“The Judge’s Wife” by Isabel Allende is a short story about Nicolas Vidal, a bandit, who is destined to lose his head at the hands of a woman. Therefore, Vidal is constantly avoiding any contact with women and only does so every now and then to cheat loneliness. Allende uses foreshadowing, cosmic irony, and flashbacks to emphasize that no one can outrun fate.
Foreshadowing is when the author foretells future events by using dialogue or imagery early in the story. In “The Judge’s Wife “foreshadowing runs rampant. At the very beginning of Allende writes, “Nicolas Vidal always knew he would lose his head over a woman. So it was foretold on the day of his birth” (283). Allende then immediately introduces Casilda, who is the wife of Vidal’s archenemy. Nicolas Vidal is unattracted by her looks and thinks no further of her. Allende specifically sates “He cast aside all precaution and, when the fateful moment arrived, forgot the prediction that usually weighed in all his decisions” (284). This statement has no context where it is written, which signifies foreshadowing. Another sign is when Allende writes “Though outwardly he remained the same-he …show more content…
Allende explains through a flashback on how Nicolas came to be and why. The flashback is presented in the middle of the story and connects the dots and gives a formidable explanation as to why things are how they are. The author explains that because Juana tried to abort Nicolas, his soul was hardened (289). The author also emphasizes how Juana’s efforts to give him a nice name were effortless since his fate was decided because of her actions.
In conclusion, “The Judge’s Wife” circulates around fate. The author demonstrates this through the use of foreshadowing, cosmic irony and flashbacks. The fate of the character was set in stone no matter how much he avoided it. Fate is not what people make of it, but rather what fate makes of