Who Is Bayardo In Chronicle Of A Death Foretold

Characters in a book are similar to real people, in the sense they change and develop through time. In chapter two of Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel García Márquez, the character Bayardo San Román was introduced and his character was developed into an attractive yet manipulative man looking for a bride. The book has the habit of introducing new main characters each chapter, there are a few overall main characters which reappear, but each chapter is usually focused on a new character and their part in the crime. Bayardo was thought to be enchanting to some, while others said he reminded them “of the devil” (Márquez, 28). Moreover, Bayardo was an eligible bachelor with deep pockets, any person's dream man. In the song “Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)” by Eurythmics, there are many lines which relate to Bayardo’s character..

Moreover, his appearance as the perfect man could be described as what “Sweet dreams are made of” (Eurythmics, “Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)”).

Yet he was not everyone’s dream man, especially Angela Vicario’s. After seeing her for the first time, he had his landlady remind him he was “‘going to marry her’” (Márquez, 29). He had been “‘going from town to town looking for someone to marry’” (Márquez, 26), proving “Everybody's looking for something” (Eurythmics, “Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)”). Bayardo was looking for a wife, and he found her in Angela. Contrastingly, she did not want to marry him and he did not try to court her at all, instead “he bewitched the family with his charm” (Márquez, 34). After all, Bayardo was the son of a civil war hero, “Who am [she] to disagree?” (Eurythmics, “Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)”). The Vicario’s were not wealthy and everyone knew “Bayardo San Román was going to marry whomever he chose” (Márquez, 34). Angela’s lack of choice is clearly shown, which changed Bayardo’s once charming appearance into one of a man who took what he

wanted. Consequently, he developed from an everyday track engineer into the son of an important General (Márquez, Chronicle of a Death Foretold). His seemingly innocent demeanor was lost as he appeared to have “travel the world and the seven seas” looking for a woman he would marry, no matter her wishes. He’s an example of one of the lines from the song “Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)” because he proves “Some of them want to use you”, “them” being men. He wanted to use Angela to get the wife he had been searching for, which caused him to drop his charming attitude and his character developed into a manipulative person, similar to the calculating lyrics present in the song, “Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)” by Eurythmics.