Lamb to the Slaughter Essay

Drama and distrust, one of the roughly important things an author needs in their study to keep their audience entertained. Without these two elements in a story or movie, the audience would easily get bored. In order to build drama and hesitancy certain literary devices are required. In the short story, Lamb to Slaughter, the author Roald Dahl builds up this dramatic story by using imagery, irony, and strong fictional character interaction, thus cr eat doubt and a scrap of humor. One of the literary devices that were used to build drama and suspense is imagery.A conniption in the story that contributes to imagery was the one that involved bloody shame and Patrick in the beginning of the story. She swung the big frozen leg of bear high in the air and brought it down as hard as she could on the back of his chief (154 Dahl). In this scene Dahl uses imagery to show Marys violent actions as she decimates her husband. This occurred subsequently Patrick gave Mary unpleasant news . This earns suspense and leaves the readers to question her next actions. Another device that was used to realise suspense in the story was character interaction.A scene that included character interaction was between Mary and the detectives towards the end of the story. Why dont you eat up that lamb thats in the oven? (161 Dahl) The scene that this quote occurred in was when Mary was trying to convince them to eat the lamb leg that was used to kill her husband. Dahl interprets this scene into the story to illustrate Marys intentions which was to get rid of the evidence which creates suspense amongst the audience. Without this interaction, the scenario would change and the story would be less suspenseful.Dahl also used irony to effectively create suspense and drama. A scene that displayed irony was the last scene in the story when the detectives were conversing while eating the lamb leg. Personally, I speak out its right here on the premises. Probably right under our noses. Wha t you think Jack? (162 Dahl) In this conversation the detectives are talking about the weapon, which was used to kill Patrick, being on the premises not knowing that they are eating it. These quotes were also used to hint that Mary basically has gotten away with the crime.This scene therefore, was very ironic which also made the story a bit comedic. In conclusion, the author successfully made this story very dramatic and suspenseful. He was able to effectively create suspense and drama because of his use of literary devices. This story continued to grab the readers concern all the way to the end which is an example of a good story. Dahl was able to interpret irony, imagery, and character interactions into his story thus making it appealing to the audience.