Evil can be found in the strangest places and this is the case for Miss Adela Strangeworth. The main protagonist in Shirley Jackson’s “Possibility of Evil”, As previously mentioned, Miss
Strangeworth is a 71 year old spinster who has a dark secret. Mrs. Strangeworth sees herself as being the guardian of her town but in truth she is a rude, secretive old woman who wishes everything to be perfect and will try her best to make it that way. She may seem sweet but her appearance deceives the gullible .
Mrs. Strangeworth is shown at the beginning as being a rather normal old lady enjoying a nice day after the rain has stopped. She may look like a nice person but in reality she can be cruel and deceiving, she judges people and picks them apart based on how they look and dress. She goes as far as to take it upon herself to write letters to unsuspecting townsfolk ‘warning’ them about things that are going wrong in their lives, this would not have been so bad if she had not been so rude. She sends a letter to her victim about a young couple saying “iii” She writes her letters anonymously not ever signing her name. In other words, she is a secretive and cruel old women who in the end got what she deserved. …show more content…
She wants everything and everyone to be perfect in her town, she judges people when they’re hair isn’t done up right, when they’re in a bad mood or if they’re going through hard times. She keeps her home almost museum like in the story the author depicts her house as “iii” She takes pride in her roses and when her cruelty turns on her it destroys her precious roses, she made a fatal mistake on behalf of her roses. Her perfect life, perfect reputation, and perfect roses have all been crushed as she made a dire mistake when dropping one of her secret