Death of the Moth Essay free essay sample

In the essay by Virginia Woolf the reader is led to see how Woolf feels about the life of an insignificant day moth. Through most of the essay, there are reasons to believe that Woolf is led to a sort of vendetta against the day moth, exhibiting hatred, jealously, enjoyment, an almost sarcastic sympathy over the struggles of the day moth, and being responsible for its death. As Woolf’s essay begins, the reader immediately picks up on Woolf’s feelings of hatred against the day moth. The second paragraph has Woolf thinking, â€Å"Watching him, it seemed as if a fiber, very thin but pure, of enormous energy of the world had been thrust into his frail and diminutive body† (Woolf 602), by that thought process it seems as if Woolf wants his efforts to be in vain. As the quote says, she just sat there watching the poor day moth struggle against the window, trying to escape. We will write a custom essay sample on Death of the Moth Essay or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page She could have just as easily opened the window to let the day moth free: however as I suggested, she hates the moth for even attempting something she could not, escaping into the free world. When the day moth started to slow down his efforts due to exhaustion, Woolf becomes satisfied and thrilled at the thought that the moth cannot succeed at its goal to leave, because she knows that if it did it would be free, unlike her. Misery loves company, and I believe even though it’s not another human who feels this pain but a moth instead, it feels just as satisfying to her. Suggesting from the passage, â€Å"I watched these futile attempts for a time without thinking† (Woolf 602), Woolf seems to have a desire to watch the day moth only when it tries to escape in vain, which makes the reader think why she would be so cold, with the answer being simply being gratification. Seeing the puny moth fail repeatedly made her feel good and secure, knowing she wasn’t alone in her â€Å"prison†. Finally the moth started to show the signs of death. That made Woolf seem kind, showing what seemed like sympathy. When she â€Å"stretched out a pencil, meaning to help him right himself† (Woolf 602), but she really only attempted to help the day moth so she could watch him fail at his attempts to escape, so she could feel more of the satisfaction of watching him fail at a plan that she could not even attempt to do. She wanted to go outside as much as the moth, but she knew it was inappropriate to try. The pencil she held symbolized sympathy but her thought process was the opposite. As death finally came the day moth grew stiff. It hit Woolf that â€Å"the struggle was over† (Woolf 602) and that her hatred was slightly unjustified. She felt that her â€Å"sympathies, of course, were all on the side of life† (Woolf 602), but it’s hard to believe after an entire essay full of hatred towards the moth. If she really felt that way, she may have helped the poor day moth escape into the world, open the window or catch it and bring it outside. There were so many ways she could have helped the day moth, and one could say that she was the reason for the day moth’s death to begin with as it did state in the essay that it flew from one corner to the next, possibly hitting the sides, also stating that its body was frail, so landing himself on the windowsill must have been a damaging feat for the poor day moth. All the examples I provided from the essay suggests the Woolf had a vendetta against this day moth, and in the end was happy that it failed. She took it a step further by not attempting to help the poor struggling day moth, in the end killing it with a seemingly non-guilty conscience. But no one should, as it was only a day moth, â€Å"hybrid creatures, neither gay like butterflies nor somber like their own species.