Perspectives

“The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs is a popular and well-known story today, and for this reason, it is advisable that you also look at it in the context of its literary period and genre and similar works.

Literary period and genre

W.W. Jacobs lived through three literary periods: Victorian, Edwardian and Modernist literature. Given that this particular short story was published during the Edwardian era in English literature, we can say the story is typical of the period as it is a mix of...

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Works with the same theme

For the theme of the dangers of desire and greed, we encourage you to read “The Five Boons of Life” (1902) by Mark Twain which resembles a fairy-tale and follows a man who is granted the choice of several gifts: pleasure, love, fame, wealth and death.

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Screen Adaptations

“The Monkey’s Paw” has been adapted into many films and theatre plays beginning with 1903 (the first play)...

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