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’ 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’ 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’ 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.