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Angela Vicario Essay

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Márquez uses the character of Angela Vicario to show the power women can possess over the men in their lives. Angela Vicario is arguably the most powerful character in the novel, as she is the one who tells her brothers that it was Santiago who took her virginity, which consequently sets the entire plot of the story in motion. After Angela is returned by Bayardo San Román to her family due to the fact that she is not a virgin, when her brothers ask who it was who took her virginity, Angela “nailed [Santiago’s name] to the wall with her well-aimed dart, like a butterfly with no will whose sentence has always been written” (Márquez 47). The way in which Angela searches for Santiago’s name shows that it may not have been Santiago who had taken …show more content…

Santiago is also referred to as a butterfly, a very fragile creature, with no will or say in what happens to it. This insinuates that even if he was to try, Santiago Nasar would never be able to free himself from the fate Angela’s words set for him. This goes directly against the social norms of the time, in which Santiago, the wealthy man, should be able to control Angela, the poor woman. Angela’s statement that it was Santiago who took her virginity also exercises a certain control over her brothers. In the trial, Pablo and Pedro declared “that they would have done it again a thousand times over for the same reason” (Márquez 48). Even though they did have their own free will in committing the murders, Pablo and Pedro did not question their decision to murder Santiago in defense of Angela’s honor. By making the accusation, Angela is controlling her brothers as well, as it is clear that they will end up doing something to protect their sister’s purity. Whether Angela intentionally wanted Santiago to end up dead or not, it is still clear that at this point in the novel, she is exercising a control over Santiago, Pablo, and

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