Theme of Greed in The Monkey's Paw Essay Sample

Greed is an intense and selfish desire for something. W.W Jacobs illustrates greed by a monkey’s paw, The monkey's paw is a story about a paw that can give 3 wishes to 3 people but it has consequences for the wishes it gives. The main character of the story (Mr.White) received the paw and wanted to make a wish. But he couldn't think of a wish because he had everything he wanted. So his son convinced him to ask for 200 pounds to pay off his mortgage. Then it turns out that the paw took their son's life as a consequence of their greed. The greed of the main characters and the plot of the punishing monkey's paw helped develop the theme: Being greedy can be rewarding at first but can have bad consequences in the long run. 

First of all, the unwise choices of Mr.White in the story help mold the theme that greed makes people do unreasonable things without considering the bad consequences that come with being greedy. Mr.White tells the general ``It seems to [he has] all [he] want[s]” (jacobs 54). After that quote, he goes on to get convinced to wish for money he doesn’t need. This is greedy and matches up with Mr. White's character of making unwise decisions without thinking of the future and the consequences of the decisions he makes, this causes him to receive the money but at the death of his son. Later on, in the passage in paragraph 199, Mr.White seems wiser and tells the wife how he saw their son he says “He has been dead ten days, and besides he—I would not tell you else, but—I could only recognize him by his clothing”(Jacobs 199). This tells the reader that it is unreasonable to bring him back after he's been dead for that long anyway. But still, After this, he wishes for his son back and gets punished by the paw again. After already getting punished for being greedy the first time he follows the same mistakes and his son comes back again. But he knows that he won't come back the same, this is the consequence of the paw. So when he gets a knock on the door Mr.White has to make up for his greediness and wish his son away again. Since he wasn't greedy he wasn't punished by the paw. This shows that the paw only punishes greedy wishes like money or things that people don't need. Furthermore, the characters of the story the monkey's paw wish for greedy things and don't realize the consequences of decisions they made which causes one of them to die and to never come back. This develops the theme that greed can have bad outcomes.

Also in a similar way, the plot helps construct the theme that greed has bad consequences by showing the paw punishing greedy wishes. The plot of the story allows the theme to have context and allows the theme to build. Like in paragraph 33 “The first man had his three wishes. Yes," was the reply; "I don't know what the first two were, but the third was for death” (Jacobs 33). This part of the key plot builds the theme that nothing good came out of the paw. It also builds suspense around the paw and how it chooses its punishments. On top of that, it shows that his punishments for the greedy wishes he told the paw were so bad he didn't want to live anymore. This brings cautiousness around the paw and it also makes the paw seem false and like a tale more than real.”[We have to inform you that we are sorry for your great loss and we take no responsibility but we will give you 200 pounds for compensation.." “This cited plot helps continue to step to the theme of the story. The great punishment is a whole life for just 200 pounds. It didn't matter if they wish was still greedy so the paw treated it the same. The wish had unintended consequences just like greed in real life does to people who have or do it. Therefore the plot of the story helps step up and lead the reader to the theme of the story that greed can be unintended and have unintended consequences.

In conclusion, The greed of Mr.White and the punishing monkey's paw shows how greed can have bad end results. Mr. White's greedy wishes and lack of reason and wise thinking steered to bad consequences that got people killed. Mr.White became a victim of horrible greed and tried to fix it in the end but his son remained dead. So to save people around you and yourself don’t be greedy and be careful of what you wish for.