Emily Film Comparison Essay

In the short story “A Rose for Emily” written by William Faulkner and the film version directed by Lyndon Chubbuck the dominant theme of love and security is displayed. Faulkner story view the idea of love as a dark obsession plagued by loneliness in search of belonging. It is a story about protagonist Emily Grierson who has been deprived of love due to her controlling father. She lives in a society that has stereotypical views that women should be married therefore they are dependent on men. Based on Faulkner short story, the film version effectively utilizes rhetorical devices to emphasize that hanging onto the past and refusing to accept change will result in isolation and judgment.
Faulkner short story is about the character Emily Grierson

In the film there were many scenes that each character displayed different facial expressions to help the viewers to understand the plot and the reasons behind the choices Emily makes. This is shown in the scene where Emily goes to purchase poison, Huston who plays Emily has a harsh expression when she speaks to the druggists which infers there is motive behind her purchase. In the film viewers can see she is very calculated on how she asks for the poison leading to the druggists to notice her bizarre behavior. When he starts to ask her questions she just stares at him refusing to answer. Faulkner print version is similar but it takes a few readings to realize how strategic she was in asking to buy arsenic whereas the film version explicitly shows it through her facial expression to her body language as she walks into the store. When reading the print version it seems as if Emily is calm when asking for the poison as seen where Faulkner writes, “I want some poison.” (Page 172). The readers are aware she will use the poison for something deadly but are not fully sure of how Emily is feeling. In the film we see that even though she remains emotionless she is questioning every movement she makes inside the store letting the viewers understand that she is doing this in the hopes of keeping this relationship. The audience could see before Homer death he didn’t believe in the institution of marriage leading for distance within the relationship. The film shows Emily was a meek and fragile woman longing for acceptance and thus she resorts to killing as a way for get her happy