Chronicle Of a Death Foretold

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Chronicle Of a Death Foretold

• Theme HONOUR

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• Throughout chronicle of a death foretold honour
  is an extremely important and dominant theme. All
  characters take honour seriously and it becomes
  clear to the reader that loss of a persons
  honour has equal value to a loss of life. Pablo
  and Pedro Vicario have the burden of killing
  Santiago Nasar in order to eliminate the shame
  brought on their family. Although many people
  know the brothers plan of murder, nobody
  attempts to stop them and most understand their
  motives.

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Many of those who were on the docks knew that
they were going to kill Santiago Nasar

• Though it is claimed that it seemed impossible
  that he hadnt been warned, there could be other
  reasons as to why nobody spoke up about the
  murder plans. In the novel, honour means
  everything and is something that nobody should
  interfere with. Perhaps nobody judges or tries to
  stop the brothers as they believe that theyre
  doing the right thing in defending their sister.
  We get this sense from Pablo Vicarios wife,
  Prudencia Cotes who says, 'I didnt only agree, I
  never would have married him if he hadnt done
  what a man should do. This suggests that if they
  hadnt of killed Santiago Nasar then not only
  would their family have the shame of Angelas
  wedding night but more dishonour by ignoring
  their duties. The brothers were brought up to be
  men and therefore were expected to protect the
  familys reputation.
• On the other hand, someone who was never
  identified shoved an envelope under the door with
  a piece of paper warning Santiago Nasar that they
  were waiting for him to kill him. This shows
  that there was at least one person who didnt
  think the brothers were right to take a life in
  the name of honour. Its possible that they tried
  to stop the death in this secretive way as they
  were afraid of what could happen to them if they
  got involved.

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Spare those poor boys from the horrible duty
thats fallen on them

• Like most, Clotilde Armenta knows what is going
  to happen and she emphasises that the brothers
  have no choice but to commit murder. We
  sympathise with them as they feel burdened with
  the task of killing Santiago Nasar, instead of
  hatred they looked at him with pity.
• The true weight of the crime becomes apparent as
  as soon as they fell asleep they would commit
  the crime over again. Márquez could understand
  this feeling due to his upbringing by his
  grandparents, as a child his grandfather told him
  there is no greater burden than to kill a man.
  However they declared at the end of the trial
  that they would have done it again a thousand
  times over for the same reason. This shows the
  great influence that honour has and how it takes
  priority over everything else.

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Were innocentbefore God and before menit was
a matter of honour

• It seems that within the community honour holds
  such significance that the murder is reasonable.
  Religion is very powerful and the priest calls
  the twins surrender an act of great dignity.
  Though they have committed a sin, they are still
  innocent in the eyes of God as it was a act of
  retribution. This portrays how awful it was to
  sleep with an unmarried women as doing so ruined
  Angelas chances of marrying well which is what
  she has been brought up to do.