Analysis of La Viuda de Montiel

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Daniel Gourlay – Spanish and Spanish American Literature – Practice Commentary

Write a critical commentary of up to 1000 words in English on the following passage.

Your commentary should consider the following:

  • 1. Content and meaning: what are the main ideas or themes in the extract?  How does this extract relate to the content of the story as a whole?
  • 2. Characterization: what do we learn about the characters, and what techniques are used to tell us about them?
  • 3. Style and language: what kind of narrator does García Márquez use? Discuss how dialogue and language reflect the points you have made above.

If you use any books or articles, remember to reference them correctly, and list them at the end.

In his short story “La viuda de Montiel”, Gabriel Garcia Marquez describes the aftermath of the death of don Jose Montiel, how his wife copes with it and how she is treat by the villagers of the town. The chosen passage is near the beginning of the story, following the villager’s ignorance of the funeral and the widow’s decision to lock herself away forever. Through his descriptive images, management of time, characterisation of the wife, use of the narrator and suggestions of solitude and isolation, Marquez creates a fictional dream-world allowing this parody/satire of the male and female roles to be performed, elevating it above the seemingly simple commentary of a woman’s grief.

The prevalent theme as I see it within the extract is that of the isolation and alienation of the widow as a result of her husband and the contrast between their roles as men and women of the period and time in which the short story is set. This passage really brings to the foreground the differences between the two people and how Montiel’s death has affected his wife. “Lacerada por la supersticion”, the widow is literally severed from her husband and their relationship, almost cast off into a metaphorical abyss of isolation. These ideas of isolation  and solitude are two of the key themes Marquez seems to explore in this passage.

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Firstly and most importantly, Montiel’s death and his mistreatment of the town leaves his widow isolated. She doesn’t speak to another person from the town in the whole of the extract other than Mr. Carmichael. She is literally isolated within a town full of people, who still seem to intrude upon her life, almost assaulting the memory of her husband and his corruption by trying to open the safe, “Durante toda una mañana, la viuda oyó desde el dormitorio las descargas cerradas y sucesivas ordenadas a gritos por el alcalde.” With no one to tell her story to she ...

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