THE FORTUNE TELLER
– KAREL CAPEK
Preface:
“The Fortune Teller” is a short story penned by Karel Capek, a famous Czech writer. The story is about a fake fortune teller (astrologer) in England called Mrs. Myers. How she is trapped by the detective inspector Mr. MacLeary and punished by the magistrate Kelly is the story. But how her prophecy turns out to be true is the irony of life. Everyone’s judgment goes wrong but not the predictions of the fake astrologer.
“The Fortune Teller” is a short story penned by Karel Capek, a famous Czech writer. The story is about a fake fortune teller (astrologer) in England called Mrs. Myers. How she is trapped by the detective inspector Mr. MacLeary and punished by the magistrate Kelly is the story. But how her prophecy turns out to be true is the irony of life. Everyone’s judgment goes wrong but not the predictions of the fake astrologer.
The Predictions by Mrs. Myers
Inspector Mr.MacLeary spreads a net to catch Mrs.Myers by sending his wife Mrs.MacLeary. His wife pretends as if she is a 20 years old unmarried girl. Mrs. Myers reads the cards. She predicts that the girl is going to marry a young rich business man before the end of the year. An elderly man will be an obstacle on her way but she will succeed and move across the ocean after marriage. The fee -one pound and one shilling is paid for her predictions.
Inspector Mr.MacLeary spreads a net to catch Mrs.Myers by sending his wife Mrs.MacLeary. His wife pretends as if she is a 20 years old unmarried girl. Mrs. Myers reads the cards. She predicts that the girl is going to marry a young rich business man before the end of the year. An elderly man will be an obstacle on her way but she will succeed and move across the ocean after marriage. The fee -one pound and one shilling is paid for her predictions.
The Trial Scene in the Court
The inspector files a case against Mrs. Myers. She is summoned to court for trial. She argues that Mrs.MacLeary appeared as an unmarried anxious girl that is why I predicted so. However her fradulence is proved and she is sentenced to deportation. She also has to pay the penalty of 50 pounds.
The inspector files a case against Mrs. Myers. She is summoned to court for trial. She argues that Mrs.MacLeary appeared as an unmarried anxious girl that is why I predicted so. However her fradulence is proved and she is sentenced to deportation. She also has to pay the penalty of 50 pounds.
The Irony of Life
A year later, the judge Mr. Kelley meets the inspector by chance. He is shocked to know that Mrs.MacLeary eloped with a young rich businessman from Melbourne. She crossed the ocean a weak ago for Australia. Mrs. Myers is a fraud but her prediction becomes true. The inspector and judge are able to judge Mrs. Myers but not the mysterious happenings in life. Destiny overrules human intelligence.
A year later, the judge Mr. Kelley meets the inspector by chance. He is shocked to know that Mrs.MacLeary eloped with a young rich businessman from Melbourne. She crossed the ocean a weak ago for Australia. Mrs. Myers is a fraud but her prediction becomes true. The inspector and judge are able to judge Mrs. Myers but not the mysterious happenings in life. Destiny overrules human intelligence.
SUMMARY
karel Caper (1890-1938), was a famous Czeck novelist, playwright and story writer. his short stories are marked by a gentle play of irony. In this story a smart Dectective Inspector called MacLeary employs his charming young wife to trap a Fraudulent fortune-teller called Mrs. Myers.
CONTENT:
“The Fortune Teller” tells the story of Mrs. Myers, a woman who comes to the attention of a police inspector called Mr. MacLeary. Keen to know how she conducts her business, Mr. MacLeary’s wife calls on Mrs. Myers at home and pretends to be a single woman who desires to know her future. In their meeting, Mrs. Myers predicts that Mrs. MacLeary (disguised as Miss Jones) will be married before the year is up and will go on a long journey. A man, it is claimed, will also try and stand in her way.
Believing these predictions to be false, Mrs. MacLeary reports these findings to her husband. He has recently discovered that Mrs. Myers’ identity is also false: her surname is, in fact, Meierhofer and she comes from Lubeck in Germany.
As a result, Mrs. Myers is called to account for her business before the local magistrate, Mr. Kelly, who finds her guilty of fraud and sentences her to pay a fine of fifty pounds. The case of Mrs. Myers, it seems, is finally over.
It is in the closing paragraph of the story, however, that Capek uses irony when it transpires that Mrs. Myers’ original predictions for Mrs. MacLeary come true. Mrs. MacLeary does indeed marry a man before the year is up: he is a millionaire from Melbourne and Mrs. MacLeary moves with him to Australia, a place which requires a considerably long journey from London.
CONCLUSION:
In this short story the prophesy of the old lady, the fake fortune teller that she predicted a certain future for Miss Jones, or Mrs. MacLeary, comes true. Although the judge orders her to go back to Germany and also advises her not to practice anymore such fraudulent prediction as a professional fortune teller, yet the greatest irony is that the prophesy of the fake fortune teller comes true at the end and it takes the readers to some unpredictable climax when Mrs. MacLeary is found to have been married to a rich young businessman and have moved to Australia. Thus a freakish forecast comes true in the life of the smart Inspector.
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