The Vessel of Wrath

Last updated

"The Vessel of Wrath" is a short story by W. Somerset Maugham. Written in 1931 it first appeared in the April 1931 edition of Hearst's International Cosmopolitan (see Stott, 1973). Maugham often introduced short stories as a contribution to periodicals and then later included them in books or collected editions. In 1933 "The Vessel of Wrath" was included in his book Ah King .

Contents

The story has been adapted for film and television at least four times:

Title

The title of the story refers to Romans 9:22, which reads:

9:21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? 9:22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much long suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: 9:23 And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, 9:24 Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?

Plot summary

Miss Jones, a missionary, lives with her brother in the Alas Islands. They are scandalised by the presence on the islands of Ginger Ted, a drunkard and womanizing scoundrel.

Miss Jones travels to an outlying island to treat an appendicitis case. She is horrified to find that Ginger Ted is also on board the boat on which she returns. The boat breaks down en route and they are forced to spend the night on a small island. Miss Jones is certain that Ginger Ted means to rape her as soon as the sun goes down. When morning comes and her virtue is still intact, she is convinced that he has had a change of heart and that he is, after all, a good man. Ginger Ted himself is outraged by this suggestion; it never occurred to him to rape Miss Jones.

Subsequently there is a cholera epidemic. Miss Jones persuades Ginger Ted to accompany her as she travels the islands to render treatment. He returns a non-drinking missionary, engaged to Miss Jones.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">W. Somerset Maugham</span> English playwright and author (1874–1965)

William Somerset Maugham was an English writer, known for his plays, novels and short stories. Born in Paris, where he spent his first ten years, Maugham was schooled in England and went to a German university. He became a medical student in London and qualified as a physician in 1897. He never practised medicine, and became a full-time writer. His first novel, Liza of Lambeth (1897), a study of life in the slums, attracted attention, but it was as a playwright that he first achieved national celebrity. By 1908 he had four plays running at once in the West End of London. He wrote his 32nd and last play in 1933, after which he abandoned the theatre and concentrated on novels and short stories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Newton</span> English actor (1905–1956)

Robert Guy Newton was an English actor. Along with Errol Flynn, Newton was one of the more popular actors among the male juvenile audience of the 1940s and early 1950s, especially with British boys. Known for his hard-living lifestyle, he was cited as a role model by the actor Oliver Reed and the Who's drummer Keith Moon.

<i>Rain</i> (1932 film) 1932 film

Rain is a 1932 pre-Code drama film that stars Joan Crawford as prostitute Sadie Thompson. Directed by Lewis Milestone and set in the South Seas, the production was filmed in part at Santa Catalina Island and what is now Crystal Cove State Park in California. The film also features Walter Huston in the role of a conflicted missionary who insists that Sadie end her evil ways, but whose own moral standards and self-righteous behavior steadily decay. Crawford was loaned out by MGM to United Artists for this film.

The Alas Islands are part of Papua New Guinea. They are located at longitude 153.067 east and latitude 4.650 south.

<i>The Razors Edge</i> (1946 film) 1946 film by Edmund Goulding

The Razor's Edge is a 1946 American drama film based on W. Somerset Maugham's 1944 novel of the same name. It stars Tyrone Power, Gene Tierney, John Payne, Anne Baxter, Clifton Webb, and Herbert Marshall, with a supporting cast including Lucile Watson, Frank Latimore, and Elsa Lanchester. Marshall plays Somerset Maugham. The film was directed by Edmund Goulding.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Potiphar's wife</span> Figure from Jewish and Muslim tradition

Potiphar's wife is a figure in the Hebrew Bible and the Quran. She was the wife of Potiphar, the captain of Pharaoh's guard in the time of Jacob and his twelve sons. According to the Book of Genesis, she falsely accused Joseph of attempted rape after he rejected her sexual advances, resulting in his imprisonment.

<i>The Letter</i> (play) 1927 play by W. Somerset Maugham

The Letter is a 1927 play by W. Somerset Maugham, dramatised from a short story that first appeared in his 1926 collection The Casuarina Tree. The story was inspired by the real-life Ethel Proudlock case which involved the wife of the headmaster of Victoria Institution in Kuala Lumpur who was convicted in a murder trial after shooting dead a male friend in April 1911. She was eventually pardoned.

<i>The Casuarina Tree</i> 1926 collection of short stories by W. Somerset Maugham

The Casuarina Tree is a collection of short stories by W. Somerset Maugham, set in the Federated Malay States during the 1920s. It was first published by the UK publishing house Heinemann on September 2, 1926. The first American edition was published on September 17, 1926 by George H. Doran. It was re-published by Collins in London under the title The Letter: Stories of Crime. The book was published in French translation as Le Sortilège Malais (1928) and in Spanish as Extremo Oriente (1945).

<i>Vessel of Wrath</i> 1938 British film

Vessel of Wrath is a 1938 British film directed by Erich Pommer, produced by Pommer, and starring Charles Laughton and Elsa Lanchester. It was based on the 1931 Somerset Maugham short story "The Vessel of Wrath". The film is also known as The Beachcomber in the US.

<i>The Beachcomber</i> (1954 film) 1954 British film

The Beachcomber is a 1954 British comedy drama film directed by Muriel Box starring Donald Sinden, Glynis Johns, Robert Newton, Paul Rogers, Donald Pleasence and Michael Hordern. The film is based on the 1931 short story "The Vessel of Wrath" by W. Somerset Maugham and was adapted by Sydney Box. It was the second screen adaptation of the book following the 1938 film Vessel of Wrath. The film was shot at Pinewood Studios and on location in Ceylon. The film's sets were designed by the art director George Provis.

SS Ellengowan was a schooner rigged, single screw steamer built by Akers Mekaniske Verksted in Christiania (Oslo) Norway, under her original name, Nøkken. The vessel was powered by sail and a vertical direct acting steam engine. Ellengowan sank at its moorings, unmanned, during the night of 27 April 1888 in Port Darwin and was abandoned. 103 years later, in 1991, she was discovered by divers making it the oldest known shipwreck in Darwin Harbour.

<i>The Narrow Corner</i> 1932 novel by W. Somerset Maugham

The Narrow Corner is a novel by the British writer W. Somerset Maugham, published by William Heinemann in 1932.

<i>Creatures of Circumstance</i> Short story collection by W Somerset Maugham

Creatures of Circumstance is a collection of 15 short stories by the British writer W. Somerset Maugham, first published by William Heinemann in 1947. It was the last collection of stories prepared by the writer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rain (short story)</span> Short story by William Somerset Maugham

"Rain" is a short story by the British writer W. Somerset Maugham. It was originally published as "Miss Thompson" in the April 1921 issue of the American literary magazine The Smart Set, and was included in the collection of stories by Maugham The Trembling of a Leaf.

<i>Lady Frederick</i>

Lady Frederick is a comedy by the British writer W. Somerset Maugham, written early in his career. The play was first seen in London in 1907, and was very successful, running for 422 performances. The title role was played by Ethel Irving. In New York it was first performed in 1908, with Lady Frederick played by Ethel Barrymore, who reprised her role in the play's film adaptation, The Divorcee.

John Ellingham Brooks was an English classical scholar. He was an associate and lover of Somerset Maugham, whom he met when they were both studying in Heidelberg in 1890. In later life, he was part of the circle of expatriates based on the Italian island of Capri, where he shared a villa with the novelist Edward Frederic Benson.

<i>Ah King</i> Collection of Short Stories

Ah King is a collection of short stories set in the Federated Malay States and elsewhere in Southeast Asia during the 1920s by W. Somerset Maugham. It was first published by the UK publishing house, Heinemann, in September 1933; the first American edition was published on November 8 of the same year by Doubleday Doran, New York. The book was published in French translation as La Femme dans la Jungle (1935) and in Spanish as Ah King, mi criado china (1946).

The playwright, novelist and short-story writer W. Somerset Maugham, was a prolific author from the late 19th century until the 1960s. Most of his earliest successes were for the theatre, but he gave up writing plays after 1932. Many of his plays have been adapted for broadcasting and the cinema, as have several of his novels and short stories. The New York Times commented in 1964, "There are times when one thinks that British television and radio would have to shut up shop if there were not an apparently inexhaustible supply of stories by Maugham to turn into 30-minute plays. One recalls, too, the long list of movies that have been made from his novels − Of Human Bondage, The Moon and Sixpence, The Painted Veil, The Razor's Edge and the rest.

The Trembling of a Leaf: Little Stories of the South Sea Islands is a collection of short stories by W. Somerset Maugham, first published in New York in 1921 by the George H. Doran Company.

References