The Monkey’s Paw
Nicole/Selena/Amanda/Lisa
Author’s Biography
W.W Jacobs:
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Born on September 8, 1863 and died on September 1, 1943 at the age of 79.
Went to a private school in London called Birkbeck College.
Was a clerk for the savings bank department from 1879-1899
He published his first short story in 1885 and he started submitting anonymous sketches
to be published in Blackfriars the same year
In the 90’s Jacobs had some of his stories published in Jerome K. Jerome and Robert
Barr's illustrated satirical magazines The Idler and Today. The Strand magazine also put
some of his work in their magazine.
The stories he wrote showed that he could continue to write and have a career as a writer.
Henry James, G. K. Chesterton, and Christopher Morley were big fans on his work
Jacobs favourite marine subjects were "men who go down to the sea in ships of moderate
tonnage."
In 1899 he became a full time writer.
In 1990 he married a woman named Agnes Eleanor who worked for women’s rights
before the right to vote. They had two sons and three daughters.
Most of Jacobs stories were about the underclass of the British.
His stories were inspired by the time he spent at the wharfs with his dad who worked
there
Known for his famous short story The Monkey’s Paw.
Plot Summary
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Old friend of Mr. White, Sergeant-Major Morris, comes to visit him and his family at
their isolated home
Mr. White brings up subject of the monkeys paw
Sergeant-Major Morris picked it up in his travels to India
Spell put on it to grant three people three wishes each
Sergeant-Major Morris had already had his
Warns Mr. White of the dangers and throws it on the fire
Mr. White rescues it and again is warned
Mr. White wishes for 200 pounds, but family is skeptical
Son dies in machinery at work and the company offers them 200 pounds
Bury their son but the wife cannot get over her grief
Wife makes the husband wish for their son back, but he doesn’t want to
Convinces him to do it because he thinks the first wish was a fluke
Mysterious pounding at the door
Husband wishes it away before the wife can get the door open
Character Identification
Mr. White
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Older gentleman, risk taker, reasonable, logical, satisfied with all that he has
Does not believe in the power of the paw but did feel it move when he wished upon it
Manages to keep his head and sees it as foolish and wicked
Wants to please wife so he wishes for the son back because he believes the first wish to
be a coincidence
 When it seems to work he comes back to his senses and protects his wife from the horror
that could have been
Mrs. White
 white-haired old lady
 Takes the power of the paw lightly at first but really wants it to be true
 Perceives things her husband doesn’t
 Very distraught over the death of her son, willing to do anything to get him back.
 Does things a normal person would deem horrifying because it is all she cares about
 Desire and love rule her so she can’t do the reasonable thing
Herbert White
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Son of Mr. and Mrs. White and the only one left to them
Young, curious, sensible, frivolous, jokes about the paw and the wish
Seems to be the more sensible person about the whole wish, in that he sees it as
ridiculous and laughable
 Dies in a round-about way because of the wish.
Sergeant-Major Morris
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Tall burly man, beady of eye, and rubicund of visage, soldier
Don’t learn personal details about him
Visiting the Whites house
Seems to have recently returned from India
Likes story telling but seems apprehensive to talk about the monkeys paw
Believes in the power of the paw, and seems to tell the story to make them interested in
taking it off of him
 Threw the paw in the fire
 As much as he warned them he seemed glad to get rid of it.
Stranger
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Nicely dressed he brings the bad and the good news. The son is dead but they get their
wish of 200 pounds
Apprehensive and ill at ease, doesn’t want to be the one to tell them.
Point of View
Third Person Omniscient Limited
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We only know what the characters know and what the author allows us to know
Puts you in the shoes of the characters – what decisions you would have made if you had
the chance to make three wishes
This point of view makes the Monkey Paw seem more mysterious as you don’t know
what it is capable of doing
The author gives you a hint that something bad is going to happen, but we don’t know
what that is until it actually happens in the story Chronological order
Setting
Early 1900’s England, in the Laburnam Villa which is isolated from other homes around it. The
story takes place mainly at night, in the parlor, and in the winter. The light of the next morning
makes the events of the night before seem laughable.
Mood/Atmosphere
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Suspenseful
Remorse/Regret
Depressed
Heartbroken/Hopeless
Empowered
Theme
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“Danger of ignorance”(theme note)
When thinking about what you want; you may lose the things you need
There is no good reward for greed, or “greed as downfall” (theme note)
Example: Herbert insisted that his father took the “cursed” monkey paw so, they can
make three wishes, even after Sergeant-Major Morris warned them about it. The family’s
act of greed was wishing for two hundred pounds and in the end they got the two hundred
pounds. But for that wish to come true the son, Herbert, loses his life in an "accident"
Conflict
Man vs. Man.
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The old man still had two wishes left, and his wife told him to wish for their son to be
alive again
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Tries his hardest to make his wife not use the paw, but in the end she forces him to, and
he gives in partly because he doesn’t believe anything will happen
 Old man is the one who has control of the wishes made with the paw and doesn’t want to
wish for his son back because he finds it morbid
 Stops his wife from opening the door but she almost does.
 He battles her desire and she battles his reasoning
Man vs. Supernatural
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The White family vs. the power of the paw
The first wish they make causes their son to die
Then try to use the power of the paw against itself and use their second wish to make
their son come back alive
Literary Devices
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Alliteration
o “Strange scenes and doughty deeds”
Repetition
o "I don't know," said the other. "I don't know."
Allusion
o "Sounds like the Arabian Nights,"
Simile
o “Such as his fried the sergeant might have carried into his first action.”
Personification
o “The words died away on his lips”
o “The darkness was oppressing.”
Understatement
o "Well, it's just a bit of what you might call magic, perhaps,"
o “Badly hurt”
Foreshadowing
o “A knock, so quiet and stealthy as to be scarcely audible, sounded on the front
door.”
o “If you keep it, don’t blame me for what happens.”
Imagery
o “…the small parlour of Laburnam Villa the blinds were drawn and the fire burned
brightly.”
o “In the brightness of the wintry sun nest morning as it streamed over the breakfast
table…”
o “the street lamp flickering opposite shone on a quiet and deserted road”
Connections to other Stories
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The Yellow Wallpaper shares a connection to The Monkey Paw through the madness that
is felt by a main character in each of the stories. In The Monkey Paw, Mrs. White is
driven into a short episode of wildness/madness near the end of the story due to her grief,
while in The Yellow Wallpaper, Jane goes mad over a long period of time, due to her
depression and confinement to a single room.
There is a second connection shared between the two stories through the care-taking roles
that the two women’s husbands take on for their wives.
The third connection shared between the two stories would be how the dubiousness of the
two husbands creates problems in the long run; Mr. White for not being skeptical of the
monkey paw really being magical, and John of the actual existence of a serious problem
with Jane’s mental health.
Gothic Criteria
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Atmosphere and setting of horror: dark, isolated house, graveyard mentioned,
flickering street light on a deserted and quiet road
Supernatural: the monkeys paw and the 3 wishes, mysterious knocking at the door,
darkness, death
Traumatic and sudden death of son
Not overly grotesque. It never went into detail about the son’s condition and what was
behind the door was never seen.
Husband questions whether it is right to wish call up the son after death
Diction: magic, spell, night, darkness, talisman
Works Cited
Jacobs, W. W. The Monkey's Paw. Mankato, MN: Creative Education, 1986. Print.
Merriman, C.D. “W. W. Jacobs” The Literature Network. Jalic Inc. 2005 25/10/2013
http://www.online-literature.com/ww-jacobs/
http://www.ourenglishclass.net/class-notes/writing/the-writing-process/craft/tone-andmood/ May 31 2012, Mr. Scott.
Themes in Literature Note, Classnet.ca, Tapper