marc129 's review for:

Le Cid by Pierre Corneille
2.0

A very baroque piece of writing: fiery passion rules, expressed in excessive melodramatic developments. Corneille here presents the classic theme of fatalism: whichever way it goes, one always loses. The mental framework is clearly medieval (honor first), but the monarch has absolute power. Typical and new is the ambiguity in the feelings of the characters: certainly with Rodrigo and Jimena, but most pronounced with the Infante. Jimena is the actual main character; her turnaround in the end remains problematic to me.