Zofloya

After Berenza collapses due to consuming poison, the household hastily summons a doctor. When the doctor arrives, he attempts to draw blood from Berenza, and the blood accidentally spatters Victoria’s face. The blood symbolizes Victoria’s guilt and the inevitability of its consequences. Victoria kills Berenza in an indirect and bloodless fashion by administering poison over a long period of time, but his blood still splatters her face as if she had used a knife or sword to kill him. Bloodstains can implicate the guilty party in a crime or make it harder to evade detection. While the onlookers see it as merely a coincidence that Victoria ends up splattered with the blood of her newly deceased husband, the blood symbolically reveals that she is the one who killed him. Even though Victoria longed for Berenza’s death, the aftermath of this event does not provide her with any satisfaction: Henriquez still rejects her, and she is now haunted by the fear of what will happen if her crime is ever uncovered. The blood also symbolizes that Victoria is now indelibly committed to a path of violence: She will become increasingly desperate as she participates in the deaths of others.