Death Of The Moth Rhetorical Analysis

The subject of death is one that many have trouble talking about, but Virginia Woolf provides her ideas in her narration The Death of the Moth. The moth is used as a metaphor to depict the constant battle between life and death, as well as Woolf’s struggle with chronic depression. Her use of pathos and personification of the moth helps readers develop an emotional connection and twists them to feel a certain way. Her intentional use of often awkward punctuation forces readers to take a step back and think about what they just read. Overall, Woolf uses these techniques to give her opinion on existence in general, and reminds readers that death is a part of life.

Woolf’s pathos to begin the story paints a picture in readers minds of what the

moth should look like. “Moths that fly by day are not properly to be called moths… They are hybrid creatures, neither gay like butterflies nor sombre like their own species” (Para 1). Without describing the moth specific to the story, butterflies and daytime moths are ruled out. An assumption can be made from this about what kind of moth she is describing: a dark, nighttime moth. The fact that the moth is flying at night makes readers visualize a nighttime, or early morning setting.
Woolf’s vivid descriptions introduce the scene around her and create a different atmosphere than what one might initially think.

She describes the September morning as “mild, benignant, yet with a keener breath than the summer months.” She then goes on to describe the field outside her window, using word choice that is quite the opposite of words that would be used to describe a depressing story. She depicts the exact opposite of death, and creates a feeling of joy, happiness, and life to the world outside her room. After this, she goes into great detail about the “festivities” of the rooks among the treetops, and how they “soared round the treetops until it looked as if a vast net with thousands of black knots in it had been cast up into the air”. There is so much going on around her that “it was difficult to keep the eyes strictly turned upon the book.” Descriptions like these are no way to describe a seemingly depressing story about a moth, but by using these, joyful descriptions, Woolf connects everything happening outside to a single strand of energy. These images set a lively tone for the world around her, and now allow her to further introduce the moth into the story.

One article article analyzing The Death of the Moth writes: “With the use of the pronoun “he,” we see how Woolf anthropomorphizes the moth, and in that vein she continues the metamorphosis… He is not just a representative of a species; he is an individual” (Dubino). By changing her description from moths in general to this single moth, Woolf has created a subject that can be given human-like thoughts and feelings. She refers to the moth as “he” throughout the rest of the essay to personify

it.
Now that the moth has been personified, Woolf’s continued use of pathos and punctuation throughout the story makes it feel personal. Her descriptive words that appeal to the senses help place readers in the middle of the story, able to watch every movement of the moth with their own eyes. Woolf writes: “he flew vigorously to one corner of his compartment, and, after waiting there for a second, flew across to the other. What remained for him but to fly to a third corner and then to a fourth?” Words such as “vigorously” detail how hard the moth is trying to do such a seemingly simple task, but more importantly, Woolf’s abrupt use of punctuation creates the feeling that she waited for the moth to make a move before continuing her writing. It’s as if she wrote down her thoughts as she went, used a comma to pause her thought, then resumed when the moth continued its movement. Woolf could just have easily wrote: “he flew vigorously to one corner of his compartment and after waiting there for a second, flew across to the other.” Her awkward punctuation is a subtle way to force readers to pause and visualize the moths movements in their mind.
People generally don’t think about the decisions of insects, and besides basic functions, there is little evidence to show the reasoning behind their decisions. Woolf sees the actions of the moth as life itself. She writes: “there was something marvellous as well as pathetic about him. It was as if someone had taken a tiny bead of pure life and decking it as lightly as possible with down and feathers, had set it dancing and zig-zagging to show us the true nature of life” (para 3). The inclusion of “down and feathers” was used to reinforce the frailty of the moth, but the interesting part here is how she related this to the “true nature of life”. Her descriptions of the “pathetic” dancing and zig zagging of the moth helps shed light on Woolf’s view of the subject. Considering moths have historically been used as symbols for death, the moth is a metaphor for both life and death. It lives its life accomplishing its basic functions, flies around with little true purpose, and eventually dies. Based on her previous thoughts, Woolf believes that the same can be said about all animals, including humans. Woolf then refers to the moth as “a machine, that has stopped momentarily, to start again without considering the reason of its failure. This metaphor of the moth to a machine, and the fact that the moth is also a metaphor for humans in general, leads to an idea that all animals are like machines, who ultimately only live to serve their basic functions and biological goals. This is one part of the reason Woolf does not help the moth when she notices it fall.
Woolf “stretched out a pencil, meaning to help him to right himself” (para 4). Then she suddenly realizes the moth is about to die. This causes her to lay her pencil down instead of continuing her attempt to set it upright. This gives further insight about Woolf’s opinion on death, continuing her idea that death comes for everyone, regardless of how hard the moth, or any creature fights. This being said, there may be a deeper meaning to this than her simple opinion on death. “Woolf suffered from extreme depression, and … her mental illness ultimately led to her suicide” (Castillo). Her suicide occurred in 1941, a year before The Death of the Moth was actually published, which means the essay was written somewhat close to her death. Her use of the word “pathetic” to describe the actions of the moth and her feeling of pity towards it could represent how she felt about her own life in general. Perhaps she was referring to herself as the moth, and detailing how she felt about her attempts to improve women’s rights in the 1900’s as pathetic. Woolf seems to be playing around with the idea of death in this essay, as if the dancing” and “zigzagging” of the moth reflected her own constant, up and down struggle with suicide. Her actions with the pencil reflect an idea that she should not interfere with something that is going to die soon anyway, because there is nothing she can do.
Woolf’s personification of death further enhances her ideas about it. “One could only watch the extraordinary efforts made by those tiny legs against an oncoming doom which could, had it chosen, submerged an entire city, not merely a city but masses of human beings”. (para 5) In this quote, Woolf gives death a physical meaning. She refers to death as “it”. By doing this, death becomes an entity who could be anywhere at any time, and yet, chooses the moth as its victim. Woolf seems curious about death, and wonders why the frail moth was chosen to be killed instead of anyone or anything else.
Woolf’s use of pathos in the first paragraph gives her second description of the outside world much more meaning. Upon the moth’s death, “Stillness and quiet had replaced the previous animation,”and “the horses stood still” (para 5) was a way to acknowledge the moth’s death. Due to the sudden change in atmosphere of the outside world, the feeling of pity for the moth is enhanced. The fact that the moth is suddenly dying away in what was previously a world of energy and excitement makes its death quite depressing. Woolf then notes that the moth “lay most decently and uncomplainingly composed” (para 5). She believes that although the moth tried frantically to stay alive, he eventually accepted his fate, as death is a part of life. “O yes, he seemed to say, death is stronger than I am” (para 5). This closing statement is a powerful one, as it swiftly sums up the entire essay into one closing statement that death eventually overpowers all creatures, regardless of their attempts to survive.
Woolf’s essay was a thought provoking one, which revealed her opinions about life and death as a whole through her use of personification of the moth. Her pathos helped readers visualize the scene, and her punctuation forced readers to rethink the writing. But most importantly, her use of a simple insect as a metaphor to describe life, death, and her own experience with depression, gave a whole new meaning to what seemed like a simple, almost boring essay. Considering her suicide shortly after writing the it, the essay becomes deeper, and more personal. Overall, The Death of the Moth was Woolf’s way of detailing the power, mystery, and struggle that is death, combined with its relationship to life.