Ambrose Bierce historical interpretation
...ealistic plot, and even set up as a piece of historical fiction, it soon takes a drastic turn towards romanticism. When Peyton is hung off the bridge just as he is dropping to his death, the rope breaks letting him drop into the water and begin to escape by swimming for his life. This action in itself illustrates classic romanticism, as it is highly unrealistic that Peyton would have survived the impact of the rope to his neck as he dropped off the bridge. This goes on further as he survives his plunge into the water, releases himself of the ropes which bound him, and then manages to swim away to safety while being shot at by a troop of soldiers. Finally Peyton escapes the treacheries of the running river, and the chasing soldiers in an idealized, and abstract fashion (true to the characteristics of romanticism). He then runs through the forest in a desperate hope to keep away from the soldiers. After running quite a distance Peyton makes it to a farm, as he gets closer to the actual house he realizes it is his own, and he even sees his wife coming to greet him. In what looks to be a very emotional (not to mention unrealistic) ending Peyton runs to fall into his wife’s outreached arms. However a...