The Cambridge Dictionary defines black comedy as a film/play/etc. that "looks at the funny side of things that we usually consider to be very serious, like death and illness." Dahl's story "Lamb to the Slaughter" works quite well as this kind of comedy, and I'm reminded of that every time I use it in class because students always find the story funny; however, they realize that what they are laughing at shouldn't be funny. Probably the best, specific example of this story incorporating black comedy is the story's ending. Mary laughs to herself after the one officer comments that the murder weapon must be right under their noses. Mary is laughing because she realizes exactly how literal the statement can be taken. Audiences realize this too and chuckle at the naive police officers, but we also hesitate from laughing farther because we realize it is slightly gross to be eating the murder weapon, and we realize that Mary is going to get away with murder/manslaughter.
The story's title is also darkly funny because a lamb is meek and mild. It is usually the animal being slaughtered, but it does the slaughtering in this case. That's symbolic of Mary who first appears to be much more lamb than lion, yet she very effectively becomes the person doing the slaughtering with a slaughtered animal.
What I've always found great about this story is the history behind it. Dahl and Ian Fleming were good friends with each other, and the two men were eating dinner together. The topic of the newly invented freezer came up and Dahl supposedly asked Fleming what frozen freezer item might make a good weapon. Fleming's response was to challenge Dahl to write a story that saw the protagonist commit murder with a mutton leg. The fact that Fleming could suggest such a thing is dark in and of itself, but Dahl's execution of the story makes readers chuckle at the situation because we ultimately hope that Mary gets away with it, and we love her creative disposal of the evidence.
The main example of black comedy in the story happens when Mrs. Maloney offers the detectives, who are at her house looking for the weapon used to murder Mr. Maloney, the cooked leg of lamb for supper. The detectives eat up the murder weapon without knowing it. It is funny that they talk about the weapon while eating it up. One of the detectives even says that the weapon is “probably right under their noses,” to the amusement of Mrs. Maloney.
Another example of black comedy happens at the beginning of the story. It is funny that Mrs. Maloney, who comes across as a gentle loving wife, should strike her husband dead using the single leg of lamb which is intended for supper. Afterwards, Mrs. Maloney plans her alibi so well that all the detectives are quite fooled.
Also, it is darkly funny how Mrs. Maloney answers the grocer’s question on whether she would like to buy some meat. She says that she has meat, and adds that she has a “nice leg of lamb from the freezer,” knowing very well that she had just, a few moments before, used the same “leg of lamb” to murder her husband. Also, by saying that she “has meat,” she could mean that she has lots of meat, including her dead husband’s body.
There are several instances of black comedy in Roald Dahl's "Lamb to the Slaughter." When Mary commits the murder of her husband, for example, her reaction makes light of the violence which has just occurred:
All right, she told herself. So I've killed him.
Next, after committing the murder, Mary tries to make herself appear as normal as possible. She washes her hands, for example, fixes her make-up and practices her smile in the mirror. This scene is humorous because Mary does all of these things while there is a dead body lying next to her.
Finally, Dahl uses black comedy to add humour to the final scene in the story in which the police detectives are discussing the murder weapon. They have no idea that they are, in fact, eating the weapon which killed their colleague, Patrick Maloney. The sense of comedy is further reinforced by the image of Mary laughing in the other room.
Good :-)
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