The Devil and Miss Prym is a book that enticed me, not because of its story, but rather

because it gave me a better grasp of life, as I had taken a note of it. I can say therefore that even if the events that the book presented are far-fetched from reality, it all boils down to our assessment of our own choice, our PERSONHOOD. Therefore, this is an experiential type of issue, one that we encounter almost everyday. For young people, we can imply that life is all about choices. Thats it. A simple critique couldnt agree more, but that doesnt mean that he is a 100% satisfied about the answer a starter would say. He would further add that a persons choice, once manifested is another cause, and that will create the life for another person. That will create the twist of fate that everyone will linger unto because of our basic definition, that life, is all base on choices. But our actions, are part of other peoples choices, thus, they are constricted because of what we did, what we had planned to do, and what we intended to do and effectuated. Choices before us are the same, a product of constrictions, or limitations superimposed to our landscape of life, with or without our consent. And this is, and will always be the endless tackle of choices, of actions, of causes. The same thing goes for the book, it presented the limitations man makes to its fellowmen. We will discuss thoroughly one character, since it is implied, that the story of one man is the story of mankind if we are going to follow the logic of a simple critique. We are going to look at the value of mankind, his actions and intentions, in the bosoms of Chantal Prym, the storys barmaid (Please look at the synopsis of the novel for further clarification, or better yet, read the book.). In every story of temptations, we are going to take a look at the person on 2 perspectives. One is looking the person in a perspective of vacuum. The other one will be taking the perspective of an outsider, the questions of what ifs would usually fly. For the first perspective, we are going to look at the actor in terms of her actions cause, such as, intentions, assessments of conscience, assessments of voluntaries, and net results introperspectively. The second perspective, we are going to deal with the what if scenarios to assess the person, so as to find out the tread of morality she is taking. Chantal, is a barmaid, is ambitious, is trying to look at life with all the greatest possibilities, even if in the end, she knows that the hopes she keeps up will just fall, and most probably, crumble. That was evident in her means of seducing Carlos, the stranger of the town. We can assess therefore, that Chantal, in her means of achieving her goal, is not very particular

in terms of it, as she has already judged herself, even before others had. Meaning to say, that she knows her reputation, and such doesnt bother her even the slightest. But more so, is that she thinks that the ends justify the means, and that a simple mistake on the railroad to success is just a by-product, and a necessary by-product of her means. Such assessment cannot be guaranteed given the succession of the events to follow. That is why, we have to take her into the level of a vacuum to find out her level of morals. Though I cannot judge it, these are empirically based on the morality of the person and her actions, verbally interpreted by the book of Coelho. The same thing actually manifest in all men. Looking at a person in an internal perspective, if we are taken into a vacuum, every form of possibility can be taken, in fact, it will manifest. Chantal on the other hand has three things that not every person in the world has, an adept knowledge and experience on the matter, as well as wit (the ability to made use of that knowledge and experience strategically to put it to a good use), and lastly is a clear conscience for others, to be explained later. Chantal is very knowledgeable and experience rich. She is an intellectually able person, being able to read and write. This was shown in the manner by which she was trying to seduce Carlos, reading a book, and answering in a gesture that she thinks is appropriate. Though it was just a first time meet-up, she was able to assess carefully the scenario, even if the plan in mind she had has been a bit flaunted. She was still able to carry herself, which in the end is part of her cunning and clever manner of putting herself and selling herself as a person. Thus, in the end, we can conclude the 2nd that not every person has, the ability to make use of her knowledge and experiences. We can say therefore that she can make her own decisions, and in fact these are sound decisions given the time and effort it was pondered just to create her chosen action. We can say that for Chantal, it is something morally upright, she has weighted the risk, she took the probabilities, and she only considered herself, in fact, she excluded the probability of her village thinking about her. What she doesnt know is a the third element not every person has was still pressing unto her, in fact, when it was mustered, it grounded her again to her society, and with this, we can have to look at her on the level of her being involved in a society. Carlos took the liberty to offer her 2 things. The first choice is a gold for herself, the second is a gold for the town. All they have to do is break the 10 rules of God. The first choice if to bear breaking the rule thou shalt not steal. The second choice is to inform the towns folks that 10 bars of gold will be theirs if they bear break the rule thou shalt not kill, for Carlos asks for a sacrifice, even if it is himself, just to prove that human beings, once up fronted with

temptations always tends to give to that temptation. At least that was his theory, and now, he needs to experiment. And this choice must happen in a weeks time. Chantal changed the deal after announcing the choice to her town, that if in a weeks time nothing happens even if they already know about the deal, 1 bar of gold will be hers, the other 10 will be granted to the town. Lets go back to Chantal, assessing her in terms of her being related to her society, she questioned the legalities of what is happening. Whether or not what Carlos is asking is something that can be carried out, even if she is no longer in the village? Whether or not it can even be carried out without anyone knowing? Whether or not, if her town does not exist, if these laws do not exist, if it will just be her, will she do it? Whether or not, such questions about the nature of man are a necessary question to be asked, and if its answered, will Carlos finally stop? Whether or not she will just shut up, and will the town kill her for letting such a chance slip by? Whether or not she will tell them and that she needs to participate in the murder, are all these acceptable? In the end, she devised a plan, not only to save the town from its immorality, and to live up her dreams as a young woman. These are internal turmoil that each and everyone of us encounter in our every step of decision-making, but how far did we consider our choices, how far did we involve ourselves? How many times did we look at ourselves as a vacuum? How many times did we see the society as part of our integral need for decision-making? In the end, the assessment of a person can be taken purely as a person, but we should never neglect the fact that every action a person makes, we all have to look at it as a part of other peoples constricted choices, and the end process is, we are a man. Our story is the story of other people, what they suffer from, we also suffer from. How many times have we encountered good and evil in our lives, especially everyday lives? Looking at the possible what if scenario (by the way, these are not all the possibilities given that they would be infinite in cases I will exhaust the possibilities), the first being what if scenario is whether Chantals first two choices are considered moral if these things are not scoped by our law or by our norm, meaning to say, that in the event that the first choice or the second choice is to take place, it will just be a simple notations of other peoples daily habit. In the end therefore, it can be considered amoral, and just a simple truth that man, once encountering a possibility will grab on it, knowing that he wont lose ground of anything. More so, is that even if this is the case, the life of a person, if highly dependent on circumventing

norms and morals, will be easily decided, especially if he is to live in a world without any of which. The conclusion therefore is, if we are to look at it from an outside perspective, we need to have a yardstick of summing up the possibilities. If we are going to measure it also taking in the step of the person herself, the sole yardstick we can use for measuring his valuation of other values will depend on her being able to answer the following questions: Whether the value of gold weighs more than the value of her reputation, or whether the value of the ten bars of gold weighs more than the value of 1 persons life. Now, that will depend on her; because the bar of legalities is now removed, a freer idea of being rich can entice her to choose bettering her own life or letting go of it for the sake of others. But then again, the legalities are already not present, not authorities, no laws, no person to stop her, all up to herself. How strong is a persons ideology if these things are not present? The second possibility is whether or not it can be carried out without anyone knowing. Simply put, the judgment will just be unto herself, no God to punish her, no particularities to follow, not parents to abide and tell the story about, neither friends that will insists on knowing the truth. It will all lie down on the end goal of this being the most secret case to take place on Earth that not even God can do anything. The whole point of this what if scenario is the element of external judgment. If in any event anyone will find out, the element of guilt can take place. Meaning to say, that the personal assessment of the scenario is tainted by the element of being judged by another entity, clouding the moral standing of a person. There therefore is the clarity of the conscience, being gifted with the capacity to deduce that no one will suspect, and no one will insist on finding out the truth. The third possibility is if her towns whole existence is negligible, will she do it? This is now the question on the capacity to comprehend the impossible to be comprehended. This is due to the fact that such actions, if relevant to the town which is negligible, is done, therefore, no particular attachments should be considered. Does that set a particular level of gravity in terms of executing the action? How are we supposed to deal with the scenario id the answer is yes? What if no? Here, the assessment of a persons moral standing is not taken into its context. Meaning to say, if we put her in a setting totally alien to her, will she take the same type of choice? Will she be able to put forward the same type of value that she did as with the previous context or setting? This is the general take on general items, such as peoples lives. If it is just an ordinary

individual, are you going to treat him completely the same as your mother. Chantal dealth with the same dilemma when she thought first of her village, all her memories, taking into considerations the attachments she has not only with the town, but with its people, especially that it is just a town of the few. In the end, how is she going to react if she is just another apathetic person in another apathetic and pathetically taken town? Another thing that we should consider is how Chantal took the challenge. It is as if she is enticed in finding the answer to the question herself. Is it even a necessary question? Is she ready to risk the life of one villager, and in the end, will Carlos be satisfied? We need know to look at the repercussions of Chantals action. Why did she take a very risky type of deal? Why did she took the challenge of proving it wrong? Meaning to say, that she puts a value on curiosity and values truth regardless of the effects that it can has. More so, if Carlos can still and would like to experiment more, will she be able to satisfy Carlos, and save other people which can be puppeted by Carlos? Its all about being able to foreshadow, and how in the end, the role of being able to create a foreword wasnt preempted by her actions, given that she left Carlos thinking more of the question, rather than being able to deal with it. Another question is, since the temptation fell to her only, at least at first, should she let the town suffer from the same type of trauma? The annihilation of her, or the death of an innocent individual who was just chosen as a sacrifice? These are the things that she battled in thinking that these are faculties that may cloud her and in the end, may also cloud the towns people in making an adept decision. In the end, she chose to battle the problem head-on, since the security of the towns people, as well as herself was already put to test the moment she entertained Carlos, the stranger of the town. The last question is the play of numbers. Will the voice of one person make matter, should matter, and would matter in a voice against 207 others? It is the question on the efficiency and whether the rule of domination by numbers can be easily defeated just by snapping the personal truth one presumes in a crowd. In the end, the evaluation of Chantal proved that personal matters and issues can be settled, and things should be settled in a communal level especially if it is a communal problem.

So to speak, we can say that Chantals Point of view was never on an isolated manner, in fact, it took the step of reaching a peak or a quota to prove the essence of being a person involved in a society, such as her town, Viscos. To conclude, the evaluation of a person, especially in a daily normative life is never easy, given that he not only considers the effect of his actions (supposedly), but also the trickle-down effect of which to other people.

The Devil and Miss Prym: A Novel of Temptation In a small village Viscos, everyone was satisfied with their lives working hard and fulfilling their dreams. Then one day, a stranger (figuratively, the Devil) visits this quiet village and hides 11 golden bars in the mountain of Viscos. He brings Miss Prym to the buried site and tells her that he needs to do an experiment to test whether or not all human beings are good or evil. The stranger is looking forward to involve all the villagers into his experiment, but Miss Prym is feeling extremely uncomfortable to realize that she is now responsible to save the village and herself. Unfortunately, all of the people in Viscos get involved in this Devil's game and are confused whether to keep up their village history of being moral and honest or to sacrifice one villager to achieve the gold for the good sake of the its future. This modern fiction questions all readers about one of the most basic questions: are human beings good or evil? With its additional introduction before each chapter, the book further sets the ground for the later story. Throughout the book, all of the village residence and the stranger seek the true meaning of human life by introducing different anecdotes to villagers and the readers and justifying human evilness.

Ateneo de Naga University Ateneo Avenue, Bagumbayan, Naga City

In Partial Fulfillment of Requirements for First Semester (as Final Examination)

Character Evaluation of Miss Chantal Prym in The Devil and Miss Prym by Paulo Coehlo

Submitted by: Ryan Olos N14

October 8, 2012