Charles Lamb Essays. Lamb To The Slaughter

There were a lot of talented poets, writers and essayists in England. Charles Lamb and Roald Dahl were some of them. Today we are going to talk a little about their works. You are going to read about essays of Elia Charles Lamb and about a short story “Lamb to the Slaughter” of Roald Dahl.

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So, let’s talk a little about Charles Lamb and his essays and later we will discuss the plot of the tragic short story called “Lamb To The Slaughter” by Roald Dahl.

Charles Lamb

Charles Lamb was a talented person in England. His literary heritage consists of the Essays of Elia and a book with fairy tales for children.  The poet was born in London and his life was not ordinary. Nobody knows the exact information about his first seven years. They say that Charles suffered from smallpox. Later he and his sister Mary had serious mental problems. Mary’s illness was a great tragedy in their family. She spent in the mad house and in the hospital many days. But Charles found the strength to cope with these circumstances. Later he even published his book for children, which he wrote with Mary Lamb. For some time they had an active social life, they spent a lot of time with great people of that time.

Charles Lamb wrote also poems and novels. He is even the author of some sonnets. But the most popular of his works are The Essays of Elia and the Last Essays of Elia.

Essays Of Elia

The connection of these stories was published in 1823. Elia –it was Charles’s penname. He used it specially for the London Magazine. And more then fifty-three of these essays were published in this magazine. Charles used this name for an essay on the South Sea House. There worked one Italian man and Elia was his last name. After this story this name became often used in his essays. To tell the truth all the essays collected in this book were familiar to each other. But in their similarity was their success. The essays of Elia were criticized a lot, but Charles was not worry for that reason. He continued writing and enjoyed it. Years later stories written in the same style were gathered in one collection called Eliana.

Despite of his difficult life and terrible family circumstances, Charles Lamb found the strength not to give up and to do what he liked. He was a talented author and though his works are specific but they are worth reading. Remember, if you need some kind of help with your homework, our academic writing service has 24/7 custom support. We are ready to help you, just ask.

Now we are going to talk about another story called “Lamb To The Slaughter”. The story had a great success after the publishing in the Harper’s Magazine (September 1953).

The Plot

Mary Maloney was pregnant and she was waiting her husband Patrick. He was a policeman and he worked hard. Mary loved her husband and she was devoted to him. But as it often happens, the man did not appreciate her love and respect.

At that evening he came back home and Mary did not notice at once that something was wrong. As usual he drunk some wine and Mary was happy to sit near him. But Patrick was too serious and silent. He did not look at his wife. Mary thought that is was a difficult day, he was tired…the woman was ready to cancel their regular visit to restaurant, she was going to cook something at home. She could do everything for her lovely Patrick. But he refused to dinner, furthermore he told her one thing -  an awful thing. For the first minutes Mary was shocked, than she decided that it is a dream, of course, she heard nothing, everything is okay and she is going to prepare the dinner.

As a robot, Mary came to the kitchen and took the first thing from the fridge. It was lamb’s leg. No problem, she will cook it. She came back to the room and the leg of lamb was still in her hand. Them Patrick said that he did not need any supper, he was going to went away forever. He stood back and Mary came up and hit him on the head with the leg of lamb. She killed him and she seemed to wake up at once. Mary was not scared, she was a wife of a policeman and she knew about punishment. But Mary did not worry about herself - her little baby was not guilty. That’s why, Marry pulled herself together, put the meat in the oven. Then she dressed, made up and went to the shop. There she talked to the seller, bought some food and came back to the flat and find her husband killed. It was awful. She called the police and cried. It was not hard to pretend, because she really loved her husband. But she could not endure the betrayal. They say it's one step from love to hatred.

All the policemen were her husband’s friends. They asked her a lot of questions, but they could not understand what the murder weapon was. At the evening Mary invited everybody to eat a roast lamb. The policemen ate the leg of lamb and talked that the murder weapon should be very big, and maybe the killer hid it near the house.

Mary was in the next room. She listened to them and laughed. It was the end of Lamb to the Slaughter essay.

Having read this short story, I was impressed. They say that betrayal is not forgiven. I am not sure of this. But Mary Maloney loved her husband with all her heart. His words and act killed her, that’s why poor woman hit him back. But her hit was real. I advise you to read this story and think out about such situations.