Armand as Villain: Satan Imagery in "Désirée's Baby"
This essay examines Kate Chopin's characterization of Armand Aubigny in "Désirée's Baby" as a villain rather than a victim. Drawing on close reading of Chopin's language, the paper traces three key moments in which Armand is explicitly or implicitly compared to Satan and Lucifer: his cruel treatment of slaves, his desire to wound Desiree as revenge against God, and the closing bonfire imagery that evokes the flames of hell. The analysis argues that Chopin uses this sustained diabolical imagery to undercut Armand's self-perception as an aggrieved husband and to expose him as morally iniquitous, regardless of the story's ironic racial revelation.
- Introduction: Armand's Villainous Portrayal: Thesis: Armand portrayed as Lucifer-like villain
- Satanic Treatment of Slaves: Armand's cruelty compared explicitly to Satan
- Armand's Desire to Wrong God and Desiree: Armand wounds Desiree to avenge himself on God
- Hellfire Imagery in the Final Scene: Bonfire imagery evokes Lucifer's kingdom of hell
- Conclusion: Armand as the Devil Figure: Three strands of evidence confirm devil archetype
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What makes this paper effective
- Each body paragraph is anchored to a direct quotation from the story, making the argument textually grounded rather than impressionistic.
- The paper builds its case progressively: cruelty to slaves, cruelty to Desiree, and finally the closing bonfire — each stage adding a new dimension to the Satan comparison.
- The central irony — that Armand believes himself the victim while exhibiting diabolical behavior — is established in the introduction and reinforced throughout, giving the essay a unifying interpretive lens.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates close reading through sustained attention to Chopin's word choices. Rather than summarizing plot, it pauses on specific verbs and images ("stabbed into his wife's soul," "the very spirit of Satan") and unpacks their connotations, showing how language encodes moral judgment independently of narrative events.
Structure breakdown
The essay follows a classic five-paragraph structure: an introduction that states the Satan-villain thesis, three body paragraphs each built around a textual quotation and corresponding analysis, and a brief conclusion that consolidates the three strands of evidence. This tight organization makes it a useful model for literary argument essays at the high school or early undergraduate level.
Introduction: Armand's Villainous Portrayal
In many of Kate Chopin's stories, women are repressed by their husbands, and a number of male characters are portrayed as villainous. This tendency is certainly evident in "Désirée's Baby," where Chopin's depiction of Armand renders him deeply iniquitous. The supreme irony is that for the duration of the story, Armand considers himself a victim — believing his wife has concealed from him that she is of African-American descent. Yet a closer examination of the language Chopin uses to describe Armand reveals that, regardless of the plot, he is portrayed as a villain in many of the same terms applied to the fallen angel Lucifer.
Satanic Treatment of Slaves
As far as the reader can discern from the information within the story, Armand was never a kind person. His ordinary habit of driving his slaves hard only intensifies once he concludes that his own child is of African-American descent. The following passage, which describes his behavior after he reaches this conclusion, indicates that he is not a victim of circumstance but rather a villain:
"He absented himself from home; and when there, avoided her presence and that of the child, without excuse. And the very spirit of Satan seemed suddenly to take hold of him in his dealings with the slaves" (Chopin).
Not only does Armand take care to shun the company of his wife and child after he suspects the child's heritage, he also begins treating his slaves in an infernal manner explicitly comparable to "Satan." Satan, of course, is the great adversary of the world and of all perceived good within it. By comparing Désirée's husband to this infernal figure, Chopin underscores the fact that Armand is equally evil and villainous.
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