The Monkey's Paw 'And Demon Lover'

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Gothic Literature Essay : Second Rough Draft Characters can make or break a story and different types of characters can add different elements to a story. In most stories certain types of characters play a bigger role than others, such as damsels in distress in Gothic literature. “The Monkey’s Paw” is about a family who encounters a dangerous talisman that leads to nothing but turmoil. “Demon Lover” is about a woman who returns to her abandoned home and as she is leaving town, gets kidnapped by her demonic lover. “Ghost Story” is about a young woman who is taking care of two young siblings that eventually drive her insane due to their supernatural abilities to swap appearances. Specific types of characters are prominent in the form of Damsels in distress in “The Monkey's Paw” , “Demon Lover” and “Ghost Story” W. W. Jacobs uses a damsel in distress in the story “The Monkey’s Paw” to …show more content…

Brigid in “ Ghost Story” is struggling throughout the story to decide if she is insane or not because she is seeing things such as twins changing color and hair . Eventually it gets to the point where she goes to the priest when the narrator writes “ Poor Brigid!She knew the priest thought she was going strange, and the children were so loud in their protest and so genuinely upset she began to wonder herself.”( 264-265, Deane). This shows Brigid ( a female character) facing the problem of having to question her sanity as well as other people around her questioning her sanity because she is seeing things such as gender switching twins which eventually leads her to becoming insane . The use of a damsel in distress gives the author a character with which he can develop . In this case it is Brigid who he develops into insane Brigid. Without putting her around these spooky twins she could not be in distress and develop into the final estranged character the author wanted to

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