Short Story

The story opens with the second owner of the monkey's paw, Sergeant Major Morris - who came into possession of it upon the death of its first owner - giving the talisman to Mr. White of Laburnum Villa. It is worth noting that a Laburnum is a poisonous plant, perhaps intended by Jacobs as an omen of death. Heedless of the Sergeant's warnings about the cursed nature of the paw, Mr. White, encouraged by his wife, carelessly asks for Ј200. His wish is granted, but in a horrific manner: he receives a payment of Ј200 as the result of the death of his son Herbert, who is fatally crushed by industrial machines at his workplace. Jacobs does not describe the grim accident in the story, preferring to report the incident through a company representative, arguably increasing the incident's horrific qualities.

Following their son's funeral, the Whites settle into a dull, depressed existence. One night, Mrs. White, seized by a sudden idea, tries to convince her husband to wish their son back to life. At first he refuses, but once again allows himself to be swayed: he wishes his son back to life. Nothing happens, and the couple, crushed by the disappointment, prepare to retire to bed. Later, they are shocked to hear a knocking at the door, whereupon the wife realises that Herbert had to journey from the cemetery where he was buried to their house, accounting for the delay. She rushes downstairs to open the door, nearly hysterical with joy. Mr White, meanwhile, has been seized by terror, recognising the horrible creature that must wait upon their doorstep (he, unlike his wife, has seen the body prior to its burial, and was able to identify it only by the clothing). Desperately groping for the cursed paw, he makes a third wish, and the knocking at the door ceases. The exact details of the third wish are not revealed, but, responding to his wife's cry of disappointment, he staggers downstairs to join her, looking out at the empty street outside their home.

The theme of the story resembles the Faust stories, in which there is no way to craft a wish finely enough to prevent the Devil from thwarting the wisher, and perhaps also the sorcerer's apprentice stories; a milder version is the many variants of the Three wishes joke.