Women as Victims in Chronicle of a Death Foretold

Introduction: Women's Place in the Novel's Society

In Gabriel García Márquez's Chronicle of a Death Foretold, the place of women in society is lower than that of men, and this subordination is presented as one of the primary reasons women tend to become victims. The novel is set in 1951, long before feminist movements had any meaningful impact on the social order in North or Latin America. The story is based on a real murder case that took place that year, and the focus is made clear in the opening paragraph, where the coming death of Santiago Nasar is announced at the outset. The story of Angela's wedding to Bayardo is a secondary storyline — but in this social order, women are secondary in any case.

Angela Vicario, Honor, and the Consequences of Lost Virginity

The killers are Angela's brothers. Angela is at odds with her family, especially regarding her marriage to Bayardo. She does not love him and wants to stop the wedding, and while she cannot prevent it, she does manage to end the marriage within hours — because she is not a virgin. In her society, that is grounds for ostracism and gives the husband the right to dissolve the marriage and return the bride to her family, which is precisely what Bayardo does.

The same transgression today might not carry the same weight, depending on how much a given society has changed. It clearly remains a central issue in some societies and reflects the secondary status of women and the idea that a woman's behavior directly affects the reputation and honor of her entire family. If a woman violates the social code, the whole family is tainted — the family's honor depending on the woman more than on its male members. A clear double standard prevails: sexual indiscretions by male family members are indulged, while those of female members are not. Both brothers and Angela's father have had relations with female servants, yet face no social consequence.

Bayardo, as husband, has the right to beat Angela when he learns the truth, but he does not. Her mother, however, does beat her for hours until Angela reveals the name of the man who took her virginity. She names Santiago Nasar, and her brothers are then compelled to kill him — to wash away the shame with his blood. This ritual is accepted by the entire community, just as Angela's beating is accepted. The extent of this communal approval is made clear when the two brothers are eventually acquitted at trial, because what they did was defend the honor of the family, exactly as they were expected to do. The logic of honor killing is so thoroughly embedded in the social fabric that the law itself validates it.

Angela's Restricted Life After the Murder

Angela's life after the murder is constrained and narrow. As one critic observes, "the forlorn Angela Vicario divides her days between the nocturnal and surreptitious correspondence with Bayardo and an equally accomplished dedication to embroidery by daylight" (Alonso 268). Her options are extremely limited, and the fact that she managed to end her marriage does not free her to pursue other choices. She remains part of the same household and can only do what her family permits. Her years of writing to Bayardo suggest that she has no one outside the home in whom she can confide. She pursues the domestic act of embroidery day after day, and though she did not love Bayardo and has no real tie to him, he is the only person outside the family with whom she communicates.

One critic notes the long-term transformation in Angela, stating that "she undergoes an extraordinary conversion and discovers in herself a love for Bayardo San Román as tremendous and inexplicable as his for her" (Michaels para. 5). This change must be as much a surprise to Angela as it is to Bayardo and the reader, but again, her choices remain severely limited by her social environment.

Conclusion: Patriarchy, False Morality, and the Cost of Oppression

Significantly, Angela only begins to regain her will to live once Santiago is dead. In some way, she now has a choice, and she exercises that choice by writing to Bayardo. When they meet many years later, both are much changed; she believes she loves him, and he accepts her as she accepts him. The social structure, too, is likely to accept their renewed relationship in spite of the history behind it.

The novel demonstrates that women like Angela are oppressed by the patriarchal system in which they live and by the false moral values that infuse it — values also held and enforced by her own family. The Church is equally implicated, promoting the same values and failing to deny the family its revenge. Santiago Nasar's life is lost in all of this, and though the text hints that he may not have been guilty in the first place, this question is never resolved. García Márquez thus leaves readers with the full weight of a community's moral failure, borne most heavily by its women.

Works Cited

Alonso, Carlos J. "Writing and Ritual in Chronicle of a Death Foretold." In Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Harold Bloom (ed.), 257–270. New York: Chelsea House, 1999.

Márquez, Gabriel García. Chronicle of a Death Foretold. Trans. Gregory Rabassa. New York: Knopf, 1983.

Michaels, Leonard. "Murder Most Foul and Comic." New York Times (27 March 1983), Section 7, Page 1.

Pelayo, Rubén. Gabriel Garcia Marquez: A Critical Companion. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2001.