Le Cid

The first scene of Act IV mirrors the opening of Act I. Chimène and Elvira are again onstage in mid-conversation, and Chimène asks Elvira to verify that what she has just reported is true. In both cases, the conversation revolves around Rodrigo, which reinforces the centrality of Chimène and Rodrigo’s love to the plot. The similarity in the openings of the two acts indicates that the play is nearing its denouement, having in a sense returned to the beginning of the action. Elvira’s speeches about Rodrigo’s exploits establish that he is now a war hero, thus signaling to us the passage of time since the end of Act III.

This passage of time exemplifies Corneille’s creative use of the classical “dramatic unities” in this play. French drama in the 17th century typically adhered to dramatic rules outlined by the classical Greek philosopher Aristotle in his Art of Poetry. According to Aristotle, plays were supposed to concentrate on a single plot line (unity of action) and take place over the course of one day (unity of time) and in a single setting (unity of place). Corneille in Le Cid uses the classical unities as a foundation, while stretching their boundaries. For instance, the play takes place in a single city (Seville) but in several different locations (Chimène’s house, the King’s court, etc.). The action unfolds over a day and a half, yet fits many events into this time frame: Rodrigo’s duel, his battle with the Moors, his reconciliation with Chimène, etc. There is a single plot line, centering on Rodrigo’s relationship to Chimène, yet there are a number of other plot elements—Rodrigo’s and Chimène’s relationships to their fathers, the Moors’ attack on the city, the Infanta’s unrequited love for Rodrigo—that make for a complex sequence of action. Much early criticism of Le Cid centered on this free treatment of the classical unities. Largely as a result of Le Cid, Corneille is considered to have freed French drama from an overly strict observance of classical rules. As his first great success, the play served as a model for himself and later French playwrights, so that Corneille has been dubbed the “Father of French Tragedy.”

During the course of the play, Chimène experiences two “tests” of her love for Rodrigo. The first occurs in Act IV, Scene 5, where the King tells Chimène that Rodrigo has died of his battle wounds. Chimène faints, and the King interprets this as a sign that she still loves Rodrigo; but after recovering, she offers a very different explanation (37). Corneille’s insistence on Chimène’s ambivalent feelings for Rodrigo also signifies his commitment to morally complex characters, a further departure from dramatic norms of the time, which prioritized clear moral instruction, in line with Aristotle’s position that plays should instruct citizens. The second “test” occurs in the last act and proves to be the definitive proof of Chimène’s love for Rodrigo.