Isabel Allende's short story, "The Judge's Wife," focuses on two characters, Nicolas Vidal and Casilda. Throughout the story, both characters do the opposite of what is expected of them in search of freedom and personal fulfillment. The underlying theme of "The Judge's Wife" is not as "black and white" as it may seem. Nicolas Vidal and Casilda ultimately are searching for the same thing even though they are so different. Vidal wishes to free himself from the prophecy given to him at birth. The story opens with the statement, "Nicolas Vidal had always known a woman would cost him his life"  (203). Throughout the story, we come to realize Vidal has done anything and everything he possibly can to prevent this prophecy from becoming his reality. "Knowing his fate so well, he was cautious about women, and throughout his life he fled from any sentimental attachments, hardening his heart to love and limiting himself to hasty encounters aimed at outwitting loneliness" (203). Vidal has spent his life avoiding love and all women who cross his path. After the narrator perfectly illustrates the character of Nicolas Vidal as an outlaw whom searches for freedom from his prophecy and fulfillment of desires, then he/she begins to do the same for Casilda. At the beginning of the story we are told Casilda is marrying Judge Hidalgo while Vidal watches. The narrator states, "[a] man like that is not made to wed (204). "[Since Casilda is much younger than [Judge Hidalgo] she often thought what it would be like to be widowed" (212). These sentences beg the reader to conclude that Casilda has not married a man whom she loves but is married to man who can provide a life for her. The narrator perfectly illustrates a feud between Casilda's husband, Judge Hidalgo, and Nicolas Vidal. Hidalgo finally believes he has found a way to trap Vidal and finally bring his reign as an outlaw to an end. He does this by capturing Vidal's mother and placing her