything she does, she does for her husband, even though he rejects it. The reason she did those things was because she was blindly in love with him. Her love and obsession for Patrick blocks out his repeated dismissals.
After Patrick confessed he had an affair Mary murdered him. She did it because she felt possessive of him. Her mindset was along the lines of, “If I can't have him, nobody can”. Mary loved her husband so much that she wanted to have him all to herself. As Helen Fisher explains, “You know, if you’re just sleeping with somebody casually, you don’t really care if they’re sleeping with somebody else. But the moment you fall in love, you become extremely sexually possessive of them,” (3:21). Mary could not stand the idea that he was part of someone else’s life. That’s why she took his life.
In the story, Mary's love was rejected when her husband cheated on her.
Helen mentioned this when speaking about the power of love, “around the world, people who are rejected in love will kill for it. People live for love. They kill for love,” (5:54). Love is powerful and it is not something to be messed with. The realization that she was no longer loved and the inner drive to feel loved was what drove her to kill him. Perhaps if he had confessed something unrelated to love, knowing Mary's character traits, she most likely would have sympathized with him. However, because his confession was about his love for Mary, or lack thereof, it triggered something in her mind to murder
him.
Mary Maloney represents love as more than an emotion. Mary craved her husband, obsessed over him and was very possessive of him. Her inner drive to be with him is what ultimately pushed her to commit murder.
The story focuses on Mary Maloney, the housewife of policeman Patrick Maloney. Her husband returns one evening and confesses (it is implied) that he had an affair. While in shock and disbelief, Mary finds a frozen lamb leg and murders him with a blow to the head. The rest of the story follows Mary as she tries to conceal her murder.
Helen Fisher describes romantic love as three characteristics. Craving or yearning to be together with your partner, being obsessed with your partner and being possessive of your partner. All of these characteristics are represented through Mary Maloney.
In the beginning of the story, Mary waits for Patrick to return home, “Now and again she (Mary) would glance up at the clock, but without anxiety, merely to please herself with the thought that each minute gone by made it nearer the time when he would come.” (Dahl, 31). Mary’s behaviour demonstrates her craving to be with her husband. Just the thought of him returning home was enough to make her happy. Being a housewife, she must've …show more content…
felt lonely at home by herself, which would explain her excitement waiting for her husband to return.
Mary repeatedly tended to Patrick’s needs, regardless of how trivial. She offered to pour him drinks, bring his slippers, make him cheese and crackers and cook, even though he declined each time. This shows that Mary is obsessed with Patrick. She can’t stop thinking about him. Everything she does, she does for her husband, even though he rejects it. The reason she did those things was because she was blindly in love with him. Her love and obsession for Patrick blocks out his repeated dismissals.
After Patrick confessed he had an affair Mary murdered him. She did it because she felt possessive of him. Her mindset was along the lines of, “If I can't have him, nobody can”. Mary loved her husband so much that she wanted to have him all to herself. As Helen Fisher explains, “You know, if you’re just sleeping with somebody casually, you don’t really care if they’re sleeping with somebody else. But the moment you fall in love, you become extremely sexually possessive of them,” (3:21). Mary could not stand the idea that he was part of someone else’s life. That’s why she took his life.
In the story, Mary's love was rejected when her husband cheated on her.
Helen mentioned this when speaking about the power of love, “around the world, people who are rejected in love will kill for it. People live for love. They kill for love,” (5:54). Love is powerful and it is not something to be messed with. The realization that she was no longer loved and the inner drive to feel loved was what drove her to kill him. Perhaps if he had confessed something unrelated to love, knowing Mary's character traits, she most likely would have sympathized with him. However, because his confession was about his love for Mary, or lack thereof, it triggered something in her mind to murder
him.
Mary Maloney represents love as more than an emotion. Mary craved her husband, obsessed over him and was very possessive of him. Her inner drive to be with him is what ultimately pushed her to commit murder.