Three Versions of Lamb to the Slaughter Essay Example

There are three different versions of the story “Lamb to the Slaughter” each of which is different. The plot of the stories are similar but do have differences. 

In the original version of this story Mary Maloney’s Husband went home at a normal time. He seemed worried about something and declares that he will be leaving her. She sadly got the lamb out of the freezer despite him not being hungry and whacked him on the back of his head with the frozen meat. Afterwards, she went on about her day. She then called the police when she got home. While the overarching story is the same in both of the renditions, some key details are different. In both of the short films Patrick, her husband gets home early. This detail was not added in the original Lamb to the slaughter. In the black and white interpretation, once Mary comes home she knocks everything over to make it look like someone had broken in. I believe that they did that to add some more suspense by not doing anything that would break the tension and feeling that had already been built. However, the plot of this story remains largely the same. They didn’t change much most likely because changing the plot of this story would change the message they wanted to convey. 

Despite them not changing the plot, they took a decent amount of creative liberty with the characters. In the original Lamb to the slaughter, the main character, Mary is a calm individual who is great at acting well under pressure. But, in the 1979 adaptation Mary is a much more emotional person who, although is still good at acting, is much more distraught than the other two portrayals. Patrick, the husband and victim to Mary, is a reserved and quiet person. The other portrayals decided to make him talk and express his emotions more. This was probably added to make the characters more able to empathize with. 

The music in the two films is very similar. As the events occur the music gets more and more tense creating an abundance of suspense. The lighting is also very similar in both with a very bright lighting throughout the course of the film.