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"Circumstance" is an allegorical short story written by American author Harriet Elizabeth Prescott Spofford as a periodical in The Atlantic Monthly in 1860. The story takes place in the woods of Maine following an unnamed protagonist who travels to return to home after caring for a sick neighbor. She ventures into the woods where she comes in contact with the Indian Devil who assaults her throughout the story but in this life/death situation she realizes her reality and religion and comes to terms with her life, sexuality and fears. By the end of the story, her husband shoots the Devil with his shotgun in one hand and their baby in the other while the 'true Indian Devils' destroy their home and town. == Plot summary == An unnamed woman travels back to her home after caring for an ill neighbor in Maine and notices a white apparition floating in the air that sighed, "''The Lord have mercy on the people!''" She continues on until she reaches a point where a gap of fallen trees allows twilight to enter in the form of diffused light. Suddenly, a shadow raced past her and before she knew it she was taken captive by the Indian Devil, a savage, legendary black panther. She begins thinking of her husband, her best friend. She then in an effort to call to her husband and save herself, she sings to the beast. As she does, the beast dances around and released its firm grip around her but it still keeps hold. Anytime she pictures her husband or her child, she ceases from singing and the beast returns to its ferious ways and tortures the woman.〔 As the beast continues to attack and subdue her, she begins to come to terms with her life and her religion. At first she questions God but eventually realizes that if He feels its her time to pass then she will accept that and accept that this is the way of nature.〔 Meanwhile, her husband, caring for their child, becomes exceedingly worried for her as she has been gone for much longer than expected. He soon decides to attempt an adventure into the woods, with his baby in one arm and his shotgun in the other.〔 Eventually, he finds his wife being assaulted by the panther and after much planning for the perfect shot at the monster, he hits it dead on and the two fall, with it under her. The three embrace one another and return to their home, finding their community in complete desolation and its people dead from the 'true Indian Devils,' leaving the readers to the final line of the tale:〔 For the rest,--the world was all before them, where to choose.〔〔The final line of this story was taken from the Epic poem Paradise Lost by John Milton, an epic poem telling of Satan's descension to hell and Adam and Eve's expulsion from the Garden of Eden.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Circumstance (short story)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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