This is a story about a mystical monkey's paw that is brought into the home of the White family by their friend, Sergeant Major Morris who has recently returned from India. The monkey's paw has the ability to grant 3 wishes to 3 people. The Sergeant was the 2nd owner of the paw and it's 1st owner's last wish was to die. The Sergeant expresses grief over the monkey's paw and tries to destroy it, so Mr. White takes it off his hands for a small fee. His first wish is for 200 pounds, and when nothing happens immediately, he and his wife and son Herbert, think that the monkey's paw is a fake. The Whites’ first wish comes true, however they get the money from Herbert's factory after he is accidentally pulled into a machine and mangled to death. The 2nd wish is thought of by Mrs. White and it is to bring her son back to life after 10 days of being dead. Again the couple are disappointed when nothing happens immediately upon their wishing. The couple then begin to hear the sound of someone arriving at their door and a loud knocking begins. Mrs. White wants to rush to the door, thinking it is her son, however Mr. White is not so sure and tries to convince her to stay in their room. After more knocking ensures, the couple decide to go and check the door. As Mrs. White rushes to the door to open it, she realises she can't reach the lock, and drags a chair to the door while Mr. White is anxiously looking for the monkey's paw to make a 3rd wish. When he finds the paw, he makes his 3rd wish - to return whatever is at the door back to the grave, and just as Mrs. White opens the door, there is nothing there but the dark empty night.
This story, as implied by the quote written before the tale begins, is a question of being ‘careful what you wish for.’ Much of the greediness of humanity in order to gain whatever you ‘wish for’ is explored through the character of Mr White. Mr White treats his wife by dismissing her comments constantly, and ignoring her presence and reactions to events, ‘unconscious of his wife’s shriek…he dropped to the floor.’ He also dismisses her desire to ‘bring her son back’, a reasonable wish for any parent. He responds to by demoralising her with phrases like ‘you don’t know what you’re saying’ and repeatedly saying ‘for God’s sake,’ demonstrating the diminishing of women’s voices and feelings by the male patriarchy. The woman is seen as ‘hysterical’ and inferior, simply for expressing her views. Mr White is also ‘afraid of his own son’, evident by the fact that he doesn’t want to let his son into the house despite his wife’s insistence. He is perhaps afraid of the risk to himself of his son’s power and youthfulness, which Mr White no longer possesses. His power over these two individuals express his need to have power and to obtain the ‘wishes’ that will be granted by the Monkey’s paw. This story uses a lot of gothic elements - such as the metonymy of gloom and horror, an atmosphere of mystery and suspense and gender stereotypes (woman in distress). The metonymy of gloom and horror is explored through the entrance of the ‘visitor.'The visitor is firstly introduced as ‘mysterious’ who was ‘peering into’ the house, which suggests that he has a sinister intention (e.g isn’t a friendly visitor.) He paused three times at the gate, and the use of the ‘power of three’ here explores the dark connotations of that number and what it means for the gothic genre - bad luck and suspicion. In order to build at atmosphere of mystery and suspense, the writer builds up tension before the arrival of the man from Maw and Meggins. In order to build tension before the arrival of the factory worker, Jacobs uses almost a stream of consciousness to recount everything that Mrs White is seeing outside. The language is very detailed and is made up of fairly long sentences such as: ‘In mental connexion with the two hundred pounds, she noticed that the stranger was well dressed, and wore a silk hat of glossy newness.’ These long sentences create a sense of continuance, and that the thoughts will eventually build up to a crescendo. The long length of the sentences also builds up the tension, with words such as ‘mysterious’ and ‘undecided.’ These sentence lengths encourage the reader to believe something isn’t right, and that something horrible is about to occur. The insistent knocking surrounding the person at the door intensifies the feeling of suspense and tension throughout this part of the story. On the third knock the old woman screams ‘WHAT’S THAT?’ This exclamatory remark emphasises the terror surrounding the knocking on the door. The knocks create a sense of foreboding with it’s repetitive manner. A further sense of panic is exacerbated through the use of descriptive sound effects; ‘he heard the creaking of the bolt…the scraping of the chair…knocks reverberated through the house.’ These sounds give us a sense of what Mr White is hearing and experiencing, where the sounds are taking over his senses and contributing to his mentally unstable state. Typical gender stereotypes of the Victorian era are also explored. The writer describes how the wife ‘drew back with a grimace’ upon seeing the paw, which emphasises her inability as a woman to deal with superstitious or potentially dangerous items. This is different to how the men react, which is with curiosity and eagerness, emphasising their ability as men to be engaged in such news. This shows the gender stereotypes of the era - the frightful women and the powerful men. However interestingly, Mr White’s physical reaction upon realising the consequence of his wish is contrary to Victorian gender stereotypes. The old man ‘put out his hands likes a sightless man and dropped….to the floor,’ upon hearing the news of the death of his son. This is very contrary to Victorian gender stereotypes because traditionally the woman would have this reaction to hearing this kind of news. It is a very typically ‘feminine’ reaction, and emphasises the fragility of women and therefore Mr White having this reaction is completely unexpected. This story concludes with a surprise ending, a technique used by many gothic writers.
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