Roald Dahl's short story 'Lamb to the slaughter' demonstrates appropriate examples of deception and role reversal. This essay will consist of the elaboration on the role reversal of "Lamb to the slaughter" and examples from the story will be quoted as well as discussions that will follow on how Roald Dahl warns the reader of things that not everything is at is seems.
In the beginning, Dahl introduces the setting as a "warm and clean" room. This gives the reader a visual on how the ambiance inside the room is, as well as how often its cleaned or looked after.
The "two table lamps alight- hers and the one by the empty chair opposite" enlightens the reader of the current setting and the amount of characters that are introduced so far.
The reader becomes aware of the first character, Mary Maloney, as soon as she is mentioned. The first paragraph also characterize Mrs. Maloney; a devoted and patient wife, waiting upon her husband's return.
Her appearance, described as six months pregnant, her skin of translucent quality, her mouth and her eyes, dark, invites a comforting presence and image of who Mrs. Maloney is, to the reader.
Because of her appearance and descriptive possible personality, does the reader underestimate her abilities, and thus, when she kills her husband, it brings climax into the story. The role reversal is when the devoted wife, whose life revolves around her husband, Patrick Maloney, suddenly kills him due to anger, after Roald Dahl create her personality to be calm.
Patrick Maloney also reverses roles, seeing as he is a senior in the police department and knows well between right and wrong, yet he wants a divorce from his wife. The reader suspects the cause to be an affair.
Mr. Maloney, a detective, becomes a murder victim and this is also seen as role reversal. A person who lives to solve crimes and find suspects, suddenly gets killed.
Thirdly, the once innocent leg of lamb, originally used for supper, becomes a murder weapon. It is role reversal, critical to a crime.
And lastly, the rest of the police officers, Patrick's colleagues, comforts Mary Maloney although they are supposed to try their best to solve the crime. The roles reverses when they do not suspect the wife as a murderer. As soon as they "demolish" the evidence by eating it, the roles reverse once again.
In conclusion, Roald Dahl's "Lamb to the slaughter" demonstrates how appearances can be deceiving. the roles of the story's characters reversed to create climax. A devoted wife suddenly kills her own husband, a police officer has an affair with another woman and commits adultery. In the end, their roles were reversed by deception.
YOU ARE READING
The complete school reports and essays
RandomYou have a school report or a 500 word long essay? You need inspiration? You hate being cheesy to come up with a cool or cute poem? You need an example? Or do you need a piece for drama? What about a prepared or unprepared reading? Look no further...
