We’ve all seen how divorces go down. Lots of screaming, tears, and… blood?

Murder Mystery

The story of ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ is one of a dysfunctional marriage… with a dark twist. Mary Maloney, the main character, is a pregnant woman married to a detective. Whereas she is strongly attached to her husband, he does not reciprocate her feelings, abruptly ending their marriage within the first scene of the story. 

It goes downhill from here. Shocked and delusional, she grabs the first thing she finds the cellar—a frozen leg of lamb—and kills her husband in one blow. Talk about psycho. 

Throwing the leg of lamb into the oven, she calls the nearby police department in a fake state of frenzy. With some decent acting and a geniusly hidden piece of evidence, the 4 policemen that show up are completely unsuspecting of her crime. 

And the best part? Mary convinces the policemen to help her finish a rather large supper she had made. While they were reluctant at first, they finally agree. Yep. You guessed it. The policemen eat that leg of lamb.

Irony

The irony in this short story is strong. Really strong. In fact, it’s what makes you gasp towards the ending (or laugh if you’re into murder mysteries). 

If you’re not convinced just yet, let me put it this way: a woman kills her significant other with a piece of lamb, then tricks his best friends into consuming it. 

And the last three lines wrap up the story nicely—with a splash of irony of course. It’s the dialogue of the policemen discussing where the murderer’s weapon could be, right as they stuff their faces with lamb. 

I won’t spoil it, but I will say this: it made me smile at 12:45am on a Wednesday night.

I don’t know about you, but I can hardly move my face past midnight. If it can get a reaction out of me, I’m sure it’ll do the same to you.

And that’s exactly what the irony in this story should do for the readers—evoke a reaction. It’s impactful, grabs the reader’s attention, and leaves them with a memorable impression of the story. Dahl builds up the irony sentence after sentence, until he finally ends the story in a way that leaves your palm in your face. 

Dahl… genius or child?

In my opinion, Lamb to the Slaughter is a short story with a purpose to entertain (no professional analysis found online). After all, it’s suspenseful, captures your attention, and resides in your memory for weeks after an initial read.

But I’d like to think there’s some deeper reasoning behind Dahl’s motives for writing this piece. It’s no surprise that he’s considered one of the greatest literary writers of all time; short stories such as Matilda and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory are filled with meaning that remain popular to this day. 

After snooping around on the internet, I think I’ve found a deeper connection between Dahl’s life and this story: his life as a child. 

There’s a typical stereotype that influential people all have a powerful background. Mark Twain grew up in a typing store. Einstein went to 6 different colleges. Trump received a small loan of a million dollars from his father.

Dahl, on the other hand, was your typical class clown. He spent his childhood days placing dead mice in candy jars, running over his younger sisters on tricycles, and being an overall mischievous troublemaker. 

And yet, he remained an excellent student. With offers from both Oxford and Cambridge University, he had a future of literary education delivered to him on a diamond platter. 

So what did he do? He denied them both. 

That’s why I think Dahl is such a powerful writer. He has his own unique style, uninfluenced by the professors at Oxford that teach thousands of people how to write the same exact way. 

Dahl’s writing comes from within—the mischievous personality that never left him as a child. His writing is filled with humor and irony that catches the reader off guard sentence after sentence. 

The Lamb of the Slaughter is no different. The irony, humor, and unique characters makes his playful voice come alive. I mean, come on. What kind of an author creates a lunatic wife that kills her husband with a giant chunk of lamb? 

The way I see it, the story is exactly like a great prank. It leads you in, unknowing of what’s going to come next. All of a sudden, a series of ironic twists leave you blindsided and chuckling to yourself. 

Let’s face it. We all love to play pranks. Maybe it’s whoopee cushions, pies in the face, shaving cream birthday cakes—you know what I mean. Dahl does too. The only difference is that he does it through literary masterpieces. 

Theme

For a prank, Dahl sure does leave a powerful message in his short story: things and people are not what they appear to be.

It’s nothing out of the ordinary, but it’s sure a relevant and fitting one. 

Pranks are literally built upon this overarching idea. You want to lead your target astray, leaving them susceptible to whatever you might be plotting.

But what happens when it’s not just a prank?

All of a sudden, it’s not so fun anymore. The girl you thought you were going to marry cheats on you. The person you thought was your best friend leaves you to chase money and fame. That chocolate chip cookie turns out to be oatmeal raisin.

So what do we do? Well, an article from consciouslifestylemag tells us that “instead of getting upset over apparent disasters, recognize that events have no inherent meaning.”

And honestly, I agree. Taking things at face value are never a good idea. 

Now, I’m no relationship expert, but I can tell you that chasing your crush for looks alone will almost never end up well. You seek love, but you find yourself with a dent in your heart.

Or maybe you’re chasing a shallow idea of happiness—drugs, money, sex, etc. In the end, you find yourself more depressed than ever.

In the end, it’s critical to keep an open mind and think deeply about the things you’re getting involved in. 

If we don’t, we might end up consuming the very things we desperately seek.

Works Cited

https://www.notablebiographies.com/Co-Da/Dahl-Roald.html

The Mystery of the Moment: Why Things Are Not Always What They Seem

https://www.classicshorts.com/stories/lamb.html