The Use of Force, written by William Carlos Williams is the story of a nameless, conflicted doctor who uses physical force to bring about a diagnosis. The question that is raised is whether or not the doctor's use of force was an ethical duty or infuriating violence. The doctor takes it upon himself to save the patient, Mathilda since she is uncooperative, chooses to go ahead and use force to open her mouth to determine her diagnosis. The choice of using force is not necessarily the questionable part, the reason for using physical force is questionable. The final question posed by the story The Use of Force is whether or not the doctor's motivations become dutiful compassion or desirable violence. At the beginning of the story, the unnamed doctor is introduced as one who appears to be strictly professional. “How often, in these cases, they didn't tell me more than necessary, it was up to me to tell them; that's why they spent three dollars on me. (par. 3) The doctor leaves the first impression of being someone who keeps his attention on work and nothing out of the ordinary other than expressing his impressions of his mother, father and patient Mathilda. Although he manages to notice that Mathilda has a fever. The doctor takes what he considers a “test shot” and a “starting point” by investigating what he suspects is a sore throat (para. 6). At this point in the story, there remains nothing extraordinary or questionable about the doctor's methods, until the story develops further. The doctor maintains his professionalism, but as he goes on, pieces of frustrated irregularities begin to emerge. When the doctor learns that the parents say no, that the girl says she doesn't have a sore throat, he mutters... in the middle of the paper... for what reason? He had to justify his motives, perhaps add a little morality to ensure that what he was doing was ethical. He would reverse that thought, perhaps to try to minimize his desire to unleash his violent frustration on the girl. In the end he saved Mathilda's life in a way, but for what reason? I believe this is the question that The Use of Force by William Carlos Williams makes the reader ask. In an emergency situation the human condition can be divided between an ethical code or the dominion of dark desire. Without a doubt in The Use of Force the situation ended positively as the girl could be saved, but the method of finding out was ambiguous. How well would the situation play out between doing the right thing and doing what you want in any other situation? I believe this is the question William Carlos Williams wanted the reader to ponder.