Irony In 'Lamb To The Slaughter'

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Mary had a little lamb,
Its fleece was white as snow;
And everywhere that Mary went
The lamb was sure to go."
This seemingly innocent nursery rhyme by Sarah Hale is about a little girl who brings her pet lamb to school. Another short text is the story by Roald Dahl, "Lamb to the Slaughter," which involves another Mary and a lamb. It is about Mary Maloney, who is a gentle and loving wife to a policeman named Patrick. On a day just like any other day, her husband tells her something that makes her upset. Trying to continue the normal routine, she retrieves a leg of lamb from the freezer to fix supper for her husband, carries it upstairs, and stands behind her husband, gripping the leg in her fists. The leg comes down on Patrick's head, …show more content…
One example of this is situational irony. “All right, she told herself. So I've killed him." This causes irony because the role swap. Instead of the shepherd leading the lamb to the slaughter, the lamb leads the shepherd to the slaughter. In this case, Patrick is the shepherd who is used to leading his wife around. But, she surprisingly leads the unknowing shepherd to his death. Even though Mary is portrayed as a lamb, there is also a literal lamb in the story; the leg of lamb that is used as the murder weapon. This quote provides proof of that: "...she swung the big frozen leg of lamb high in the air and brought it down as hard as she could on the back of his head." This is ironic because in the Bible, the lamb is being killed, but the lamb is doing the killing in the story. So, the innocent wife is not as innocent as she …show more content…
Roald Dahl uses the phrase" Lamb to the Slaughter," in his title to allude to the biblical passage Isaiah 53:7. There is an ironic contrast formed between the "lamb" in the story and the one in Isaiah 53:7. The story presents a theme that those who appear innocent should not be underestimated because, most of the time, they are anything but innocent. Mary had a little lamb ends in a rebellious way. In the actual history behind the story, a little girl named Mary actually does bring her lamb to class, even though it is against the rules. This disrupts the teaching and makes the kids rowdy. This connects with Roald Dahl's story because is begins with an an innocent woman and ends in a murder and the cover up. In both texts, It is a surprise to the reader that an innocent creature can cause so much
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