Irony is one of the most commonly employed literary techniques in "Lamb to the Slaughter." It is ironic, for example, that the main character, Mary, is described early on as having "placid eyes," but she then goes on to murder her husband—the very antithesis of being placid.
Moreover, Patrick's request that Mary does not cause any "problem" for him in the divorce is given an ironic twist by the very fact of his murder. Mary's...
Irony is one of the most commonly employed literary techniques in "Lamb to the Slaughter." It is ironic, for example, that the main character, Mary, is described early on as having "placid eyes," but she then goes on to murder her husband—the very antithesis of being placid.
Moreover, Patrick's request that Mary does not cause any "problem" for him in the divorce is given an ironic twist by the very fact of his murder. Mary's use of the leg of lamb as a murder weapon is also ironic when the meat that was designed to nourish Patrick is instead used to end his life.
In a final twist, Mary feeds this leg of lamb to the policemen who come to investigate Patrick's death; they sit in her home, with mouths "full of meat," and have no idea they are eating the murder weapon they are so keen to discover.
By employing irony in this way, Dahl adds an element of dark humor to his story and suggests Mary might just get away with murder.
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