Реферат: The JudgeS Wife By Isabel Allende Essay

qualities with Victor Frankenstein. Each man peruses, as both texts put it, their own

?creature?, to the points of virtual insanity. In doing so, these men put the welfare of

their families in danger, and eventually cause their own inevitable demises. In both

cases the authors make use of the character?s deep passion for justice: literally in the

form of law and figuratively in the form of revenge. Allende takes the judge?s passion a

step further into the realm of juxtapose, by having that character create a great injustice

in order to attempt to find the justice he seeks. This ironic dual standard for justice

presides within Victor Frankenstein as well, and can be seen in the initial and final

sequences in the text. His lust for revenge brings him to the poles of the world in

search of his horrid creation. Shelly and Allende rely upon the readers understanding of

passion to enhance the realistic level of their characters.

It is interesting to make note however that both authors severely censure those who

go against the grains of natural morality. At this point the characters of the two stories

again overlap, being that they both eventually die for the injustices they inflict. The

judge ultimately gets killed fleeing from the repercussions of his injustices, while, in

slight contrast, Frankenstein dies in the pursuit of avenging his injustice. It should be

noted that the antagonists to these characters are not the ones to cause them physical

harm, despite their intentions. Rather what kills these characters stems from their

internal mechanisms.

Another point worth examining in these stories stems from the authors? use of

women, given the consideration that both authors are women. Women in both stories

are characterized in victimized roles, in which they are powerless creatures. Yet one

must wonder where the motivation, given the gender of the author, for such an

exclusion takes place. In societies such as that of 1817 England and 1944 Peru ideas

of civil liberties and sexual equality were not as prevalent as in today?s society. As

such, it can be inferred that in order to be a published writer in those environments, one

would have to appeal to the dominant male market. Yet a contrast between 1817 and

1944 does arise that separates the roles of women within these two periods. In

Allende?s 1944 piece she allows the feminine character, although weak and victimized,