A powerpoint on the text Lamb to the Slaughter. Designed to be used in a unit on creative writing

1. Lamb to the Slaughter Analysis 17/02
Learning intentions:
• We are learning to identify how Dahl used figurative techniques like
narrative voice and dramatic irony to engage readers
• We are learning to identify how Dahl used subversion of gender roles
and plot points to surprise and intrigue readers
Success Criteria:
• I am looking for note taking on lecture slides
• I am looking for discussion of previous lessons questions

2. Lamb To The Slaughter
Roald Dahl

3. Lesson activities
1. Discussion of the ideas explored in the text
2. Exploration of the ‘change’ depicted within the text
3. What you can use for your own writing
4. Further questions related to the Assessment notification

4. Title
Based on the title of the text, what would the audience predict what
the text may be about.

5. Dramatic Irony
• A literary technique, originally used in
Greek tragedy, by which the full
significance of a character's words or
actions is clear to the audience or reader
although unknown to the character.
"Whoever did it, he can't carry a weapon
that big around with him."
"Personally, I think the weapon is somewhere
near the house."
"It's probably right under our noses. What do
you think, Jack?”
And in the other room, Mary Maloney began
to giggle

6. Ideas of the text
What does the
“slaughter” of the
lamb also
symbolise?

7. Change

9. SUBMISSION, SUPPRESSION AND SUBVERSION
Lamb to the Slaughter
Gender stereotypes
• Dahl at first conforms to traditional
stereotypes
• He then subverts these by making
Mary active (non-passive) and
dominant.
• Furthermore, her husband literally
and figurately becomes submissive
and passive (as he is inanimate
[etymology Latin: lifeless)

10. SUBMISSION, SUPPRESSION AND SUBVERSION
Lamb to the Slaughter
Gender stereotypes questions
• Where do we see the shift in Mary’s
passivity?
• How does her language change?
• How does the narration change?
Extension:
• In what the way could this ‘change’ be
analogous to changes we've seen in our
own society.
• What is this image suggesting 

12. SUBMISSION, SUPPRESSION AND SUBVERSION
Lamb to the Slaughter
Expectations for women
• Women should ‘strive to improve
themselves’ (subtext: for men)
• Mary Maloney does experience a
change, you could argue that this
change represents a ‘self-
actualization’
• Dahl subverts the trope and has
Mary ‘self-actualize’ in a way that
is detrimental to men

13. Narrative viewpoint – what does perspective
change?
Judith Beheading Holofernes by Caravaggio – c. 1598 Judith slaying Holofernes by Artesimia Gentileschi – c. 1610
These artworks depict the same story from the Old Testament. One is painted by a
woman, the other by a man.
• Why do you think Artesimia has decided to have both women face the victim (less
passive)?
• What tropes/gender stereotypes has Caravaggio conformed to? What has Artesimia
rejected?

15. NARRATION & the emancipation of the mind

16. Showcasing the action
How does the use of third person narration enable the author to explore the events that are
occurring?
Think about:
- The reader is given a more objective interpretation of the events occurring that is not influenced by
personal feelings
- The flow of the plot
Soon, other men began to come into the house. First a doctor, then two detectives, one of whom she knew by
name. Later, a police photographer arrived and took pictures, and a man who knew about fingerprints. There
was a great deal of whispering and muttering beside the corpse, and the detectives kept asking her a lot of
questions. But they always treated her kindly. She told her story again, this time right from the beginning, when
Patrick had come in, and she was sewing, and he was tired, so tired he hadn't wanted to go out for supper. She
told how she'd put the meat in the oven-"it's there now, cooking"- and how she'd slipped out to the grocer for
vegetables, and come back to find him lying on the floor.
If this was written in a first person narrative
voice, would it be different? Longer? More
emotional?

17. However
While ‘Third Person Omniscient’ cannot be ‘influence by personal feelings’ narration can
be ‘infiltrated’ by more demanding characters.
Lets have a look at how Dahl does this

18. Narration & emancipation
Third Person Limited
She took his coat and hung it up. Then
she made the drinks, a strong one for
him and a weak one for herself; and
soon she was back again in her chair
with the sewing, and he was in the
other chair, holding the tall glass, rolling
it gently so that the ice knocked
musically against the side of the glass.
Third Person Limited with ‘borrowed
speech’
And now, she told herself as she hurried back
home, she was returning to her husband and he
was waiting for his supper. She had to cook it
well and make it taste as good as possible,
because the poor man was tired; and if she
found anything unusual or terrible when she got
home, then it would be a shock and she would
have to react with grief and horror. Of course,
she was not expecting to find anything unusual
at home. She was just going home with the
vegetables on Thursday evening to cook dinner
for husband.

19. Narration & emancipation
Limited Omniscient
She took his coat and hung it up. Then she made
the drinks, a strong one for him and a weak one
for herself; and soon she was back again in her
chair with the sewing, and he was in the other
chair, holding the tall glass, rolling it gently so
that the ice knocked musically against the side
of the glass.
Whose voice is this?
• This is the narrators own opinions, the speech
isn’t borrowed. This means we get a more
‘exact’ and ‘lyrical’ depiction of the scene
Limited Omniscient with ‘borrowed
speech’
taste as good as possible, because the poor
man was tired; and if she found anything
unusual or terrible when she got home, then it
would be a shock and she would have to react
with grief and horror.
• Here we see the narrator ‘borrow’ more of
Mary’s language. Mary has been able to
establish her thoughts, her speech and her
character into the narration. She has been
figuratively emancipated

20. Borrowed speech and changing tone
Harry Potter
Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four
Privet Drive, were proud to say that
they were perfectly normal, thank you
very much.
Mr. Dursley couldn’t bear people who
dressed in funny clothes– the get-ups
you saw on young people!
Limited Omniscient with ‘borrowed
speech’
• What part of this sentence is using borrowed
speech?
• What does this do to the tone?

21. Change & the unexpected
• List all the elements of LTTS that were unexpected

22. Change & the unexpected
• The victim
• The murderer
• The climax/crisis
• The murder weapon
• The blend of genres

23. Consider this for your own writing
• Subvert gender roles
• Defy expectations/ surprise the audience
• Subvert characters ‘self-actualisation’ or goals
• Motif and symbolism
• Narrative change mimicking character change
• ’Borrowed voice’
• The title as a motif
• Dramatic Irony

24. Questions
What is being said?
1. Based on clues from the story, what can we determine about Patrick and Mary Maloney’s marriage? Is it a happy
one?
2. How and why does Mary’s perspective of her husband change?
3. What steps does Mary take in order to cover up her crime?
4. Consider Mary’s character at the beginning of the story. By the end of the story, how has Mary’s character changed?
How is it being said?
1. The atmosphere at the beginning of the story changes dramatically. What accounts for this change? Give examples.
2. As readers, we can learn a lot about a character through their inner dialogue. There are many instances of Mary’s
inner dialogue. Find four examples of this dialogue and determine what this reveals about her personality.
3. Explain the allusion of lamb to the slaughter in the context of this story.
4. The narrator does not tell us what Patrick Maloney says to his wife. The conversation is implied. This is a good
example of SHOWING not TELLING. How does Dahl show us that something negative has been said?
5. Dramatic irony is when the reader understands something that the characters do not. Find two examples of dramatic
irony in this story. What makes them ironic?
These should have been done in Fridays class