This story by Isak Dinesen (aka Karen Blixen) has an “overall” plot, a “subordinate” plot, and an “incomplete” plot. The overall plot considers how moves towards democracy elsewhere in Europe might affect late eighteenth-century Danish society. The subordinate plot (the tragic story of a mother given a near-impossible task to save her son) illustrates why change is necessary, and the difficulty the ruling class will have in adjusting to it. The incomplete plot (see below) foreshadows a possible affair between the protagonist and his seventeen-year-old love-starved aunt. Themes: culture and tradition, birthright, duty, feudalism vs. democracy, injustice, motherhood, suffering.
Seventeen-year-old Sophie-Magdalena plays almost no part in the story, other than the sensual “waking scene” where she examines her naked body. The implication is that her aging husband, whose only interest is in fathering another heir, is not sexually satisfying. Several reviewers have suggested that Adam’s decision to stay may have more to do with wanting to get better acquainted with Sophie than his professed love for the family estate. In doing so, they refer to the gypsy palm reader’s prophesy that that “a son of his was to sit in the seat of his fathers”.
Original Text / PDF (13,500 words)