Short Tastes - Your personal guide to the world of short stories
Writer: Oscar Wilde
Year of Publication: 1891
Genre: Suspense, Irony
Plot Summary:
Lord Arthur, a young English nobleman, has his hand read by a palmist and discovers that his destiny is to commit murder. Now he feels that his life is doomed and that he cannot possibly marry his betrothed, Sybil Merton, while this horrible fate hangs over him. He has only one option before him - to silently commit murder before his marriage, in such a way that he is not incriminated, so that he and his wife can live the rest of their lives in peace.
Comments:
Do we control our fate or does it control us? Oscar Wilde has tackled this age-old topic in his own witty style. Do not expect this story about murder to be gory and gruesome. Wilde uses his classic humour and irony to entertain all the way through!
Excerpt:
"But when Mr. Podgers saw Lord Arthur’s hand he grew curiously pale, and said nothing. A shudder seemed to pass through him, and his great bushy eyebrows twitched convulsively, in an odd, irritating way they had when he was puzzled. Then some huge beads of perspiration broke out on his yellow forehead, like a poisonous dew, and his fat fingers grew cold and clammy.
Lord Arthur did not fail to notice these strange signs of agitation, and, for the first time in his life, he himself felt fear. His impulse was to rush from the room, but he restrained himself. It was better to know the worst, whatever it was, than to be left in this hideous uncertainty.
‘I am waiting, Mr. Podgers,’ he said."
Source of Image: http://www.eso-garden.com/images/uploads_bilder/history_handlesen.jpg
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