W. W. Jacobs was born in Wapping, London; he went to private school and later attended Birbeck College which is now a part of the University of London. In 1885 he published his first short story and in 1900 he married and had a daughter. Jacobs published many works, mostly short stories. In 1902 "Lady of the Barge" was published, which was a collection of short stories written by him and included "The Monkeys Paw." After World War I Jacobs' story out put declined. Jacobs died in Islington, London for unspecified reasons. His last publication was "Sea Whispers" in 1926. For this essay, I plan on using New Criticism, specifically looking at symbolism, foreshadowing and irony.
The elderly Mr. and Mrs. White live together with their son Herbert. One day their friend Sergeant-Major Morris visits and tells about the monkeys paw he has in his possession and also of the consequences of using its powers to grant three wishes. He attempts to burn it in the fireplace but Mr. White takes it out and plans to use the three wishes for himself. After Morris leaves, Mr. White wishes for 200 pounds, but nothing happens right away, except that Mr. White thinks the paw twitched. The next morning, Herbert leaves for work and a little while after that a man shows up at the Whites' house who comes from Herbert's job and stated that he was caught in the machinery and killed, and gave the Whites 200 pounds in compensation. 10 days after Mr. and Mrs. White bury their son, Mrs. White is hysterical from her sons' death and makes her husband wish Herbert back to life, which he does unwillingly. Mr. White does not want Mrs. White to see Herbert because his body was so torn up from the machinery and was also buried for over a week. After a short time, something starts knocking at the door. Mrs. White frantically runs to the door to open it for Herbert but she cannot reach the lock, so she grabs a chair and drags it too the door to open it. While this is happening, Mr. White was searching for the monkeys paw which had fell on the ground. When he found is he wished his son back to the dead just in time so when Mrs. White opened the door, no one was there.
Symbolism is a major part of the story. There are several symbols in this story. First and most obvious is the 1) monkeys paw. Next is 2)the game of chess, Sergeant-Major Morris and fire 3)the well dressed man and the 200 pounds 4) death, darkness, and zombie.
The most obvious and significant symbol in the story is the monkeys paw itself. The monkeys paw is used so much in the story, it can clearly be seen as more of a motif than just a symbol. The monkeys paw can represent several different things. First, it represents peoples greediness and their wanting to change the future to better themselves. Only someone who is unhappy with their life and is greedy will use the monkeys paw to fulfill their wishes and dreams. The Whites initially wish for 200 pounds signifying that they were poor or in poverty. If they were wealthy I do not believe the Whites would have wished for money. As per the story, an old fakir put a spell on the monkeys paw to show that fate ruled people's lives, and that those who interfered with it will have consequences. This old fakir was showing that no one should try to interfere with fate and that there is a god who has a plan for everyone. And this was no exception for the Whites; when Mr. White wished for 200 pounds, he got it, but lost his son in the process. The monkeys paw could represent a number of other things; darkness, evil, history, magic or voodoo, and mystery. On the other hand, thee is always that slight coincidence that it is just an ordinary monkeys paw and all the stuff that happened to the Whites was on coincidence or the Whites were already cursed somehow.
A significant group of symbols in the story was the game of chess that was being played by Mr. White and Herbert in the beginning of the story, the fire in the living room and their old friend Sergent-Major Morris. This game of chess could represent the type of relationship Mr. White has with his son Herbert. This shows that they are close to each other in that they take the time to sit down and play games with each other, as a close father-son relationship would. The fire represents a warm, comforting home as the boys play chess and Mrs. White sits by the fire knitting. Sergeant-Major Morris is a close friend of the Whites. He represents old friends visiting a home which completes the picture of a cozy homely type of home. Aside from the story, the dictionary of symbolism shows that fire can represent as the main symbol of hell, it can bridge between mortal and gods. It can also be a force of purification; while it may destroy things it may be better in the long run. It can also represent divinity, knowledge, wisdom and libido. Sergeant-Major Morris ends up throwing the Monkeys Paw in the fire trying to destroy it. He knows although he is destroying this talisman, it is better in the long run so it does not cause any misfortune to others and thus providing a force of purification of the monkeys paw, until Mr. White took the paw out of the fire.
Another significant group of symbols is the well dressed man and the 200 pounds.
After receiving the monkeys paw from Sergeant-Major Morris, he first wishes for 200 pounds to help renovate the house. The 200 pounds not only symbolizes money and wealth but it can symbolize the Whites' lack of wealth and greed. If they had already been wealthy than they would not have wished for more money. This shows that the Whites were poor, or in poverty. But as Sergeant-Major Morris had said earlier in the story speaking of the old fakir who put the spell on the monkeys paw, that all wishes will come with a consequence. So, the next day after Herbert went off to work a well dressed man appeared at the Whites' front door. Before he could even say anything Mrs. White immediately connected him with the wish on the monkeys paw. And with that, the man explained that Herbert was stuck in machinery and was killed in which the company offered 200 pounds in compensation. This is not only a show of symbolism but is also a good example of irony.
The last group of symbols in the story are death, darkness and zombie. Mr. White used the first wish for 200 pounds and got it. He also had his son killed by machinery. Coincidence? Probably not. With Herbert dead, Mrs. White has been hysterical over her sons death. Death is really a symbol in itself. It symbolized the dead, grievance, sadness, and in some cultures the celebration of beginning a new life or greater life. It could also represent the undead. The story also mentions darkness a few times in the story. According the the dictionary of symbolism, darkness represents a primitive chaos as well as being associated with death, destruction and captivity. It can be linked to the time spent in the womb and seed germination as well as bad judgement, misfortune and ignorance. The last three adjectives mentioned greatly describe the Whites' after making that first wish which killed their son. The zombie of Herbert does not just represent the undead, but it also represents all the selfishness of their parents, their greediness and also exactly what the old fakir said about the monkeys paw having consequences to those seeking to change fate.
Foreshadowing plays an important role in this story. Foreshadowing is to present an indication or a suggestion of beforehand (The Free Dictionary). In other words, something that is suggesting that something else is going to happen. There are several examples of foreshadowing in this story in which also enhance Jacobs writing. The first example of foreshadowing is when Sergeant-Major Morris visits the Whites' home and tells of the monkeys paw tale. He makes a point to say "It had a spell put on it by an old Fakir," said the Sargent-Major, "a very holy man. He wanted to show that fate ruled people's lives, and that those who interfered with it did so to their sorrow. He put a spell on it so that three separate men could each have three wishes from it." This is a very significant line in the story and pretty much gives away that something bad is going to happen to the Whites' when Mr. White decides to take the monkeys paw. Another example of foreshadowing is the setting of the story itself. The setting is many years ago before electric was invented, I am guessing around the 1800's as the last sentence of the story stated a streetlamp indicating that it was probably an oil lamp. The story takes place in the Whites' home which seems to be in this dark, foresty type of hard-to-get-to area with a lot of wind and a quiet deserted road. This setting gives the story a very spooky feel to it. Another example of foreshadowing is when Mr. White wishes for 200 pounds and he did not instantly receive them. This is foreshadowing that something is going to happen, specifically to Herbert, who was making jokes of the monkeys paw the whole day up until he went to work and was killed. It was then that the Whites' received the 200 pounds. A similar example of foreshadowing is when Mr. White used his second wish to make his son alive again after 10 days of him being dead and mutilated my machinery. It was also a dark and stormy night that he did this, making it all too perfect for a zombie of their dead son to come knocking on the door in the middle of the night.
Irony was also a significant element in "The Monkeys Paw." Irony is defined as the use of words to express something different from and often opposite to their literal meaning. The main idea in the story that best describes the irony is when Sergeant-Major Morris is telling about the monkeys paw and where it came from. He said, "It had a spell put on it by an old fakir," said the sergeant-major, "a very holy man. He wanted to show that fate ruled people's lives, and that those who interfered with it did so to their sorrow. He put a spell on it so that three separate men could each have three wishes from it." (The Monkeys Paw.). I believe that moral of the story is to be careful for what you wish for. I believe this because although you may get your wish, there may be severe consequences to it. For example, when Mr. White wished for 200 pounds, he got it, but ended up having his son killed for it in exchange. And the same type of irony applies to when Mr. White makes the second wish. Mrs. White makes Mr. White wish for their son to be brought back to life after 10 days of death and mutilation from the factory machine. Mr. White doesn't want to but does so because his wife is going mad. When he does this, Herbert is brought back to life but comes back as a zombie so Mr. White has to wish him away before his wife sees her only son like that.
I believe that Jacobs created a very in depth and great literary work. I really enjoyed "The Monkeys Paw," it was one of the few stories I remember reading from High School. Although I have not read his other works, I may plan to in the future. After analyzing his story through the new criticism theory, I believe that he put a lot of in depth thought into every detail into not only this story but most likely all of his other works as well.
Definition of Foreshadowing and Irony: The Free Dictionary. "Foreshadow." "Irony."
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/
Jacobs, W.W. "The Monkeys Paw." Lady of the Barge. England. 1902. Excerpt from Dark: Stories of Madness, Murder and the Supernatural. Ed. Clint Willis. New York, NY. 30 Oct 2000. Print
Jacobs Biography: Wikipedia- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._W._Jacobs
Citation of Darkness, Fire: Protas, Allison Brown, Geoff Smith Jamie et al. "Darkness." "Fire." Dictionary of Symbolism. 1997. Web. 12 April 2010. http://www.umich.edu/~umfandsf/symbolismproject/symbolism.html/M/moon.html
06/10/16
9 years ago
