Adela Strangeworth | The Possibility Of Evil Short Story

A concept that deserves more context is how “looks are deceiving” or how you should “never judge a book by its cover.” It is not rare to encounter individuals with two-faced personalities who make themselves seem different then what they truly are from the inside. Shirley Jackson, the author of the short story ‘The Possibility of Evil,’ brings a more detailed perspective emphasizing how there is a possibility of evil in everyone – even if they look or seem innocent and charming. Shirley Jackson accentuates this through the main character of the story, Miss Adela Strangeworth. Some character traits Miss Strangeworth had that placed prominence on her duplicitous personality were self-consciousness, carefulness, and her sanctimony. Miss Strangeworth was always very self-conscious about herself and the letters she wrote to others. “She was fond of doing things exactly right. When she made a mistake, as sometimes she did, she took the page to the kitchen stove and burned it at once.” (Jackson 225-226) With this reference is it easy to realize that Miss Strangeworth loathed her failures and was wrapped in self-denial. Hence when she made a mistake, she would get rid of the evidence as immediately as she could. Since she had to mail the letters to different citizens, she needed for them to not include any sort of faults. Along with being self-conscious about her existence, Miss Strangeworth was also very careful. “she had always made a point of mailing her letters very secretly. Consequently, she timed her walk so she could reach the post office just as darkness was starting to dim the outlines of the trees and the shapes of peoples’ faces.” (227) Since Miss Strangeworth had always made sure that she mailed her letters very secretly, she would time her walk so she could reach the post office just when darkness started to arise, and people started to vanish inside their homes. This really accurately illustrates how Miss Strangeworth was very careful. As obviously clarified, Miss Strangeworth tried to avoid being recognized by arriving at the post office when it was nighttime. Since the word ‘secretly’ was being used, it is clear to the reader that Miss Strangeworth was very careful with keeping her faulty letters a secret.

Lastly, another character trait Miss Strangeworth had that places prominence on her duplicitous personality is her sanctimony. “There were so many wicked people in the world and only one Miss Strangeworth left in the town.” (226) This reveals Miss Strangeworth’s sanctimonious personality because this story tried to justify her extremely faulty letters with Miss Strangeworth’s controversial perspective - which was that she saw those letters as something positive. She thought she was helping her town with her cleverness by spreading lies and hurting others in secret. This sense of sanctimony really added more illustration to Miss Strangeworth’s duplicitous personality. This also would have brought the reader a sense of dissatisfaction with the main character, as thinking you are superior to others while doing such an awful act is extremely despicable. In conclusion, it was easy to place emphasis on Miss Strangeworth’s two-faced personality as she was filled with the character traits of self-consciousness, carefulness, and her sanctimonious personality in ‘The Possibility of Evil.’ Although Miss Strangeworth is a fictional character, she is an exact example of people like her that exist in this society. Shirley Jackson does a great job accentuating this type of personality through the main character, Miss Adela Strangeworth.

This is a character analysis of the duplicitous and cheap character Adela Strangeworth. It was clear she had issues and needed help. She had a tendency of sending faulty letters which proves that she was not mentally stable. This is a short story we all read in high school, and I'm sure it has a much more deeper meaning. Many people have duplicitous personalities, we need to be aware if people like that. They can harm us anytime.