The
Monkey's Paw...
a Scheme of Suspense
By
Dina
Nabil
"Checkmate!",
and the game was over; by this situation W. W. Jacobs starts his story The
Monkey's Paw to proclaim the inescapable eternal game between man and fate.
The writer presents the dilemma between man and fate through a thread of
conflicts, external and internal, through out the three parts comprising the story.
The rhythm of incidents rises up to provoke the tone of suspense with every
single detail. This story, for sure, is not the only one written on the three
wishes theme, as it is frequently repeated in folk tales, particularly in the
so-called Aladdin and the Magical Lamp in The Arabian Nights.
However, despite the familiarity of the theme pattern, suspense does not let go
this literary work.
The
story begins introducing a Gothic atmosphere, as initial incidents take place
at a cold wet night in Laburnam Villa, an isolated area with deserted torrent
roads. The Whites were gathering beside fire; the mother knitting and son and
father playing chess. These two motifs, kitting and chess, are considered
primary clues which would mirror the story's outcome. Chess is a play of life
and death; one survives while the other does not. Knitting on the other hand,
is closely attached to the cycle of life; not to mention it is derived from the
Greek mythology of The Three Fates kitting and weaving, which is fertile to
many epics such as The Odyssey and many other literary works. Though it
is easy to predict what the story would tackle, interest is aroused by the
arrival of Sergeant Major Morris, who has just arrived from India. Morris
starts recalling "strange scenes and doughty deeds of wars and plagues and
strange peoples". Nevertheless, it could be anticipated that something
more interesting than this is going to be narrated; as India itself is
a country of mystery, legends and magic.
The
narrative hook which catches hold with the reader's eagerness is in the
following sentence by the old Mr. White:" What was that you started
telling me the other day about a monkey's paw or something, Morris?". Not
only is the characters' curiosity touched, but the reader's as well in several
audible and visual methods: the weird name of the talisman, its mysterious
looking as a dried mummy, Morris takes the paw out of his pocket, narrating
miserable stories around it and uttering its function crystal clear:" It
is a spell put on it by an old fakir who wanted to show that fate ruled
people's lives, and that those who interfered with it did so to their
sorrow". This sentence is the core of the story, as it is formerly implied
in the knitting and chess scene; moreover, it foretells the dominant conflict
in the story, between man and fate. The first external conflict,
person-against-person, starts as Morris intended to throw the talisman in fire
to get rid of its danger; however, Mr. White snatches it from fire. The rhythm
of incidents beats loudly because Mr. White does not listen to Morris' warnings
about the talisman; in addition, he asks about the way of wishing. At this point
complication rises steadily as Morris gives his last advice to Mr. White before
his departure:" Wish for something sensible".
By
Morris' departure, the narrative line never ceases moving on, though a general
sense of motionless suspense controls both the reader as well as the Whites who
were busy thinking of the talisman's abilities. Mr. White's internal conflict
occurs between what to desire for and the curiosity of testing the talisman,
because he does not know what to wish for, as he seems not needing anything,
adding to this, his wife and son Herbert doubt the possibility of any wish to
be obtained. Then Mr. White, from a motive of curiosity, utters the first wish,
which is normally about money, as in most of three wishes theme tales. The
writer is an expert in devices creating the horror atmosphere around the
wishes; suddenly after wishing for two hundred pounds, atmosphere changes: the
higher wind, the banging sound of the door upstairs and the sudden unusual
silence, as the talisman twists in Mr. White's hand like a snake. The usage of
this imagery, " talisman twists like a snake ", is an important clue
about the identity of the talisman which has several literary allusions. In biblical
perception, snake is a symbol of temptation and deception; in Adam and Eve's
story, Satan transfers into a snake and tempts them to eat from the Forbidden Tree.
Their yield to temptation led them to be kicked out from Paradise,
and then the human misery consequently. Moreover, in Jesus' story of the forty
days test, Satan appears like a snake in attempt to tempt Jesus with three
wishes of making him a king, but Jesus rejected that, and thus rescued himself
from misery. Therefore, the talisman stands for deception, temptation and a
test of inevitable consequences. The first part of the story ends up with Mrs.
White and Herbert mocking the talisman's ability of accomplishing any wish,
assuming that money would drop from the sky or be found in the middle of bed
and then his father would turn out to be a mean person and they would disown
him.
Incidents
get more complicated in the second part, as the talisman's function comes to an
action; Mrs. White watches mysterious movements from a strange man delivering
bad news about their son Herbert who was badly injured to death after being
caught in the machinery. Mr. and Mrs. White were in a great surprise, when the
two hundred pounds are presented for them as a compensation of their son's
death. At this point, the monkey's paw turns out to be the major representative
of a person-against-fate conflict of unexpected and dissatisfying consequences,
as fate is not to be played with nor be examined. Therefore; it is concluded
that the previous mistakes of Mr. White's play in chess parallel mistakes he
makes wishing on the paw. What is so ironic about the first wish is that fate
chooses the youngest of the Whites for death, leaving his parents lamenting his
loss forever, thus sometimes children carry the burden of their parents'
mistakes. The writer here drew from numerous widely known sources to renovate
typical themes and provide the reader with necessary inspiration; this theme of
a savior who carries the others' burden is another literary allusion derived from
a biblical source of the holy trinity, Father, Son and Sacred Soul. Jesus
Christ, the Son, carries the burden of human sins, though he is innocent of
them; likewise, Herbert, the son, carries his father's wrong doing by
challenging fate. Then the talisman does not seem to be the cause of
calamities, but becomes a means of lifting them up by reversing the first wish;
as a result of that, Mrs. White hysterically searches for the paw to bring her
son back to life; in other words, to change fate one more time.
The
third part presents varieties of transformations character wise; this technique
adds to suspense because conflicts are switched, the supporter becomes an
antagonist and vice versa. Mrs. White's objecting attitude against the talisman
becomes an ultimate belief in it, while Mr. White plays the role of the doubter
who sees the talisman's abilities as some sort of coincidence. The
interpretation of attitude transformation is centered on not believing in fate
and God's choices for man, though it appears in the sense of fear from the
injured dead Herbert if he comes back to life. The second horrifying
transformation is the one happened to Herbert; by accomplishing the second
wish, the playful lighthearted Herbert, the only working member of the Whites,
is transformed into a horrifying corpse or a ghost brought back to life. The
scary atmosphere which accompanies the second wish; a high wind, abrupt silence
and repetitive knocks on the door, increases suspense though it is predictable
what the third wish is going to be. Excitement
never lets go incidents especially in what may be called a race between Mr. and
Mrs. White; he wants to reach the paw to wish his last wish of not letting
their son's corpse enter the house, while Mrs. White rushes to open the door
for her son. This situation is the climactic moment, as two sorts of conflicts
are bowed together; a person-against-person conflict between Mr. and Mrs. White
as asserted before, and a man-against-fate conflict, as Mr. White's word is
against allowing their son's corpse to come back to life. The last wish is
uttered though it is not mentioned literally but could be easily identified.
The rhythm of incidents falls down as the knockings cease suddenly and a cold
wind rushes up the staircase. The story is concluded as Mrs. White utters a
wail of disappointment and misery as "the street lamp shone on a quiet and
deserted road".
Finally,
The Monkey's Paw is a Gothic short story in which W. W. Jacobs makes the
best use of widely world known allusions to state a theme of a paramount
importance; man against fate. The theme of the three wishes is one of the
crucial allusions especially because it is associated with ancient tales and
mythology, thus it bounds man with his ancestors to present the eternal dilemma
of all times. The writer made a good use of gothic stories devices to enhance
suspense in the story though its outcome could be predictable from the first
lines. The Whites, not only does their surname stand for human innocence and
primitive ignorance against massive powers, but they also represent an
archetype of human curiosity though not greed, in contrast with mysterious
dungeons of the unknown.
Dina Nabil
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