Norah's Story 32 Analysis

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Marguerite de Navarre’s Story 32 not only pertains to religious conflict, but also instills a belief of morality. In a story meant to have underlying messages, this tale has a lot of detail at the surface that can be organized as messed up or wickedly charming depending on perspective. A preposterous event worth recognizing is the punishment that the husband gives his wife. This relates to not only the consequences of sinning, but also the mindset of a man to bring such a wrath to the household. In contrast, Bernage’s point of view brings an impressive, open-minded look to forgiveness and how people can bring sense to others’ demonstrative actions. The combination of the husband’s forceful imprisonment of his wife and Bernage’s heroic choice …show more content…

The plea of remorse from the wife connects with Bernage, but also leaves a bit of guilt with her partner. Bernage’s great triumph, however, comes with his speech about the troubled marriage. He states, “Your poor wife’s remorse is so deep, it is my belief that you should show some compassion towards her”(de Navarre 177). Bernage doesn’t so much see something wrong with his anger, but he see’s something wrong with how he is expressing it. It’s hard for the husband to analyze his own decisions due to the bias he has towards his own feelings. Bernage could have been murdered on the spot to even suggest the man’s decisions, yet he found it to be a crucial piece of advice that might be better in the long run for both of them. This contributes to the idea that forgiveness is necessary to move on in life. Bernage provides awesome courage and foresight to be mentally prepared in that situation.

The incredible acts of wisdom provided by Bernage collide with the destructive choices of the husband to create a messed up, yet intelligent scenario of examining the influence that outside sources bring. The husband lacks the mercy needed to understand when a person has experienced enough harm. This path of choices also works into the idea that the husband may have his own emotional issues that led him to believe that murder and torture were acceptable. As opposed