The Handler story
A mortician has made a career of punishing his enemies in his morbid workplace. His time, however, is up. Directed by: Peter Sharp. Story by: Ray Bradbury.
10 total · 2 choice · 1 major · 7 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| the desire for vengeance | choice | The story centers around the mortician Mr. Benedict by desecrating the corpses of those whom he held grudges against. He fashioned a "cake coffin" for the rotund Mrs. Shellmund in retaliation for her having once rebuffed his romantic overtures. He pumped Mr. Wren's corpse full of black ink because he had been a big racist in life. He replaced Edmund Worth's buff body with 40 bricks. Mr. Benedict, who was not the gym type, was presumably jealous that he didn't have a hot body, like Edmund. |
| vigilante justice | choice | Mr. Benedict had taken it upon himself to desecrate the corpses of various people in order to mete out what he considered ironic punishments for their wicked behavior in life. |
| ironic twist of fate | major | Mr. Benedict had taken it upon himself to desecrate the corpses of various people in order to mete out what he considered ironic punishments for their behavior in life. In an meta-ironic twist of fate (possibly), after Mr. Benedict happened to murder a person who he found to be not dead in the morgue, supernatural shadowy figures of otherwise unknown nature, attacked him and administered some sort of ironic punishment by burying pieces of him underneath all the tombstones of people he himself had victimized. |
| creative writing | minor | In the introduction, Ray Bradbury shared with the viewer the wellsprings of creativity that inspire his writing. |
| extramarital affair | minor | Mr. McNamara barged into a cheap motel room and found his wife in delicto flagrante with Edmund Worth. It didn't end well for Edmund. |
| gluttony | minor | The rotund Mrs. Shellmund had over-indulged in deserts during the course of her life, according to Mr. Benedict. He particularly cited her love of cream tarts, chocolate eclairs, parfaits, and sundaes. |
| monster | minor | Supernatural shadowy figures of otherwise unknown nature, attacked him and administered some sort of ironic punishment on Mr. Benedict. |
| murder | minor | Mr. Benedict did in Mr. Merriwell Blythe by injecting him with an unidentified, clear liquid (possibly embalming fluid). |
| racism in society | minor | Mr. Wren, recently departed, had despised all minorities. The mortician Mr. Benedict took it upon himself to punish Mr. Wren by pumping the racist's corpse full of black ink. |
| the nature of creativity | minor | In his introduction, Ray Bradbury gave his viewers an intimate window into his writing room, and some of the self-professed sources of creativity that lay about within it. |