Similarities and differences between Lamb to the Slaughter and The Way Up to Heaven

Similarities

- In both stories, the husbands got murdered by their wives, directly or indirectly. 

- Both wives manage to get an alibi for themselves and got away with murder.

- The husbands took their faithful wives for granted.

- The wives were shrewd and cunning but these traits were covered up by their faithful and over - pleasing natures.

Differences 

- In Lamb to the Slaughter, the plotline sounded more interesting than The Way Up to Heaven. This is  because of the fact that Mary Maloney had to find a way to get rid of the murder weapon that she had 

used to kill Patrick Maloney. She also had to act as if she was not the murderer by acting shocked 

and innocent. In The Way Up to Heaven, Mrs Foster had to pretend that her husband was taking too 

long and to ask to chauffeur to just drive when she realises that her husband is trapped in the lift. All 

she needed to do was to wait until after her visit to her daughter. This was to let starvation cause the 

demise of Mr. Foster. It sounded very convenient for Mrs Foster to do that as compared to Mary's.

- In Lamb to the Slaughter, Patrick directly hurt Mary's feelings by giving her the shocking news. However, in The Way Up to Heaven, Mr. Foster indirectly tortured Mrs. Foster by taking his time when he went off for an outing with her, even though he knew perfectly well that she hated being late.

- In Lamb to the Slaughter, Mary wanted to kill her husband was because of the fact that she was 6 months pregnant and Patrick still only cared about his life and career. In The Way Up to Heaven, Mrs Foster did the same thing due to pure hatred for Mr. Foster.