
In “The Judge’s Wife” the author, Isabel Allende, uses a variety of techniques to 
make full use of the limited space within her short story. By using strong imagery, 
providing a background, providing believable human actions, and examining justice, M. 
Allende creates a piece readers can understand to the point of empathy. Because her 
short story examines human behavior in respect to passions, justice, and emotion (love) 
in a plausible manner one can find close similarities between her work and that of Mary 
Shelly’s Frankenstein.
The author makes use of imagery to embellish not only upon her environment, but 
also her characters. M. Allende presents the ideas of corruption, innocence, and 
strictness simply through well-selected adjectives that lend eloquently to the 
descriptions of her characters. The strait laced judge being “…dressed formally in black 
… and his boots always shone with bees wax ” (Allende, 422). One can infer by details 
such as those that that particular individual appreciates formality, and considering his 
desert location, a strict adherence to it. The author also uses images of deformity 
demonstrate the corruption of her main character, Nicholas Vidal; by providing him with 
four (4) nipples and a scared face the reader can have a visual representation of the 
character’s tragic formation. In much the same manner, one can see such development 
within Frankenstein’s creation. The monster’s grotesque outward appearance reflects 
his corrupted creation. Using such imagery the author allows the readers to form a solid 
conception of the plight of their characters.
Mary Shelly uses lovely poetic imagery in much the same way to define, and give 
three-dimensional presence to her characters. Such use of imagery for the purpose of 
character definition can most clearly be seen in her description of her monster: 
“His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as 
beautiful. Beautiful, Great GOD! His yellow skin scarcely covered the 
work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black 
and flowering; his teeth pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only 
formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost 
of the same colour as the dunwhite sockets in which they were set, his 
shriveled complexion and strait black lips.” (Shelly, 56)
In viewing the above passage, much of the same type of character definition can be 
seen; very similar to the manner in which Allende casts her deformed mold of her 
creature, Nicholas.
Beyond merely presenting imagery to enhance the characters, the Allende also 
supplies background information in order to enhance the readers understanding of how 
the main character arrived at his current state. The author focuses on the main 
character’s fatherless and loveless conception in order to accentuate how his 
development occurred. In a similar fashion Allende’s character Nicholas Vidal was 
conceived in a similar fashion as Frankenstein’s monster. Both are created and 
ultimately rejected by their creators who attempt to destroy them. These horrid 
monsters are invariably unwanted by their creators, thus their creators go to great 
lengths to attempt to snuff out the lives of the creations in order that they not wreak 
havoc upon the world. Both authors using this particular method of rejection to temper 
the souls of their monsters to the hardness of iron (Allende, 423). In each case this 
extreme form of temperament creates an almost supernatural being, filled with great 
destructive forces.
Further extending upon the parallel roles of Nicholas and the Monster, a clear 
outcasting from society also aids in their murderous temperament. Each character finds 
himself rejected by society. The monster, from Frankenstein, is rejected by the family 
he assists solely due to his grotesque appearance. In much the same way Nicholas is 
assumed early on in his life by “decent folk” to become a criminal due to the telling 
marks on his face. It may well be said that though the Judge, in his strait laced figure, 
may not have directly created Nicholas, yet in reality he probably did in deed, like the 
rest of society, stereotyped and eventually outcast Nicholas based solely upon the scars 
on his face. In each case the author makes use of societies tendency to categorize and 
reject an individual based solely on their exterior shells, rather than probing the unique 
individual.
To solely focus upon the main character within this story would be folly when making 
a true comparison to Frankenstein. Indeed the role of the judge has many overlapping 
qualities with Victor Frankenstein. Each man peruses, as both texts put it, their own 
“creature”, to the points of virtual insanity. In doing so, these men put the welfare of 
their families in danger, and eventually cause their own inevitable demises. In both 
cases the authors make use of the character’s deep passion for justice: literally in the 
form of law and figuratively in the form of revenge. Allende takes the judge’s passion a 
step further into the realm of juxtapose, by having that character create a great injustice 
in order to attempt to find the justice he seeks. This ironic dual standard for justice 
presides within Victor Frankenstein as well, and can be seen in the initial and final 
sequences in the text. His lust for revenge brings him to the poles of the world in 
search of his horrid creation. Shelly and Allende rely upon the readers understanding of 
passion to enhance the realistic level of their characters.
It is interesting to make note however that both authors severely censure those who 
go against the grains of natural morality. At this point the characters of the two stories 
again overlap, being that they both eventually die for the injustices they inflict. The 
judge ultimately gets killed fleeing from the repercussions of his injustices, while, in 
slight contrast, Frankenstein dies in the pursuit of avenging his injustice. It should be 
noted that the antagonists to these characters are not the ones to cause them physical 
harm, despite their intentions. Rather what kills these characters stems from their 
internal mechanisms.
Another point worth examining in these stories stems from the authors’ use of 
women, given the consideration that both authors are women. Women in both stories 
are characterized in victimized roles, in which they are powerless creatures. Yet one 
must wonder where the motivation, given the gender of the author, for such an 
exclusion takes place. In societies such as that of 1817 England and 1944 Peru ideas 
of civil liberties and sexual equality were not as prevalent as in today’s society. As 
such, it can be inferred that in order to be a published writer in those environments, one 
would have to appeal to the dominant male market. Yet a contrast between 1817 and 
1944 does arise that separates the roles of women within these two periods. In 
Allende’s 1944 piece she allows the feminine character, although weak and victimized, 
knowledge and use of her sexual power. In fact the author uses this sexual power to 
finally bring the main character Nicholas to justice.
In looking at women’s roles within both of the stories it becomes relevant to note that 
each author makes the clear the need for emotional and physical contact from the 
opposite sex. The authors portraying the idea that “Perhaps a woman’s love would 
have made” these tortured characters “… less wretched” (Allende, 423). Indeed in The 
Judge’s Wife much of the main character’s corruption is said to be to this. Similarly 
within the texts of Frankenstein one can a similar pattern in the request of the creature 
for feminine companionship. Allende and Shelly both make indications in their texts that 
this type of love contains both a necessary and satisfying function.
Isabel Allende uses a combination of literary tools and techniques to assemble a 
piece that in some ways reflects a great masterpiece. By refining strong imagery 
Allende gives the reader the ability to define the character not only through their dialog, 
but also through the visualization of the character. The author adds another dimension 
to the side of her main character by including background history. In combining all of 
these tools the characters are given a realistic overtone that makes this short story easy 
for the reader to consume and enjoy.
<br><br><b>Bibliography</b><br><br>
Allende, Isabel; “The Judge’s Wife;” The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature 
(Fourth Edition); pg 422- 427; Bedford Books; Boston, MA; 1997
Shelly, Mary; Frankenstein; Penguin Group; New York, New York; 1983
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