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Necrophilia In William Faulkner's A Rose For Emily

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Necrophilia is described as a person having sexual feelings or performing activities that involve a corpse. Miss Emily Grierson, the protagonist in William Faulkner’s short retrospective Gothic “A Rose for Emily,” is a necrophiliac. In this Gothic work, Faulkner illustrates how isolation from society can drive someone to commit grotesque acts. Faulkner expands on the theme of loneliness in his Gothic, “A Rose for Emily,” through the interactions Emily has with the townsmen, the death of Emily’s father, and the death of Homer Barron. One way that Faulkner furthers the theme of isolation throughout the short story is through the interactions Emily has with the people of the town. At the beginning of the story, Faulkner paints a sad story about the life of Miss Emily Grierson. Faulkner stated, “When Miss Emily died, our whole town went to her funeral… the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house, which no one save an old manservant---a combined gardener and cook had seen in at least ten years” (1.730). This quote is significant because it illustrates that Miss Emily was isolated from her community for quite some time. This opening scene paints a picture of unwavering loneliness experienced by Miss Emily. She did not have a …show more content…

This story emphasizes how isolation from any source, whether it be from the community, the family, or from the decisions we make are harmful not only to ourselves but others around us. The short story pleas for a call to arms to end isolation from such sources and to discourage people from isolating others because they are different. We can only succeed as a community when we celebrate one another’s differences instead of ridiculing those who dare to challenge the status

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