The Monkey's Paw

Plot

The short story involves Mr. and Mrs. White and their adult son, Herbert. Sergeant-Major Morris, a friend who served with the British Army in India, introduces them to a mummified monkey's paw. An old fakir placed a spell on the paw, that it would grant three wishes to three separate men. The wishes are granted but always with hellish consequences, as punishment for tampering with fate. Morris tells the Whites of his comrade, who used his third wish to wish for death. Morris, also having had a horrific experience upon using the paw, throws the monkey's paw into the fire but Mr. White retrieves it. Before leaving, Morris warns Mr. White that if he does use the paw, then it will be on his own head.

At Herbert's suggestion, Mr. White wishes for £200 to be used as the final payment on his house, even though he believes he has everything he wants. The next day his son Herbert leaves for work at a local factory. Later that day, word comes to the White home that Herbert has been killed in a terrible machinery accident. Although the employer denies responsibility for the incident, the firm has decided to make a goodwill payment to the family of the deceased. The payment, of £200, exactly matches the amount Herbert suggested his father should wish for.

Ten days after their son's death and a week after the funeral, Mrs. White, almost mad with grief, asks her husband to use the paw to wish Herbert back to life. Reluctantly, he does so. Shortly afterward there is a knock at the door. As Mrs. White fumbles at the locks in an attempt to open the door Mr. White, who had to identify his son's mutilated body, and who knows the corpse has been buried for more than a week, realizes that the thing outside is not the son he knew and loved, and makes his third wish.

The knocking suddenly stops. Mrs. White opens the door to find no one is there.

Theme

The main theme of "The Monkey's Paw" is that the fate represented through the supernatural story is as indifferent as it seems. The characters' lives depend on an indifferent fate that both rewards and punishes people regardless of their morals or lack thereof. Even modest desires are granted by the monkey's paw only by exacting horrible consequences. The payment that Mr. White attains for his son's death is the exact sum that he requested to make the final payment on his house - thus, his reasonable desire was met by a terrible consequence. The characters are normal people with normal reactions and normal desires, but those normal desires cause their downfall because of the indifferent fate that governs them.

The short story also bears the adage "Be careful what you wish for." The characters focus on what they desire, and make their wishes without thinking them through or considering the consequences of tampering with fate. Thus, their wishes are granted, but because they alter fate their lives take a sharp turn in a horrible direction.

Versions in other media

The story has been adapted into other media many times, including:

Variations and parodies

A great number of novels, stories, movies, plays and comics are variations or adaptations of the story, featuring similar plots built around wishes that go awry in macabre ways, occasionally with references to monkey's paws or to the story itself.

The story is frequently parodied on television shows and in comic books.