The Well Flashcards
by W. W. Jacobs — tap or click to flip
Flashcard Review
Flashcards: The Well
What is Wilfred Carr trying to get from Jem Benson at the beginning of the story?
Carr is trying to get fifteen hundred pounds from Benson, threatening to sell compromising letters Benson wrote to another woman if he refuses.
What does Benson tell his mother about Wilfred's disappearance?
He tells her they had words about money, he gave Wilfred a piece of his mind, and he does not think they will see him again.
Where does Olive accidentally drop her bracelet?
She drops her mother's diamond bracelet into the old disused well at the corner of the park.
What does Benson hook from the well instead of the bracelet during his nighttime fishing attempt?
He hooks a bunch of keys, which he immediately shakes off the hook back into the water.
Why does Benson insist on going down the well himself rather than letting George do it?
He knows Wilfred's body is in the well and cannot risk anyone else discovering it before he retrieves the bracelet.
What happens when Benson reaches the bottom of the well?
He becomes entangled with something below the water and tugs desperately at the rope. When he is hauled up, he has Wilfred Carr's corpse clinging to him.
How does the story end?
George drops the rope in horror when he sees the dead man's face, and both Benson and the corpse fall back into the well. George's calls down the shaft are met only with silence.
What does Benson make Olive promise regarding the lost bracelet?
He makes her promise not to mention the loss to anyone, claiming it is valuable and that he will retrieve it by the next morning.
Describe the relationship between Jem Benson and Wilfred Carr.
They are cousins. Benson is wealthy while Carr is perpetually in debt and has relied on Benson's financial help repeatedly.
What kind of person is Olive, and what is her relationship to Benson?
Olive is Benson's fiancee, described as good, gentle, and trusting, with a strong sense of right and wrong.
How does Carr characterize what would happen if Olive learned the truth about Benson?
He says Olive has such a strong sense of right and wrong that she would drop Benson if she discovered he was not everything she believed him to be.
Who are George and Bob?
They are Benson's servants who help lower him into the well using a rope. George is the more senior of the two and tries to dissuade Benson from descending.
What role does Mrs. Benson play in the story?
She is Jem's mother. She witnesses his return from the park the night of Wilfred's disappearance and later advocates for the well to be filled in, unknowingly reinforcing the story's irony.
How does the story explore the theme of guilt?
Benson's guilt manifests physically through his pallor and agitation whenever the well is mentioned, and the well itself becomes an inescapable symbol of his buried crime.
What does the well symbolize in the story?
The well symbolizes buried truth and hidden guilt. Despite being disused and overgrown, it relentlessly draws characters back to it until it exposes what Benson has concealed.
How does the story illustrate the theme of poetic justice?
Benson kills Carr to protect his reputation and keep Olive, but it is Olive's dropped bracelet that forces him back into the well where his own victim destroys him.
What role does deception play in the story?
Benson deceives everyone around him -- his mother, Olive, and his servants -- presenting himself as virtuous while concealing murder, making the story a study in moral hypocrisy.
How does Jacobs use dramatic irony in the story?
The reader understands why Benson dreads the well long before Olive does, creating tension in every scene where she casually sits on its edge or peers into its depths.
Identify a key example of foreshadowing in the story.
Olive describes "going round and round like a mouse in a pail, clutching at the slimy sides" -- which precisely foreshadows Benson's own death in the well.
How does Jacobs handle the murder scene narratively?
He uses elision, never showing the murder directly. The scene cuts from Benson watching Carr walk into the moonlight to Mrs. Benson finding the room empty, leaving the act to the reader's imagination.
What is the effect of the whispered voice Olive hears at the well?
The whispered "Jem, help me out" creates ambiguity between the supernatural and the psychological, and echoes Carr's habitual plea for help, amplifying both horror and guilt.
How does the setting of the well contribute to the story's atmosphere?
The well is hidden by overgrowth, never reached by full sunlight, and surrounded by damp, cold air -- all Gothic details that mark it as a place of concealment and dread.
What does "coping" mean in the context of the well?
The coping is the flat top edge or rim of the well wall, the brickwork ledge on which Olive and Benson sit.
What is a "windlass" as mentioned in the story?
A windlass is a mechanical device with a crank used to raise and lower a bucket in a well by winding a rope around a horizontal drum.
What is the significance of Olive's remark about making "the acquaintance of Truth" at the bottom of the well?
It ironically alludes to the saying "truth lies at the bottom of a well." The well literally contains the truth about Benson's crime, making her innocent quip devastatingly prophetic.