The Monkey's Paw Theme Essay

In the story “The Monkey’s Paw” the theme is don’t mess with fate and this story elements like character, setting, and plot all help contribute to the theme. The character’s emotions, reaction, and actions are a significant role in revealing the theme. The setting, though not realized as much actually shapes the story too. As normal, plot most definitely contributes to the theme. The character’s reaction contributes to the theme. At the beginning of the story, Mr. White approaches the game of chess with carelessness by putting his king into the open revealing that Mr. White does things carelessly and doesn’t think them out. “putting his king into such sharp and unnecessary perils” When he learnt about the monkey paw he acts without thinking of the consequences. He immediately thinks greedily even though he has everything he wants. If Mr. White never acted the way then they would have never messed with fate and learned this lesson which creates the theme of don’t mess with fate. Setting contributes to theme also. The White’s house was the setting but seems different in each of the three parts because the mood gets lower and the feel of the house seems worse each time. “Without, the night was cold and wet, but in the small parlour of Laburnam Villa

The conflict in the story is not only the monkey’s paw but was somewhat Mr. White’s attitude. If he never was that greedy the story would have changed he would have agreed with Morris and burned the monkey’s paw but he didn’t want to do that creating the plot. Any change in the plot could have/ would have altered the course of the story but also altering the theme. In “The Monkey’s Paw,” the downfall of the White family is when they receive the two hundred pounds as a compensation for the son’s death which was actually caused by messing with fate. They did receive the two hundred pounds but it came at an even greater price their son’s death. Cause of this, messing with