Why does Fruma Sarah refer to her husband with his full name like she is only his acquaintance? What makes Tevye choose a delayment of three weeks in Fruma Sarah's murder of Tzeitel? His story would sound more credible if Fruma Sarah were to instead threaten to kill Tzeitel on the girl's wedding night.
shareBecause Tevye made up the dream right on the fly, & Golde didn't even clue in. Perhaps if she gave it some thought, for a while longer, she would have clued in that her husband was screwing with her.
Who are you? Who? Who? Who? Who?
Clusium has a good point about the dream being improvised on the spot. But I'd like to offer some other explanations:
Since Fruma Sarah was essentially condemning Tzeitel to a death sentence, she wanted to make it perfectly clear whom Tzeitel would be sacrificing her life for. Fruma Sarah was putting her threats in the form of a "contract", since the consequences would be so dire.
As for the three weeks, perhaps that was a "grace period." That is, perhaps Tzeitel could save her own life if she left her newlywed husband before the three weeks were up.
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
Thank you Clusium. You come to great conclusions, bens33! I see what you mean about the threat being presented as cold and professional, like a deal on the street. The grace period is a smart idea, but Tzeitel obviously would not be able to leave Lazar. However, your offering a new viewpoint has helped me answer my second question. I have not considered until now that Fruma Sarah would be equally vengeful against Lazar since the focus of her rage is on Tzeitel and Tevye. The dead woman must want to set her husband up in to thinking that he has a perfect match through considerable time with Tzeitel so that his new wife's death is a harsher blow to him. That is hinted when Fruma Sarah says that if the marriage takes place that she will pity Tzeitel and Lazar. Thank you.
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