Fuenteovejuna

LAURENCIA

And what’s all this pursuit about,

What do men actually want from us?

To lay us naked on a sheet

And when they’re done to run away

With exactly the same haste

With which they tried to seduce us.

Laurencia and Pascuala are the first two characters we meet from Fuenteovejuna; therefore, we are first introduced to the town through the eyes of women. In particular, we are introduced through the eyes of women who are speaking on women’s issues and complaining about the brutality of the man who in only the last scene presented himself as honorable.

FRONDOSO

I’m following the city fashion.

In the city everything’s upside down:

Important people are never rude,

They’re just overworked or busy,

Their arrogance is confidence,

They’re cynicism is gritty,

They’re bald heads are distinguished and

Their big feed are firm foundations.

They tell lies and it’s pragmatic,

And when they’re vain, it’s rather charming.

Here, the juxtaposition between the rural people and the city people is introduced, with city people viewed unfavorably. Frondoso and Laurencia trade jabs, mocking the ways of the city—Laurencia, perhaps, a bit more harshly than Frondoso, who merely thinks things are backwards.

1.   MENGO

At this point I’d like to make clear

I don’t deny the existence

Of divine love, Barrildo.

However, there is something else,

A force inside each one of us,

Which reveals what we truly are:

[…]

PASCUALA

So, what are you trying to prove?

MENGO

That love between people is selfish.

That people look out for themselves.

Another motif, that of the nature of love, is introduced here. Notably, Mengo believes love is self-centered and driven by self-preservation, yet by Act Three, Mengo is willing to give himself up in order to save the collective.

FLORES

He gave so generously

To all who’d fought beside him, not least

His Commander and his Captain,

It seemed he was giving from his own purse,

Not sacking some fallen city.

This is an interesting distinction for Flores to make, particularly given that his audience is peasants. He appears to be praising the Grand Master for his actions, calling him generous for giving to his soldiers, yet what he is giving was not his—neither the possessions nor the city itself, taken for strategic advantage. He does not seem to be aware of the fact that, with less bloodshed, the situation of the townspeople in Fuenteovejuna is not dissimilar, with the Commander taking freely from the town.

COMMANDER

I was talking to you, proud one.

Do you not belong to me?

And your friend there, the milkmaid.

Are you not my property?

PASCUALA

We are, but

Perhaps not in the way you’d like.

The dialogue between the Commander and Pascuala makes a distinction between social hierarchy and individual autonomy and agency. The Commander views hierarchy as absolute: those in power are free to do what they wish with their subjects. Pascuala, on the other hand, establishes boundaries: they are his subjects, but he does not own them.

COMMANDER

Until today you’ve avoided

My loving entreaties, but here,

These silent, sheltering trees

Will tell no tales: why should you be

The only girl in the village

Too proud to return my smile?

The Commander reiterates his claims of ownership, in particular over the women of the town. He feels that he has a right to the women, and that Laurencia shouldn’t be an exception to this—he will take her by force if necessary because he feels he owns her. Interestingly, he notes that he is able to do so because they are in the woods with, he believes, no one around, suggesting that he does sense some distinction between hierarchy and ownershipand therefore recognizes potential limits to power.

ESTEBAN

Can I tell you what makes me really angry?

Astrologers: who, though they know less than nothing,

Claim, in long and incoherent dissertations,

To have access to secrets known only to God!

Who owns knowledge is an important part of the play, and it is in this scene that the question is most hotly debated. Here, Esteban questions knowledge versus intuition. His main contention with the astrologers is that they are usually incorrect, but he also suggests that they presume to know what can only be known by higher powers.

LEONELO

Yes, but has printing expanded or shrunk the sea

Of human knowledge? You know, I think the latter.

Ideas were once condensed in handy summaries

Today so much hot air is published, people get lost.

Try to keep abreast of everything that’s printed

You get brain ache from information overload.

Here we have the second conversation on the role of knowledge, this time between Barrildo and Leonelo, a university student. While Esteban questions the nature of knowledge and what we presume to know, Leonelo questions who owns knowledge, and what happens when we find ourselves suddenly with the ability to break down the barriers to it. Do we flourish or suffer? Leonelo seems to think the latter, at least to an extent. (Interestingly, this is an argument that runs counter to the populist reading of the play.)

JUAN

Yes, people who know nothing about the subject

May gossip and cry ‘Miser,’ but I can tell you:

These days, you need to sell your farm and livestock

Before you can give a girl a proper dowry!

Lastly, we have a third, brief conversation about the state of knowledge. Juan’s complaints deal with finances and what those in power take from those without, but they also question the state of knowledge, suggesting that the people who talk are the least likely to truly understand.

COMMANDER

You, Deputy Mayor of the dunghill,

Did I say something to upset you?

ALONSO

Your behavior is unreasonable,

What you have said here is unjust.

You should not insult our honour!

COMMANDER

Do farmers claim to have honour?

Are you Knights of Calatrava?

ALONSO

There may be those who wear the cross,

Whose blood is less pure than ours.

Honor, and how we define it, is an important motif in this play, and here there is a debate between the Commander and the townspeople regarding the relationship between honor and power. The Commander believes honor comes from one’s position in life—those in power are inherently more honorable. Alonso and Esteban believe otherwise; honor has to do with one’s heart and one’s actions, not one’s position.

MENGO

People say that in the forest here

Frondoso picked up his crossbow

And aimed a bolt straight at [the Commander’s] heart

So that you could escape unharmed.

LAURENCIA

Before that, Mengo, I didn’t

Think much of men, but Frondoso

Was prepared to give his life to

Save mine, and since then, well,

I have to say, I’ve changed my mind.

Two motifs dovetail here: that of the nature of honor, and that of love. The former is represented by Frondoso, who sought to protect Laurencia—and her honor—at great risk to himself. The Commander views Frondoso’s actions as dishonorable for similar reasons as above, as he is a peasant (or a “slave”), and therefore acting dishonorably in threatening someone above him. Laurencia’s words also help to define the nature of love; in particular, it is selfless, not self-serving, as Frondoso would have gained nothing, had he not succeeded.

JACINTA

Your men tried to take my honour,

Is this how you punish their crime,

By stealing it yourself?

COMMANDER

Stealing?

JACINTA

Sir, be careful, I have a father

Who, though not a man of your rank,

Lives a good, simple, honest life,

A man who would die defending

His daughter’s honour.

This moment is notable for two reasons. First, it extends the conversation about honor that drives the play: it is again asserted that honor depends not on rank or position, but on internal characteristics. Second, in the simple question asked by the Commander, he reinforces his worldview: how can he steal that which belongs to him?

ESTEBAN

There have been other outrages.

Pedro Redondo spoke to me:

A week ago at the far end

Of the meadow, Guzmán ambushed

His wife and after he’d abused her

He handed her on to his men.

While this connects to the aforementioned themes and motifs, this also demonstrates perspective in the play. Earlier, the Commander used Pedro Redondo’s wife as an example of a woman who is open to him (and, in fact, Laurencia responded by suggesting that says something bad about her); however, here we get a different perspective: she was not willing, but rather was not only raped by the Commander, but also by all of his men, as well.

ALONSO

You’d better get the girl’s consent

Before you speak to his father.

ESTEBAN

Laurencia must have agreed:

He wouldn’t ask unless she had.

These days they arrange it all

Themselves; fathers, the last to know.

Tradition forms an important part of this play; Spain is in upheaval, but times and traditions are changing, as well. Esteban is portrayed as part of the old guard, but accepting of the new guard, as well, and understanding that it is the young who will create the world in which the young will live. He is happy to keep up the charade butis aware that it is a charade.

ESTEBAN

Son, I wonder if you’re concerned

About the dowry; if so, stop.

I want to give you a good start.

FRONDOSO

I really don’t need a dowry.

Keep your money in your pocket.

This passage immediately follows the preceding one, and likewise makes a statement about tradition in Frondoso’s rejecting the dowry (and Esteban’s pushing it: he brings it up again later). However, the question of the dowry also suggests something about the place of money in love. Frondoso not only rejects the tradition, but also the connection between these two things. This has larger implications, as well, as, the Commander views sexual relations as driven by power, and therefore money. By rejecting the dowry, Frondoso further distances himself from the Commander and his way of thinking.

JUAN ROJO

But what do you advise? What can the people do?

ALONSO

We lie down and die or kill those who abuse us.

There are so few of them and so many of us.

BARRILDO

You mean take up arms against our sovereign lord?

ESTEBAN

In the eyes of God only the King is sovereign.

We owe no loyalty to men who behave like

Wild animals…

This passage is notable because it embodies two distinct readings of the play. The first is that this is a populist play that supports workers movements; Lope de Vega would not have had access to our concept of “controlling the means of production,” but in pointing out that they greatly outnumber those in power, Alonso suggests something similar. On the other hand, while Esteban asserts that they owe no loyalty to the Commander, he does not reject owing loyalty to a monarch. Hierarchies that include concentrated power are reinforced, not torn down.

LAURENCIA

Why do those swords hang at your sides?

Why don’t I lend you my knitting

Needles to stick into your belts!

Then you can watch us do the job.

Women! We’ll wipe away the stain,

Drink the blood of the abusers:

Then we will stone you in the streets,

You cowards! You eunuchs! You traitors!

[…]

and I’ll rejoice

As he empties this village of its

Gutless and impotent failures,

And we will replace you, a tribe

Of brave Amazonian women

Will restore dignity to this town

And our deeds will stagger the world.

Laurencia’s speech is important for the plot because it motivates the men into action; whereas they had previously debated what to do, following this, they become unified as a force. Beyond that, though, her speech questions traditional gender roles and the place of women in society. She takes on a leadership role herself in rallying both the men and the women, but she also questions the use of traditional gender roles if those roles are not upheld, and she welcomes a role reversal. It is, of course, a rhetorical strategy, designed to shame them, but it is in line with her earlier comments about the usefulness of men.

ALONSO

We fight as one! We die as one!

BARRILDO

We march together, heads held high.

JUAN ROJO

In what order shall we march?

MENGO

We go now and kill him without

Thinking about marching order,

We’re united, with one desire:

Yes? To kill those who abuse us!

This passage subverts the nature of hierarchy while simultaneously commenting on the difficulty in doing so. Having been successfully rallied, the men are bloodthirsty and reading to fight as one, yet still there are questions about the order in which they should march. Mengo replies that order doesn’t matter, that only their purpose does, but it’s interesting that the question would even arise in the midst of a mob.

LAURENCIA

Come! Come and see our men running

To destroy Guzmán and his thugs!

Look, there, young men, old men and boys.

Running to do what must be done.

Now, let me ask you, is it right

That only our men should enjoy

The glory of this night? The abuse

We’ve endured is no less than theirs.

Women’s role in society is brought back into focus; the men have been mobilized by Laurencia, so now she turns to the women, making the argument that they should have agency over their abuser. In doing so, she further subverts the role of men as the protectors of society and positions revenge not as a responsibility, but as their right as the aggrieved.

FLORES

They smashed down his gates, he swore

On his sacred honour as a knight

To listen to all their complaints

But they were deaf to all his words […]

Flores isn’t wrong here, but it certainly misrepresents the situation. From Flores’s perspective, the Commander’s inherent honor as a knight should have been respected, and the mob was unreasonable because they did not give him a chance to right his wrongs. As we know, however, for the people, that time had passed. The Commander had already relinquished his honor, and their complaints had already gone unheard for too long.

ESTEBAN

There’ll be an investigation.

The King and Queen might get involved,

We’re on the route they’re taking south.

We must know what we’re going to say.

FRONDOSO

What do you suggest?

ESTEBAN

We stick together!

And when the interrogator asks,

We speak these words and nothing else:

‘Fuenteovejuna did it.’

FRONDOSO

That’s a good answer. And it’s true.

Fuenteovejuna did it.

Not only do the townspeople establish their collective alibi, one that will only work if they all work together, but Frondoso reinforces the idea by suggesting that it isn’t a ploy, but simply the truth. This reinforces the reading of it as a populist play in that it is a simple truth that the townspeople are a collective, not a disparate set of individuals serving their own needs. This doesn’t stop them from worrying when the time comes, however.

CIMBRANOS

The people have sworn allegiance

To Ferdinand and Isabella;

Don’t provoke the Catholic Kings.

MASTER

How can they change their allegiance,

They are the subjects of Calatrava?

CIMBRANOS

You must negotiate that with

King Ferdinand, but it wouldn’t be wise

To take military action.

Hierarchy and agency work against one another here in interesting ways. The actions of the town subvert hierarchy in that the townspeople have chosen to align with Ferdinand and Isabella; they have taken agency over their own alliances, something which clearly undermines the order the Grand Master expects. However, they have still chosen to align, which is a prudent decision, but nonetheless one that reinforces hierarchy. Likewise, the Grand Master seems keen to avoid upsetting hierarchy, even as he was only shortly prior battling against Ferdinand and Isabella.

FRONDOSO

Do you think I could run away?

Abandon my friends and family?

Stop seeing this beautiful face?

Stop looking into these beautiful eyes?

Never. Don’t ask me. It’s not right.

How could I live with myself if

To save my own selfish skin

I turned my back on all I cherish,

All that makes me who I am?

Frondoso has chosen the honorable route; rather than remain in hiding, he has chosen to return and remain with Laurencia and the rest of Fuenteovejuna. In doing so, though, he has also positioned himself not as an individual, but as part of a collective. He is not just a citizen of Fuenteovejuna; in his telling, he doesn’t exist without it and all of its inhabitants. There is a force stronger than him at work.