The Fortune – Teller “The Fortune – Teller” is a short story written by Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis which is published in 1896. This short story is about the loves triangle between Camillo, Villela, and Rita. In this story, Villela and Rita are husband and wife whose are bestfriends with Camillo. Their intimacy becomes much closer after Camillo’s mother’s death, and Camillo does not even recognize that he is in love with his best friend’s wife, Rita. Throughout the story, Machado wants to send a message to his reader that: we definitely receive what we have done for, so we should accept better than trying to change it. That is why, he uses the defense mechanisms and ironies that both contribute to the story’s theme: superstitious offer
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The ironies are another tool that help to contribute the story’s themes along with psychological struggles. Verbal irony applies on speech when a person says something that conveys the meaning in the opposite of the original meaning. In the story, Rita says, “finally telling me that I was afraid you would forget me, but that there were no grounds for my fear” (Machado 127). Camillo relies that the fortune-teller was wrong and laugh; however, he knows exactly that she is afraid. Situation irony is another literary term uses in this story. It uses describes the action has an effect on the opposite way of what one expected. It usually results in negative view in life, and the person, who faced with this situation, is always disappointed to the result. The moment when Camillo receives the letter from Villela says, “Come immediately to our house; I must talk to you without delay” (Machado 130-131), Camillo is really worried about what will happen to him when he arrives there. However, the fortune-teller comforts him by telling that nothing is going to happen to him and the other. Unfortunately, the situation is opposite to what he expected because it results in Rita’s dead body on the sofa, and Villela shoots him with two bullets. Dramatic irony is another literary term that helps to contribute the story’s themes. Dramatic irony is the situation of drama when the reader or audience understands the situation better than the characters in the story. The best incident for dramatic irony is the anonymous letter from a stranger. Rita and Camillo were suffered about who wrote this letter, and they tried to figure out if Villela is the author of this letter. At this point, it is a drama when Camillo does not know who the letter’s author is while the reader can guess who may be the author of this letter. It can be the fortune-teller since she knows everything about Camillo and
The ironies are another tool that help to contribute the story’s themes along with psychological struggles. Verbal irony applies on speech when a person says something that conveys the meaning in the opposite of the original meaning. In the story, Rita says, “finally telling me that I was afraid you would forget me, but that there were no grounds for my fear” (Machado 127). Camillo relies that the fortune-teller was wrong and laugh; however, he knows exactly that she is afraid. Situation irony is another literary term uses in this story. It uses describes the action has an effect on the opposite way of what one expected. It usually results in negative view in life, and the person, who faced with this situation, is always disappointed to the result. The moment when Camillo receives the letter from Villela says, “Come immediately to our house; I must talk to you without delay” (Machado 130-131), Camillo is really worried about what will happen to him when he arrives there. However, the fortune-teller comforts him by telling that nothing is going to happen to him and the other. Unfortunately, the situation is opposite to what he expected because it results in Rita’s dead body on the sofa, and Villela shoots him with two bullets. Dramatic irony is another literary term that helps to contribute the story’s themes. Dramatic irony is the situation of drama when the reader or audience understands the situation better than the characters in the story. The best incident for dramatic irony is the anonymous letter from a stranger. Rita and Camillo were suffered about who wrote this letter, and they tried to figure out if Villela is the author of this letter. At this point, it is a drama when Camillo does not know who the letter’s author is while the reader can guess who may be the author of this letter. It can be the fortune-teller since she knows everything about Camillo and