History Literature / TheMonkeysPaw

"The Monkey's Paw" is a horror story written by W. W. Jacobs in 1902. An incredible number of stories in different media have played on it through different variations and adaptations, and it is a subject of frequent parody.

* TheUnreveal: Several adaptations, including the original story, never say what exactly the final wish that Mr. White makes on the monkey paw is. It is assumed to be on the lines of "I wish for Herbert to be at peace" or "I wish that Herbert would be dead and in his grave once more." One particular adaptation does reveal it, and he says "I wish my son dead in the grave forever."

* CuriosityIsACrapshoot
* FatalFlaw
* {{Greed}}

* LiteralGenie

* TemptingFate
* ThreeWishes

* TheUnreveal: Several adaptations, including the original story, never say what exactly the final wish that Mr. White makes on the monkey paw is. It is assumed to be on the lines of "I wish for Herbert to be at peace" or "I wish that Herbert would be dead and in his grave once more."

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Possibly the TropeCodifier for "three wishes gone wrong" stories.

'''"The Monkey's Paw"''' is a horror story written by W. W. Jacobs in 1902. An incredible number of stories in different media have played on it through different variations and adaptations, and it is a subject of frequent parody.

* JackassGenie: In the cruelest way. They wish for £200. Their son is killed in a horrifying machinery accident, and they get the money as compensation for his death.

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Possibly the TropeCodifier for "three wishes gone wrong" type of stories.

** The fact that Herbert is only described as "caught in the machinery" and Mr. White was only able to identify him "by his clothes" are also an example, leaving the exact nature of Herbert's death up to the reader.
** The sergeant doesn't know what the first two wishes of the first man to own the paw were, but the third was for death. We also never learn what his wishes (and their consequences) were either.

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor

* NothingIsScarier: The walking corpse knocks suspensefully over and over. Because Mr. White knows that Herbert's body is horribly mutilated, Mr. White uses his last wish to wish Herbert dead again. Nothing is there when they open the door.

The full story can be found [[http://www.steve-calvert.co.uk/public-domain-texts/W-W-Jacobs-The-Monkeys-Paw.html here.]]

* MakeAWish

* TheUnreveal: Several adaptations, including the original story, never say what exactly the final wish that Mr. White makes on the monkey paw is. It is assumed to be on the lines of "I wish for Herbert to be at peace" or "I wish that Herbert would be dead once more".

"'''The Monkey's Paw'''" is a horror story written by W. W. Jacobs in 1902. An incredible number of stories in different media have played on it through different variations and adaptations, and it is a subject of frequent parody.

''The Monkey's Paw'' is a horror story written by W. W. Jacobs in 1902. An incredible number of stories in different media have played on it through different variations and adaptations, and it is a subject of frequent parody.

The story begins as Mr. and Mrs. White, average people with a grown son named Herbert, are visited by an old friend of theirs who was a sergeant in India. While there, he got a magical talisman called The Monkey's Paw, which he gives to them while first warning them that its previous owners killed themselves for their third wish. Too excited by its mystical powers, Mr. White first wishes for £200. He gets his wish, but at a horrible price. The story continues this way until the most dramatic moment, and they learn their lesson: [[TemptingFate don't tempt fate]], and BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor.

* GenreAdultery: The rest of the author's bibliography was focused around boats.
** That's not actually true, Jacobs also wrote a great deal of other Horror Fiction that had nothing to do with boats.

* TheUnreveal: Several adaptations never say what exactly the final wish that Mr. White makes on the monkey paw is. It is assumed to be on the lines of "I wish for Herbert to be at peace" or "I wish that Herbert would be dead once more".

* JackassGenie: In the cruelest way. They wish for £200. Their son is killed in a horrifying machinery accident, and they get the money compensation for his death.

The story begins as Mr. and Mrs. White, average people with a grown son named Herbert, are visited by an old friend of theirs who was a sergeant in India. While there, he got a magical talisman called The Monkey's Paw, which he gives to them while first warning them that its previous owners killed themselves for their third wish. Too excited by its mystical powers, Mr. White first wishes for £200. He gets his wish, but at a price. The story continues this way until the most dramatic moment, and they learn their lesson: [[TemptingFate don't tempt fate]], and BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor.

!!!Tropes used by the short story:

The story begins as Mr. and Mrs. White, average people with a grown son named Herbert, are visited by an old friend of theirs who was a sergeant in India. While there, he got a magical talisman called The Monkey's Paw, which he gives to them while first warning them that its previous owners killed themselves for their third wish. Too excited by its mystical powers, Mr. White first wishes for £200. He gets his wish, but at a price. The story [[ItGotWorse continues this way]] until the most dramatic moment, and they learn their lesson: [[TemptingFate don't tempt fate]], and BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor.

The story begins as Mr. and Mrs. White, average people with a grown son named Herbert, are visited by an old friend of theirs who was a sergeant in India. While there, he got a magical talisman called The Monkey's Paw, which he gives to them while first warning them that its previous owners killed themselves for their third wish. Too excited by its mystical powers, Mr. White first wishes for 200 pounds. He gets his wish, but at a price. The story [[ItGotWorse continues this way]] until the most dramatic moment, and they learn their lesson: [[TemptingFate don't tempt fate]], and BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor.

* CameBackWrong: Herbert dies in a horrible accident involving heavy machinery, so this is suspected.

* JackassGenie: In the cruelest way. They wish for 200 pounds. Their son is killed in a horrifying machinery accident, and they get 200 pounds compensation for his death.

* BittersweetEnding: The Whites lose their only son, but at least the monkey's paw can't hurt anyone ever again. ([[FridgeBrilliance It can only grant three wishes to three people, remember?]])

* BittersweetEnding: The Whites lose their only son, but at least the monkey's paw can't hurt anyone ever again. ([[FridgeBrilliance It can only grant three wishes to three people, remember?)

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: The Whites lose their only son, but at least the monkey's paw can't hurt anyone ever again. ([[FridgeBrilliance It can only grant three wishes to three people, remember?]])]]
* CameBackWrong: [[spoiler:Herbert dies in a horrible accident involving heavy machinery, so this is suspected.]]

* JackassGenie: In the cruelest way. [[spoiler:They wish for 200 pounds. Their son is killed in a horrifying machinery accident, and they get 200 pounds compensation for his death.]]

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: According to the sergeant, this is how the wishes normally go. [[spoiler:Only Mr. White can tell that the paw "twisted like a snake" when he wished with it, and it's never proven that the knocking was Herbert.]] Definitely leaning to the side of "magic," though.
* NothingIsScarier: [[spoiler:The walking corpse knocks suspensefully over and over. Because Mr. White knows that Herbert's body is horribly mutilated, Mr. White uses his last wish to wish Herbert dead again. Nothing is there when they open the door.]]

* RuleOfThree: The monkey's paw can grant three wishes to three different people.

* TheUnreveal: Several adaptations never say what exactly the final wish that Mr. White makes on the monkey paw is. [[spoiler: It is assumed to be on the lines of "I wish for Herbert to be at peace" or "I wish that Herbert would be dead once more"]].

* NightmareFuelUnleaded