Lamb to the Slaughter story
Pregnant housewife Mary Maloney bludgeons her husband to death with a frozen leg of lamb when he says that he is going leave her for another woman. Mary sets the scene to look like a struggle and puts the leg of lamb in the oven to cook. When the police arrive to investigate, they are unable to find the murder weapon, and Mary gives them the cooked leg of lamb to eat for supper. In 2009, TV Guide ranked this episode #59 on its list of the 100 Greatest Episodes. Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock. Story by: Roald Dahl.
9 total · 5 major · 4 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| coping with getting dumped | major | Mary took the news badly (to put it mildly) when Patrick said he wanted a divorce. |
| hell hath no fury like a woman scorned | major | Central to the story was the fact that a seemingly mild mannered woman suddenly bashed her husband's head in when he proposed to walk out on her. |
| husband and wife | major | Mary murdered her cheating husband, Patrick, in a fit of rage and then went to elaborate lengths to cover up her crime. |
| law enforcement | major | Two police detectives were investigating Patrick's murder. |
| spouse murder | major | Mary smote her husband with a leg of mutton after he revealed he was going to leave her for another woman. |
| divination | minor | Mary spoke of how a friend determined the gender of her unborn child by dangling a ring on a string over her belly. |
| divorce | minor | Patrick coldly and matter of factly said to Mary that they were going to get a divorce to Mary's dismay. |
| expecting parents | minor | Mary and Patrick were expecting a baby, a baby boy if the result of Mary's Ring Gender test was correct. |
| extramarital affair | minor | Patrick planned to leave his wife, Mary, to be with his paramour. A police detective spoke of how Patrick had a reputation for running around behind his wife's back. |