Chronicle Of a Death
Foretold
Theme: HONOUR
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 person’s 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 brother’s
plan of murder, nobody attempts to stop them and most
understand their motives.
‘Many of those who were on the docks knew that they
were going to kill Santiago Nasar’
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Though it is claimed that ‘it seemed impossible that he hadn’t 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 they’re doing the right thing in defending their sister. We
get this sense from Pablo Vicario’s wife, Prudencia Cotes who says, 'I didn’t
only agree, I never would have married him if he hadn’t done what a man
should do’. This suggests that if they hadn’t of killed Santiago Nasar then
not only would their family have the shame of Angela’s wedding night but
more dishonour by ignoring their duties. ‘The brothers were brought up to
be men’ and therefore were expected to protect the family’s 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 didn’t think the brothers were right to take a life in the name of honour.
It’s 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.
‘Spare those poor boys from the horrible duty that’s
fallen on them’
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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.
‘We’re innocent…before God and before men…it was a
matter of honour’
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•
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 Angela’s chances of marrying well which is what she has been
brought up to do.