Death of The Moth

A detailed Summary of Death of The Moth

"Death of The Moth" is a woman's realization that the only way to keep her dignity is to take her life before the insanity in her mind takes it for her. Virginia Woolf's life was one dramatic episode after another. From the time that she was thirteen until the night that she was successful in taking her life she had several mental breakdowns. Surrounded by death at every corner one can see how she felt that perhaps suicide was the only way to escape the inevitability of tumbling all the way down the spiral to a depth that she could not return.

Virginia wrote this piece just before she killed herself in the beginning of the summer of 1941. Being written so close to her suicide gives us a great deal of insight of how she must have felt just before her death. She starts the story immediately showing how she sees herself somewhat akin to this moth, or even perhaps stating that she is the moth. The fact that she writes, "They are hybrid creatures neither gay like a butterflies nor

somber like their own species" is a way of showing this. Butterflies are those people in the world that are born of beauty that run around with not a care in the world. The other species of moth are those who have bleak outlook on life but still are some what happy for they accept the way things are This may have been an example of a artist or writer that felt unappreciated but not so down on himself the give up. The hybrid is not like either one it is plain, living a simple life that is uninspiring and that no one would care about.

These views that she holds are the manic-depressive inside of her coming to the surface. She feels that she is nothing but an uninspiring life form. She may have also felt that people only watched her struggles and laughed at her vain effort to get out of her mental struggles. She suggests this when she is writing in the short story about the moth fluttering in the window for side to side trying to get out. She says, " One could not help watching

Some common words found in the essay are:
Virginia Woolf's, Death Moth, takes virginia,

Approximate Word count = 665
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

join now Save Paper

Saved Paper

Save your papers so you can locate them quickly!

Newest Essays

Testimonials

"Thank You So Much!!! You have saved me once again!!!"
Jack M.
"With so many papers to chose from, I was able to get ideas to help me with all of my classes. Thank You!"
Brian P.
"I've used this site for the last 3 years to help me come up with ideas for my papers."
Sara J.
"I use this site every week to help me write my own papers!"
Rachel W.
"I love this site!!!"
Marie N.

Death of The Moth

Related Essays

Professional Essays

Saved Paper

Newest Essays

Testimonials