Crime and punishment have forever been the main theme within several writings by numerous authors. The theme is enchanting mainly because it renders a sense of closure for both, the characters and the readers. With a crime that is committed towards an innocent, the issue forever remains hanging until the punishment has been rendered. Therefore, one of the evergreen themes for books has been on the lines of crime and punishment. In order to study this aspect of literature, I have decided to study two books -- "Chronicle of a Death Foretold" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (1984) and a play "The Visit" by Friedrich Durrenmatt (1958). Both, the book and the play, have the story worked up on the lines where a person has been wronged and eventually, justice finds its way and punishment has been rendered to the criminal.
In both the stories, all the characters feel a kind of retribution on the events of the past only at the end of the book or the play. In "Chronicle of a Death Foretold", while it is hinted that Santiago was not the actual person who had deflowered Angela, it is still highlighted that the honour of a woman is the highest of the honours and anyone who disgraces it will be punished with the highest of the punishments, that is death. Therefore, it is considered to be a natural course for the Vicario brothers to decide to kill Santiago (innocent or not) for deflowering their sister. Furthermore, even though the town knew of the plot to murder Santiago, no one seemed to come forward to warn him. In fact, a few of them willed the Vicario brothers to kill Santiago. As Divina Flor confessed to the narrator later, her mother did not warn Santiago Nasar because she wanted him to be killed. The reason for this is the same -- Santiago's father had deflowered Victoria Guzman and now Santiago was trying to force his way upon her daughter, Divina Flor. Therefore, not only did Santiago's murder bring relief to Divina, it also brought a sense of retribution to Victoria for what Santiago's father had done to her years back. In the mean time, the Vicario brothers got acquitted for the murder of Santiago because the society considered the murder to be lawful since it avenged the injustice done to Angela.
On the other hand, in "The Visit", time and again incidents and situations are mentioned which inform the reader about how those who inflicted injustice were punished. For instance, the judge who was brought by Ill now worked as Claire's butler. Similarly, the two false witnesses who reported against Claire were muted and castrated and turned into eunuchs in Claire's repertoire. The only person who wronged and still remained unpunished was Alfred Ill. The entire scheme of Claire's actions from the very beginning was to bring this injustice to books and she wins in the end. The entire town, including Ill, decides that it was best for everyone if Ill accepted his punishment for falsifying witness in order to win the paternity suit in question. Therefore, in the end, he is killed while the entire town is presented with a million dollar cheque for this action. This brings closure to Claire who had been looking for revenge ever since she lost the paternity suit.
As described above, both the books deal with the theme of retribution of the crime committed against a person. The society too agrees with the actions taken by characters in order to avenge the crime. The main theme in both the stories, therefore, is the atonement of a crime or injustice done.
In both, "Chronicle of the Death Foretold" and "The Visit", the authors have used various stylistic techniques such as irony, foreshadowing, plot and suspense. Within the book the author has created situations which can be deemed as ironical. For instance, in "Chronicle of a Death Foretold", the Vicario brothers go on to commit a murder despite making it evident that they did not want to do so. Further, they are judged as not guilty of the crime everyone knows they committed because it was a matter of honour. Thirdly, and the biggest irony of the book, was that Santiago was murdered for molesting a girl he had never interacted with, even as he was famous in the town for molesting several other girls. Irony was also used in "The Visit". For instance, the Priest had strapped on a rifle, justifying this act on account of the escaped panther. This is clearly hinting at the power of money over everything, including religion. Claire's entourage has a black panther in it, which escapes and starts creating havoc within the town. The town-people get armed to kill it. Irony here is that Claire had a nick name for Ill, which was also Black Panther. In her carrying the black panther to town and people getting ready to murder it is also symbolical of people getting ready to murder Ill in the long run. It is ironical because the Mayor and everyone in the town was appalled with Claire for announcing that only if Ill is murdered will she give money to the town. Nevertheless, over time, the people unknowingly undergo a psychological journey from denial to justification to progression towards accepting the bribe offered by Claire. Another use of symbolism in "The Visit" is the inherent corruption, which is much hinted at by the use of colours such as golden and yellow -- "Yellow shoes", "Golden tooth" -- which is also the colour of the money. In "Chronicle of a Death Foretold" also symbolism is used to give a character sketch of Santiago. The scene where the cook describes the events before Santiago's death, she repeatedly tells how she fed the rabbit guts to the dogs. This is a symbol where rabbit guts are compared to Santiago, after he is murdered and the hungry dogs are compared to Vicario brothers, lusting for Santiago's blood. Another literary technique employed within both, the book and play, is foreshadowing, that is, it describes an incident that occurred years ago. Within "Chronicle of a Death Foretold" and "The Visit", the events of the past are related. While the former is based entirely upon relating the events of the past, the latter has events of the present being highly influenced by the past. Further, the events described in "Chronicle of a Death Foretold" are not chronologically played, which renders the entire story a feel of confusion. This is exactly the frame of mind of most of the characters mentioned within the story, especially owing to the heavy drinking on the night before on the event of Angela and Bayardo's wedding. Adding to this is also the mayhem concerning the visit of the bishop. Thus, the timing and setting of the play is perfectly aligned with psychological aspect of the story's characters. The setting of the play, "The Visit", is shown as dreary and corrupt hinting at the events to unfold. The town, Guellen, is described as so poor that it even sells its museum to get some money.
Now, even as "Chronicle of a Death Foretold" can be touted as a pseudo-journalistic account (on account of its style of narration and reporting of the pseudo-event), the play "The Visit" can be termed as a tragicomedy (tragedy because of the psychological progression from ethical to corrupt and comedy because of the heights of ironical extremes provided within the story). Thus, both the authors employed use of several stylistic techniques to bring out the main theme behind their respective works. Even as the usage and the effects of their usage were different in both the works, the aim was to establish the fact that no crime goes unpunished.
Works Cited
Durrenmatt, F.. The Visit. New York: Random House (1958), Print.
Marquez, G. G. Chronicle of a Death Foretold. New York: Ballantine Books (1984)., Print.
