Irony in Lamb to the Slaughter and Ruthless Literature Essay Example

A leg of lamb and a glass of whiskey turn from a perfect dinner to a perfect murder. In Lamb to the Slaughter by Roald Dahl, Patrick Maloney ironically comes to his demise in the hands of his loving wife. Similarly, in Ruthless by William DeMille, Judson poisons a bottle of whiskey to set up a trap, and instead unknowingly drinks it himself. Irony is a significant literary device used in both short stories to create suspense.

In “Lamb to the Slaughter,” Dahl uses verbal irony to create suspense when Mary artfully gets rid of the lamb, she used to kill Patrick. After the policemen and detectives work for many hours to find evidence on the death of Patrick Maloney, Mary Maloney asks for them to stay and eat the lamb that was cooking in the oven. She says that ‘“It’d be a favor”’ (Dahl 8) if they ate it. The police and detectives agree without realizing Mary used the lamb to kill Patrick. They get rid of the evidence for Mary. However, Mary literally means that it would be a favor if they got rid of the lamb. The audience is left with the element of anxiety because the policemen do not realize they are destroying the only evidence left for the murder. Dahl achieves the aspect of thrill and uneasiness with verbal irony.

In Ruthless, DeMille uses verbal irony to produce anticipation when Judson poisons the whiskey. Judson poisons the bottle of whiskey in his closet because the last time he left, a thief broke into his closet and stole his alcohol. Enraged by the event, Judson guesses that the thief ‘“will probably try it again once we are out of here”’ (DeMille 2). Once he pours in the lethal poison, Judson ominously remarks, “‘Now, Mr. Thief, when you break in, drink hearty; I won’t begrudge you this one.”’ (DeMille 2). Judson will be furious when he finds out a thief stole from his closet. Instead, he says that he will not be upset about anything being stolen. DeMille attains suspense with verbal irony when Judson says the reverse of what he means.

In “Lamb to the Slaughter,” situational irony is involved when Mary Maloney kills her husband. Mary Maloney is introduced as an innocent, pregnant woman who adores her husband. After a day of work at the police station Patrick Maloney comes back home with a worried look on his face. His wife, Mary, exuberantly welcomes him and tries to comfort him as much as she can. Then, Patrick informs her that he is leaving her for good because he loves someone else. Trying to ignore what she heard, Mary proceeds to take a leg of lamb from the freezer for dinner. She continues to be in a daze of denial until Patrick yells that he is going out. Mary walks up behind her husband, swings the “big frozen leg of lamb high in the air” (Dahl 4), and brings “it down as hard as she could on the back of his head” (Dahl 4). She kills her husband without any hesitation. At this point, the audience is well aware of Mary’s devotion towards loving her husband. It is unexpected that the loving, innocent wife became the murderer of her husband. Mary alarms the reader because she does not waver or regret her action. This adds more suspense and tension to the story because the readers are hit with a twist. The situational irony of Mary Maloney killing her husband adds to the shock and uncertainty of the reader.

In Ruthless, situational irony is incorporated when Judson gets caught in his own trap and poisons himself. In order to take revenge on the thief who stole his precious whiskey, Judson drops rat poison into the whiskey even as his wife protests vehemently against it. Later, Judson loses consciousness after tripping over an acorn and hitting his head on a table. Judson finally wakes up “dazed and half-conscious” (DeMille 3) to his neighbor Alec feeding him a drink from a whiskey glass. The drink is the whiskey that Judson poisoned moments before. Judson’s revenge plan backfires when he unintentionally drinks the same whiskey he poisoned earlier. The situational irony of Judson dying of the poison he put in the whiskey intensifies the suspense and anxiety at the end.

To conclude, irony is a significant literary device used to create suspense in the short stories “Lamb to the Slaughter” and “Ruthless”. Verbal and situational irony are both used in the short stories to add flavor and flourish to the plot. These literary devices incorporate emotion and life into the stories. With the aid of irony, the reader can walk home forever in fear of a simple leg of lamb and a small glass of whiskey.