The Vessel of Wrath is a novella, published in 1931 by W. Somerset Maugham. It first appeared in Cosmopolitan magazine. 1931 is a common year starting on Thursday. ... W. Somerset Maugham as photographed in 1934 by Carl Van Vechten. ... Cosmopolitan, or simply Cosmo, is a magazine published monthly from New York by the Hearst Corporation. ...

The story has been adapted for film and television at least four times:

• The 1938 film The Vessel of Wrath, released in the US as The Beachcomber, starred Charles Laughton as Ginger Ted, Elsa Lanchester as Miss Jones, Robert Newton as the Contrôleur, and Tyrone Guthrie as Reverend Jones.

• The 1954 film, The Beachcomber, starred Robert Newton as Ginger Ted, Glynis Johns as Miss Jones, Donald Sinden as the Contrôleur, and Paul Rogers as Reverend Jones.

• A 1970 television production starred James Booth as Ginger Ted, Siân Phillips as Miss Jones, Ronald Lacey as the Contrôleur, and John Glyn-Jones as Reverend Jones.

• A 1980 television production titled Wilson's Reward starred Gerald S. O'Loughlin as Ginger Ted and Sandy Dennis as Miss Jones, renamed Martha James.

1938 was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... Charles Laughton as photographed in 1940 by Carl Van Vechten Charles Laughton (July 1, 1899 - December 15, 1962) was a British-born American stage and film actor of partial Irish Catholic extraction. ... Elsa Lanchester and Boris Karloff in The Bride of Frankenstein Elsa Lanchester (October 28, 1902–December 26, 1986), was a British-born American character actress, perhaps best-known as the long-suffering wife of Charles Laughton. ... This article is on Robert Newton the deceased British actor. ... Sir William Tyrone Guthrie (2 July 1900 - 15 May 1971) was a British theatrical director instrumental in the founding of the Stratford Festival of Canada and the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, Minnesota. ... 1954 was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is on Robert Newton the deceased British actor. ... Glynis Johns (born October 5, 1923) is a British stage and film actress, dancer, pianist and singer (notably of Send in the Clowns in Stephen Sondheims A Little Night Music). ... Sir Donald Sinden KBE OBE born 1923 is a British stage actor. ... The Honorable Paul Rogers is a former member of the US House of Representatives, where he served the citizens of Floridas eleventh Congressional District for 24 years. ... 1970 was a common year starting on Thursday. ... James Booth (19 December 1927- 11 August 2005) was the stage name of David Geeves. ... Siân Phillips (born May 14, 1934) CBE, is a British actress. ... 1980 is a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... Sandra (Sandy) Dale Dennis (April 27, 1937 – March 2, 1992) was an American theater and film actress. ...

Title

The title of the story refers to Romans 9:22, which reads: The Epistle to the Romans is one of the epistles, or letters, included in the New Testament canon of the Christian Bible. ...

9:21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? 9:22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: 9:23 And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,9:24 Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?

Plot summary

Ginger Ted, a drunkard and womanizer, and Miss Jones, a missionary, live in the Alas Islands. During a cholera epidemic, Ginger Ted and Miss Jones are sent to an outlying part of the islands to run a hospital; on their return, their motorboat breaks down, and they are marooned overnight on a small island. Miss Jones is certain that Ginger Ted means to rape her as soon as the sun goes down. When morning comes and her virtue is still intact, she is convinced that he has had a change of heart and that he is a good man in spite of his many faults. Ginger Ted himself is outraged by this explanation; it never occurred to him to rape Miss Jones, who is middle-aged and unattractive. Nevertheless, at the end of the story, Miss Jones and Ginger Ted have married and Ginger Ted, now known as Edward, has become a missionary. A missionary is a propagator of religion, often an evangelist or other representative of a religious community who works among those outside of that community. ... }} Distribution of cholera Cholera (also called Asiatic cholera) is an infectious disease of the gastrointestinal tract caused by the Vibrio cholerae bacterium. ...