Archetypes In The Judge's Wife

From Villian to Lover In Isabel Allende’s short story The Judge's Wife, the wife acts as both the temptress and nurturer which changes Nicolás Vidal from the shadow figure archetype to the lover archetype. Vidal spent his life staying away from women. His mother was the only woman, and person, that he ever loved and cared for, although he never showed her affection because it would be seen as a weakness in his gang. His personality changes when he faces the wife of Judge Hidalgo, Casilda. On the day Nicolás Vidal is born, the midwife prophesies that a woman would be his downfall. Vidal wants to avoid the death at the hands of a woman and “[the prophecy] weighed on the boy like a deformity” (Allende 186). The prophecy causes Vidal to harden his heart and lead a life of toughness. He refrains from relationships from women in hope that he can avoid the fulfillment of the prophecy. Nicolás was tough ever since he was just a baby in the womb. He survived multiple abortion attempts by his

Allende changes this common archetype. She uses the good woman and her sexuality to bring about the downfall of the villain. She loves her children and would do whatever it takes to protect them. Casilda fulfills her role as the nurturer by becoming the seductress. She sacrifices herself for her children by sexually tempting Vidal in order to stall and allow the guardia to find the family. Immediately after Casilda hides her children in the cave, she goes down and waits for the men. Allende writes, “she did not know how many men were in Nicolás Vidal’s band, but she prayed there were many; the more there were, the more time would be spent in taking their pleasure of her” (192). She needed to exhaust herself in hopes of saving her children. This action fits the nurturer archetype. She puts her children's needs before her own and openly accepts the idea that she could