The Monkey's Paw (Character Analysis -I )

 

Mr. White

At the beginning of the story, Mr. White lives a cozy, domestic life with his wife, Mrs. White, and his son, Herbert, who amusedly accepts his father’s frustrated outbursts over his fate. Mr. White appears drawn to the power of the monkey's paw, even though his son teases him about believing in the paw’s magic and Morris warns him of the consequences. By the end of the story, a grief-stricken Mr. White has learned the consequences of trying to alter fate. Mr. White’s progression from a content, if somewhat restless, family man to a childless man apathetic to his wife, shows how one should accept fate and not try to alter it through reckless or treacherous means unless they want to lose what they hold dear. By the climax of the story, Mr. White himself seems to fully learn the consequences of tempting fate, as he fears that after wishing his son back alive, a mangled corpse will come to their home. Yet Mr. White’s relationship to reality is dubious throughout the story. He claims he sees the paw move on its own, but no other character verifies this. The tragedies that befall him could be a direct result of his wishing on the paw, but they could also just be coincidences that he subscribes supernatural meaning to because of his belief in fate-altering magic. Mr. White’s opaque, shifting relationship to reality shows the troubled state of mind one enters when one attempts to change destiny through supernatural means.

Mrs. White

Mrs. White is the wife of Mr. White and the mother of Herbert. She represents the happy domesticity present inside the house at the beginning of the story, as she knits by the cozy fire, soothes her husband’s temper, and enjoys spending time with her son. The appearance of the monkey's paw disrupts this domesticity, because although Mrs. White teases Mr. White for giving credence to the paw, she also anxiously awaits the arrival of any visitor that might bring the wished-for money. However, the stranger who does bring the money also brings the news that her son is dead, thus shattering her once happy home life. Herbert’s death leaves Mrs. White feeling apathetic and surrounded by her grief. She is emotionally separated from her husband, as after the death of their son they speak little to each other. Her grief makes her frantic and argumentative, and she then comes to believe that she can bring her son back to life using the monkey’s paw. At the end of the story, she experiences tragedy once again, as she opens the front door, expecting to see her son come back from the dead, and instead sees nothing. One could interpret her disappointment and misery at the end of the story either as a consequence of her attempts to alter fate by wishing on the paw or as a consequence of her belief that she could change fate, rather than accepting the loss of her son.