Madness In William Faulkner's A Rose For Emily

“A Rose for Emily” is written by William Faulkner, an American author, in 1930. The story is based on the town’s knowledge and opinion about Miss Emily Grierson’s life. Critics like Cleanth Brooks Jr. and Robert Penn Warren from “Understanding Fiction” believe that Emily’s madness is derived from “her pride and her refusal to submit to ordinary standards of behavior” (400), which consequently lead to the story’s ultimate gruesome ending. In Brooks and Warren’s analysis, they made two key points that direct them to this belief. The first states that Emily is unable to distinct between the reality and illusion; the second further explains that it is due to her firm will and iron pride which causes the blurriness in her reasoning. C. W. M.
Johnson agrees with Brooks and Warren but feel that their explanation is not sufficient. He states that Emily’s refusal to accept change is what motivated her behavior, such as the refusal to pay taxes and the murder of Homer Barron. “The theme of the story can be stated: ‘If one resists change, he must love and live with death’” (401). I understand the angles of which both criticisms view Faulkner’s short, horror story however I have to disagree with their conclusions. Miss Emily Grierson is who she is because of her aristocratic blood not because of her pride or her resistant to change.
Miss Emily Grierson is the daughter of a wealthy man in small town. With such wealth and a beautiful home on the “most select street”, the town people see the Griersons as aristocrats. There are many suitors who came to ask for her hand, but none are good enough for his daughter. Years pass, and the thirty years old Emily is still yet marry. There is no doubt that Emily wanted to be married but because of her well trained manner she does not want to go against his superior judgment.
When her father dies, it is a custom for the ladies in town to come over and offer condolence. For days, Emily tells them that her father was not dead, in which she implies that it was none of their business. Her resistant is futile when it came to the law; thus, the community is able to bury Mr. Grierson’s dead body. After this tragic event, Emily has nothing but the house. From being high and mighty to being alone and a pauper, Emily becomes humanized according to the town people (393). They think she will be like them since she now experiences the struggle of a penny. They are wrong; she still has that unearthly look which resembles “those angels in cored church windows ̶ sort of tragic and serene” (393). Ever since Emily met Homer Barron, a Yankee who oversees the construction of sidewalks, rumors spread. Some says, “…a Grierson would not think seriously of a Northerner, a day laborer”; other says that she has lost her virtue and honor (394). Even though they pity her, Emily shows no reaction to their small talks. When she discovers Homer was not the marrying man, she feels insulted because for as long as she can remember the Griersons reject the suitors not the other way around. As
the law of time slowly catching up to her, she feels that Homer was slipping away along with her youth. To take control of the situation, she goes and buys poison. When the druggist asks what it is for, Emily says, “Arsenic. Is that a good one?...I want arsenic” (394). From the way she stares at him, he does not dare to refuse her request. Rumors about Miss Emily and Homer go on until the town never sees him again, as if they die along with him. There are many complaints when the rotten smell around her house arises, but the judge refuses to confront her. To reduce the smell, four townsmen spread the lime around her house after midnight. Once they finished, they can see Miss Emily’s shadow from a window like a light-house keeper watching over the dark sea (393). Years again pass, new laws are enforced, and one of them is tax. Because of Colonel Sattoris, she is shielded from the law. When she passes away, everyone in town comes and shows their respect. According to the community, Miss Emily is “dear, inescapable, impervious, tranquil, and perverse,” yet at the same time they are curious about the house (396). After Tobe, Miss Emily’s cook, open the door for them, “he walked right through the house and out the back and was not seen again” (396). When they discover the truth, none says a word; this is the effect of Miss Emily Grierson.
Miss Emily Grierson is born an aristocrat; she acts and dies like a Grierson.
Though she is above everyone in the town, she is not above the law. The law is enforced in order for the town people to bury her dad. The law of time causes the environment around her to change and her beautiful house and her to decay. Despite her resistant, the law is something she cannot control. Nevertheless, Miss Emily wins the moment when she successfully poison Homer, when the judge does not enforce a law about the smell, when Colonel Sattoris dismisses her tax, and especially when Tobe and the town people are all silence after discovering the truth. Dead or alive, she still has that unearthly presence overbearing them; the reason is that Miss Emily is a Grierson, the last one in
town.