Lamb
What did Mary use to kill her husband?
a lamb leg
Who did Mary kill?
her husband
Who is Mary?
the wife
What was Mary cooking?
lamb
Who ate the lamb?
the detectives
Who wrote Lam to the Slaughter?
Roald Dahl
True or False:
Mary was not pregnant.
FALSE
True or False:
Mary has a cat.
How did Mary kill Patrick?
with a lamb leg to the head
the grocery store
Why did Mary giggle in the living room?
because the detectives were eating the evidence
*This is dramatic irony: a storytelling device where the audience knows critical information that the characters do not / creates suspense and tension
- The climax/height of the irony occurs when Mary convinces the hungry detectives to eat her cooked lamb roast. The reader watches in suspense (and dark amusement) as the investigators literally consume the evidence while discussing the case.
What does Mary insist then detectives do with lamb she cooked?
eat it
What did the detectives think Mary killed her husband with?
Nothing. The suspected nothing heinous from Mary.
(the detectives did not believe Mary was capable of doing anything shockingly wicked, monstrous, or evil. They trusted her so much that they never considered she might be planning or participating in something deeply malicious)
What did Mary's husband tell her?
Which type of irony describes this situation in the book:
When Mary asks the officers to eat the lamb, she claims it would be a "favor" to her. She says this to trick them, but her actual intention (getting rid of the murder weapon) is completely concealed behind a polite, hospitable veneer/disguise.
Verbal Irony