The Monkey's Paw Essay

The Monkey's Paw (1902) is one of the best short stories in Gothic Fiction genre. The author, William Jacobs, presents the story of the White family through the danger of wishing and also the clash between their home life and the outside world. The short story documents a supernatural occurrence, whereby three wishes are granted to the owner of the Monkey's Paw. However, the wishes will come with an enormous price for interfering with fate. Through foreshadowing, symbolism, and language devices such as metaphors, Jacobs conveys the key ideas of fate and greed. This, in turn, exposes the flaws that come from human weakness and consequently frightens and intrigues the audience through its startling realism.

The monkey's paw in itself contains

Greed is a human phenomenon that explains the act of wishing for more when it is actually unnecessary, a theme that Jacobs exploits through the technique of language devices. In the text, it shows Mr. White has a happy life but still uses the monkey's paw to wish for money, which he does not need. The monkey's paw is most effective for what Jacobs leaves unsaid. He leaves the reader imagining something much worse than he can effectively describe. As a ‘visitor at length in a low voice' told them the heartbreaking news of Herbert's tragedy, in which he was ‘caught in the machinery', Mr. White repeated in a dazed fashion, ‘yes.' Herbert died from being caught in the machinery, which went awry after Mr. White tampered with fate during his wish for more money using the monkey's paw. A consciousness runs through The Monkey's Paw, a story that concerns the fate of three lower-middle-class people. It is possible to metaphorically read the Whites' fate as something not to have been caused by greediness, but really their lack of money. If the paw was not in the picture, the Whites' would have most likely found some other ways to blame Herbert's death. The paw allows Jacob to explore greed, and inadvertently guilt, by means of metaphorical language, intriguing the audience regarding the nature of their