In “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl, Mary Maloney kills her husband, Patrick, when she finds out he is leaving her. Patrick Maloney is the center of Mary’s world. She strikes himimpulsively after she hears the shocking news. Mary escapes punishment for her crime ; sheprovides an alibi, disposes of the evidence and acts like a true grieving woman.Mary escapes punishment when she provides an alibi. after Mary kills Patrick, she goesto see the local grocer, Sam. She acts normally and makes and excuse for her presence there. “ ‘Patrick decided he...doesn’t want to go out tonight’ ”(49). She continues to make small talkand decides on some potatoes and peas. Sam suggest cheesecake as a special treat for Patrick. Mary agrees that Patrick would love to have some. “ ‘Perfect he loves it’, she said,...‘Thank youSam. Goodnight’ ”(49). Sam never does recognize anything in Mary other than her normaldevotion to Patrick. Mary escpes punishment when she disposes of the evidence. Since Mary bashes in thehead of Patrick with a frozen leg of lamb, the evidence of the murder is easy to diguise. Thepolice officers know that the leg of lamb is cooking and evnetually go into the kitchen and eat.“...they were persuaded to go into the kitchen and help themselves.”(52). The officers areoblivious to the fact they are eating the only piece of evidence and make comments about themurder weapon . One of them even makes the comment about it is probably right under theirnoses. His voice is made indistinguishable by the meat. “...their voices thick and sloppy becausetheir mouths were full of meat.”(52). The police officers eat until they are full, doing Mary ahuge favor.Mary escapes punishment when she acts like a true grieving woman. Mary comes homefrom sam’s grocery store and acts completely normal. When Patrick doesn’t answer...
