In “The Possibility of Evil” The main character Mrs. Strangeworth shows one personality and keeps the other private. The one she shows gets others people impression as a kind and respected old lady.
Mrs. Strangeworth’s private personality was very rude and disrespectful. The author uses characterization to show two sides of Mrs. Strangeworth’s personality.
Mrs. Strangeworth’s public personality was like her beautiful rose house. Everyone in town everyone around the neighborhood would greet her wherever she would go. She was known as a helpful and happy person in the eyes of other.She seems also to worry about other people’s health. Everyone knew her around the small town and everyone seemed to like her.
She was a Perfectionist following everyday routines. Mrs. Strange worth also had a thorny side to her private personality. She would write others letters without a signed name on who had sent them.
Mrs. Strangeworth’s letters would say hurtful and rude things to others. She was very self- conscious person because the letters that she would make a mistake on she would burn and therefore masking her mistake for no one else to see.Miss Strangeworth believed she knows what’s best for others and her letters address personal issues that don’t concern her, such as her letter addressed to Mrs.
Harper where she asks “Is the wife really always the last one to know? ” Mrs. Strangeworth wasn’t who she was pretending to be. Her private personality and her public personality led to the destruction of her beautiful roses. For pretending to be someone she is not this happened.
This also can be taken as a lesson. Don’t pretend to be someone you’re not be yourself.
