 Hello and welcome to a summary of all you need to know about the Moving Finger by Edith Wharton. I'll explain the meaning to this story as it appears in stories of ourselves, the University of Cambridge International Examinations Anthology of Short Stories in English. I'll begin with some context about the author, Edith Wharton, of this story, before explaining the plot of this story, the Moving Finger, in a nutshell. I'll explain the characters you should be aware of in this story and I'll highlight important themes when considering this story. Do bear in mind that we have stories of ourselves, of course, that goes into depth on all of these different stories in the collection, so do make sure you also sign up for our course. So let's get started. Now to begin with, let's look at Edith Wharton contextually speaking. So she was born in 1862 and she died in 1937. She's an American author, best known for her stories and novels about the upper-class society into which she was born. Edith Wharton came from a distinguished and long-established New York family and she made her debut in society in 1879 and married Edward Wharton, a wealthy Boston banker, in 1885. However she was divorced from him in 1913 and then she ended up moving and living in France after 1907, visiting the US only at rare intervals. Now let's look at the plot of The Moving Finger. So the story opens with an unnamed narrator telling us about the death of the first Mrs. Grancy. She was married to Mr. Grancy and we get an insight into the relationship that Mr. Grancy and his first wife, Mrs. Grancy, had, whereby she was always disparaging of him. After her death, just when the reader thinks there's no hope, Mr. Grancy remarries a beautiful second wife, also called Mrs. Grancy, who is really happy with. He has a portrait painted of her by another character called Claydon, an artist who's both Mr. Grancy and the narrator's friend. Mr. Grancy loves Claydon's painting on Mrs. Grancy as he feels that Claydon has really captured her beauty perfectly. Yet when the second Mrs. Grancy died, Mr. Grancy begins to feel the painting is a stranger to him as it doesn't really grow older with him. So he asks Claydon to age the portrait as he grows older to reflect their growing old together. Mr. Grancy and Claydon fall out but we don't know quite why, yet also more bizarrely, Claydon returns to his home every so often to update and age the painting. Eventually Mr. Grancy gets ill and then dies, leaving the painting to Claydon. Claydon alters the painting back to its original beauty of the young Mrs. Grancy and he visits this portrait on display with all other treasures. Now when it comes to characters that you should be aware of for this story, the first is the narrator. So the story is narrated in the first person by an unnamed narrator and the realtor realises after reading the story that perhaps Wharton herself may be exploring the theme of control. Indeed the narrator may indirectly be Edith Wharton herself but this is left to our interpretation as readers. The other important character is Mr. Grancy. So Mr. Grancy was controlled by his first wife and his life was really unhappy yet. We sense that he to some extent controls the second Mrs. Grancy even in death and this is evident by the fact that he asks Claydon to repaint the portrait of Mrs. Grancy so that she may look older just as he gets older. Though Mr. Grancy has tried to do everything to move on with his life after she dies, going as far as taking a job in Europe, he has not been able to escape from his past. Mr. Grancy has never drawn to Mrs. Grancy which may leave some readers to suggest that he's unable to move on with his life. He never remarried and since Mrs. Grancy's death there's a sense that Mr. Grancy has lived a really lonely life. The other important character is Claydon. Though it's not directly implied by the narrator, there's a sense that Mrs. Grancy and Claydon actually had an affair. So just as Ralph Grancy, so Mr. Grancy loved Mrs. Grancy, so too did Claydon. It's perhaps for this reason that Claydon restored the portrait to what it originally was just as Mr. Grancy is unable to let go of Mrs. Grancy so too is Claydon. And by restoring the picture to what it originally was, Claydon wishes to remember Mrs. Grancy as she was when he fell in love with her. And both Mr. Grancy and Claydon are both obsessed with the second Mrs. Grancy. And there's a possibility that Claydon may actually have fallen out Mr. Grancy because he could have actually been jealous of his relationship with his wife and that's perhaps why they did fall out. The other important character is Mrs. Grancy, the second wife. So although she seemingly sounds like a perfect wife for Mr. Grancy, there's a hint that she may have been unfaithful to him. And her role is closely tied to the name of the story itself as the title, the moving finger depicts the love triangle between Mr. Grancy, Mrs. Grancy and Claydon. Now the title itself, the moving finger, means someone who gives orders and says how things must be. This is Mrs. Grancy's role in the relationship. The two men think that they're doing what they want, but in reality, she is in control of their emotions and even in death, both men remained obsessed with her portrait. Now when it comes to themes, the first is of entrapment. And Mr. Grancy's first marriage shows he felt trapped in his marriage. He was trapped by his wife as her only concern was herself. She overshadowed him and had no chance to bloom or show the person that he really is. The second theme is that of isolation. Mr. Grancy felt really alone in his first marriage and he's lonely once the second Mrs. Grancy dies. Also isolation applies to Claydon himself as he has unrequited love and he isolates and distances himself from Mr. Grancy and the narrator as a result of this. The other theme is that of rivalry. So rivalry exists between Mr. Grancy and Claydon. The second Mrs. Grancy has become an obsession for both men and they love her dearly and when she dies, then competition continues, but it now revolves around the painting of Mrs. Grancy. The other theme is that of conflict. So Claydon experiences internal conflict when Mr. Grancy asks him to adjust the painting to make Mrs. Grancy's image age with him. He denies this first as he doesn't want to destroy his best work. However, he eventually agrees to do it. However, of course, we can see that he becomes very resentful of having to do so. So that's all. 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