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The existence of paradoxical literature can be traced back to the birth of literature. However, there are works and instances in which paradox explodes and it is almost impossible to pass them. Virginia Woolf’s ‘The Death of the Moth’ is a paradoxical piece of such, and her analysis would obviously overflow the particulars of limits or descriptions of inventory. Based on the logical variety and vastness of Woolf’s recourse, it would only be proper to investigate how the writer manages to capture and retain the attention of her audience through paradoxical narration. This essay focuses on the paradox in Woolf’s work as portrayed through the struggle between life and death by the author in distinct rhetorical devices to convey the intended message, alongside invoking the feeling of pity in her audience.
Published in 1942, barely a year after her demise, Woolf’s literary piece presents the power of death in a rather unremarkable but paradoxical way. ‘The Death of the Moth’ is a narration that portrays how life and death are two natural events that are separated merely by a thin thread of ‘energy’. The writer uses the moth paradoxically to relay her message that life and death are mutually existing natural forces intertwined by the law of nature. It is in the recognition of life and death as paradoxical in nature or naturalness that is rooted; an obstacle that impedes the intellect’s vision because her paradoxical imagination is as natural as the events she presents in her essay. Woolf views her character, the moth, as an ‘insignificant creature’ that strives to survive amidst the present threats and enjoys the available opportunities in an expressly exciting way (Lopate, 266). While enjoying its opportunities, the moth encounters a significantly stronger force, which is superior to the moth’s life energy. The moth eventually dies after endless struggles, which saw it exhausted after the fights.
From the beginning, Woolf seems to face a series of contradictions. Historically recounting, moths have always been metaphorically associated with death. In this way, it is quite ironic that Woolf’s character that struggles against death is a moth. The importance given to this moth to the extent that it can fight against death is a contradiction, since the narrator, as aforementioned, already considered the moth as an ‘insignificant creature’. Also, the first time Woolf uses the word moth, she uses ‘moths’, which is a plural collective form instead of singularity (Lopate, 266). Besides, she says, “They are hybrid creatures, neither gay like butterflies nor somber like their own” (Lopate, 266). Nonetheless, she ends up describing the struggles and death of a single moth that is stuck between the window panes. The title and the known moth referred to in the essay are thus a piece of paradox. Also, it includes the writer’s decision to use the article ‘the’ instead of ‘a’ when describing moth emphasizes the paradox. In fact, her choice to discuss a single specific moth gives the creature some sense of relevance.
The essay is centered on the theme of the power of death and the temporality of life. Throughout the narrative, the writer contrasts life with death. The audience can vividly see the speaker’s visceral thoughts concerning her environment. Each of the moths that the narrator talks about in her story dies so quickly without a legacy. It is ironic that no one seeks to find out about the moths that die, simply because the death of a moth is such a common phenomenon. Woolf employs a strategy that tends to convey the emptiness, or rather meaninglessness, that succeeds the death of a moth. She details life with some fragility by taking her time to explore in five pages the quick but meaningless death of the moth. The contradiction comes in when she considers death as meaningless, yet it overcomes life, which is meaningful. It is surprising how a less worthy natural force (death) overcomes a meaningful one (life).
Initially, when the narrator sees the moth, she asserts that it is a pathetic and less useful creature in the environment that is not worth noticing. She says, “He was little or nothing but life” (Lopate, 267). However, the narrator soon realizes that it is a very emaciated creature that lives its life to the fullest, perhaps extending and reaching its boundaries as it flies around (Lopate, 267). However, the speaker’s perception of the moth changes with time. Even though the moth was initially pathetic from the narrator’s perspective, she eventually sees it as a renowned masterpiece. It had changed into a magnificent creature; thus, the use of paradox here is intended to keep the readers in suspense (Lopate, 267). The audience is left to figure out whether the moth is useless as pre-assumed, or is it as useful as it was finally contemplated. Again, as the audience continues to ponder over the significance and the insignificance of the moth, the narrator jumps back to pitying the creature. She soon pities the moth as a minuscule and incapable creature, which cannot make any difference in the world (Lopate, 271).
The speaker’s choice of tone of narration and actions in this essay perfectly reveals a paradoxical situation. Pathos is maintained and is strong throughout the piece, and the audience can easily picture themselves in the narrator’s place and visualize the activities of the moth for themselves. Woolf uses fragmentations to solidify various points throughout the essay. The narrator seems to be in a position of helping the dying moth but ironically chooses to stay back and watch the helpless creature die (Lopate, 270). Such fragments set a paradoxical tone and actions for the piece. Equally important, the narration style illustrates the irrelevance of the world outside the individual, as revealed not only through the window in the first paragraph of the essay but also through the narrator’s mild and simple curiosity towards the moth. It is paradoxical that the world outside sympathizes but cannot offer assistance, even when in a position to help.
In summary, the character of the moth and the way the narrator’s story unfolds make the audience feel as if they are naturally watching the moth struggle. Ostensibly, it is justifiable to articulate that Woolf’s entire imagination about the moth is affirmed paradoxically, and it would be as well paradoxical to do away with this claim. The narrator’s alliance of words, tone, and artifice language throughout this piece ordinarily contradicts and opposes each other in a manner that cannot be avoided.
Work Cited
- Lopate, Philip. Art of the Personal Essay. Anchor Books/Doubleday, 1997.
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