The Monkey's Paw by W. W. Jacobs [PDF]
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The first wish in The Monkey's Paw is a modest one. Mr. White admits he already has all he wants, and asks for just two hundred pounds to clear the house.
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The Monkey's Paw by W. W. Jacobs
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Information: The Monkey's Paw
- Author: W. W. Jacobs
- Publication Date: 1902
- Main Characters:
- Mr. White: An elderly father living at Laburnam Villa, curious about the paw, who admits he already has all he wants and makes the first wish almost as a joke
- Mrs. White: His wife, practical and skeptical at first, who turns to the paw in desperate grief after losing her son
- Herbert White: Their cheerful grown son, who teases his parents about the paw and becomes the price of the first wish
- Sergeant-Major Morris: An old soldier back from India who brings the paw to the house, warns the family against it and throws it on the fire
- The man from Maw and Meggins: A nervous visitor from Herbert's employer who arrives with terrible news and a payment of exactly two hundred pounds
- Brief Summary: On a stormy night, Sergeant-Major Morris visits the White family and tells them about a mummified monkey's paw on which an old fakir put a spell, so that three separate men could each have three wishes from it. Morris throws it on the fire, but Mr. White rescues it and, half joking, wishes for two hundred pounds to pay off the house. The next day his son Herbert is killed in an accident at work, and the company offers exactly two hundred pounds in compensation. Mad with grief, Mrs. White insists on using the second wish to bring Herbert back, and a knocking soon begins at the door.
- Thematic Analysis: The story explores fate and the danger of trying to change it, the cost of greed, and the limits of human control over life and death. Jacobs builds dread through what he leaves unseen, letting the reader imagine what stands behind the door.
- Historical Context: W. W. Jacobs published the story in Harper's Monthly Magazine in September 1902 and collected it that same year in The Lady of the Barge. It appeared at the height of the British Empire, when souvenirs and tales brought back from India fed a popular fascination with the exotic, and it was adapted for the London stage in 1903.