The Monkey's Paw

"The Monkey's Paw" is a horror short story by author W. W. Jacobs. It was published in England in 1902. The story is based on traditional stories in which three wishes are granted. In the story, the paw of a dead monkey is a talisman that grants its possessor three wishes, but the wishes come with such an enormous price that the final wish is to undo all the previous ones.

Plot summary

Heedless of the Segeant Major's warnings about the cursed nature of the paw, Mr. White, encouraged by his son, Herbert, carelessly asks for £200 for the house payment. His wish is granted, but in a horrific manner: he receives a payment of £200 compensation as the result of the death of his son, who is "caught in the machinery" and mangled at his workplace. Following their son's funeral, the Whites settle into a dull and depressed existence. One night, Mrs. White is seized by a sudden idea and tries to convince her husband to wish their son back to life. At first he refuses, telling his wife, "You don't know what you are saying....He has been dead ten days." He allows himself to be swayed and wishes his son back to life. Nothing happens, and the couple, crushed by the disappointment, retire to bed. Later, they are shocked to hear a knocking at the door, whereupon the wife realises that Herbert had to journey two miles from the cemetery to their house, accounting for the delay. She rushes downstairs to open the door, nearly hysterical with joy. Mr. White, meanwhile, has been seized by terror, recognizing the horrible creature that must wait upon their doorstep - unlike his wife, he had seen the grotesquely mutilated body prior to its burial, and was able to identify it only by the clothing. Desperately groping for the cursed paw, he makes a third wish, and the knocking at the door ceases. Responding to his wife's cry of disappointment, he staggers downstairs to join her, looking out at the empty street.

Literary basis/analysis

The theme of the story resembles the Faust stories, in which there is no way to craft a wish finely enough to prevent the Devil from thwarting the wisher. A milder version is the many variants of the three wishes joke. The story is standard fare for middle and early high schoolers, where textbooks typically use the story to teach literary elements such as setting, plot, or irony. The plot device precedes The Monkey's Paw to an extent, such as in the 1831 novel La Peau de chagrin by Honoré de Balzac, in which a a talisman (skin of a wild ass) is imbued with corrupt magic capable of granting wishes but shrinks when used; once the entire talisman is used up, the owner must die.

Adaptations and variation

A great number of novels, stories, movies and plays are variations of the story or have similar plots, involving wishes that go awry in macabre ways. It is also often parodied on television shows, comics and manga.

Adaptations of the story

• A one-act play was first performed in 1907.
• There were numerous film adaptations in the silent era, as well as a 1933 talkie co-directed by Ernest B. Schoedsack, which is now a lost film.
• Michael Scott directed and starred in a short film version.
• Short film directed by James Henschen in 2003.

External links

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

The Monkey's Paw

• "The Monkey's Paw"; Full Short Story Text
• Gaslight edition of the story
• Monkey's Paw Radio Play
• The monkey's paw PDF