Analysis of Lamb to the Slaughter by Roald Dahl (Essay Example)

Imagine being a detective and eating dinner, only to find out what you were eating was the murder weapon! This is what happened in the story “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl. Each version was very well made, all though there were some bad aspects to them each. The video was the best of the two. The suspense build-up and reactions were on point.  

The video and story had similarities and differences. One clear difference was in paragraphs 33-35. In the story, it makes us infer that Mr. Maloney is leaving Mrs. Maloney. The video tells us that Mr. Maloney was cheating on Mrs. Maloney with a woman named Barbara. While the two things are different, how Mr. Maloney told Mrs. Maloney was not the same either. In the video, Patrick straight up tells Mary that he is cheating on her. In the story, he only implies that he is leaving. One more difference I saw was how the video and story were sequenced. The video starts with Mary coming in to find Patrick dead on the floor. This leaves the viewers clueless about who the killer is. The story, however, starts at the very beginning and tells the readers what happened before the police officers arrive. One similarity I saw was the feelings that are portrayed in both versions. One example of this would be in paragraph 76. It is shown that Mary cries her heart out when seeing Patrick, acting as normal as one can. This is how it is in the video as well. When Mary finds Patrick, she runs over to him and bawls her eyes out. These emotions can be shown in many separate places of the story as well. Another example would be in paragraph 92. She could not move as she felt awful. This is shown in the video as well. She does not want to go anywhere. She wants to stay in one spot.   

Moving on, each version had its difficulties. The video version is better than the story, but that can be up to debate. As stated earlier, the video had Mr. Maloney say that he was cheating on Mary. This takes away the feeling and original version of the story. The talk with Mary in the story adds suspense. This is because you must infer about what just happened. It does not tell you exactly what happened. One bad thing I saw in the story was how it does not describe how Mrs. Maloney feels. It only really says how she started crying. Her emotions are shown very nicely in the video. It shows the effect of her seeing her husband dead, and how frantic she is after the fact. It represents how someone could react to seeing a family member dead. Another thing I found interesting in the video was how it started with Mrs. Maloney finding Mr. Maloney’s body. I feel like this makes the viewers confused about who did it and it is a mystery. On the other hand, I also liked the dramatic irony of both versions of the story. Once we knew who killed Patrick, the rest of the story had dramatic irony. We know who killed Patrick, but nobody else did. A good thing I saw in the story was the words used to describe objects and events. One example would be in paragraph 6. Where it states, “...holding the tall glass with both hands, rocking it so the ice cubes tinkled against the side.” The sentences show us a clear description that helps us have a better understanding of what is happening. It provides us with a picture in our heads.  An additional example would be in paragraph 15, “...sip the dark yellow drink, and she could see little oily swirls in the liquid because it was so strong.” It explains what the drink looked like, helping us imagine what was going on. Those were some of the good and bad of both versions.  

To wrap it all up, I believe the video is better. Though there are many poor aspects of both versions, they are well written and filmed. There are many differences, but the overall story is the same. Always remember – watch your back! Be careful when near legs of lamb!