Themes and Plot

Fuenteovejuna

By Lope de Vega 

Written between 1612 and 1614
Meagan McMahon

Fuenteovejuna is based on actual historical events and contains government figures from Spain’s Golden Ages. After Isabella ascended to the throne with her husband, Ferdinand, her half-brother challenged her for the throne for his daughter, Juana, causing a civil war. During this civil war the city of Ciudad Read was attacked, and events occurred historically as they do in the play. 

The events of Lope’s play are based on an uprising that took place in the village of Fuente Ovejuna in 1476.¹

Summary

The villainous Comendador, Fernán Gómez de Guzmán convinces the Grand Master of Calatrava to take over the Ciudad Real, which is an outright protest again the monarchy in power at the time (Ferdinand and Isabella). We learn from the villagers that the Comendador is given to many excesses, which mainly include sexually harassing and assaulting the women of the village. Laurencia, a young woman who seeks a peaceful life in the country, is the main object of the Comendador’s lust when the play begins. When he implores her and another young woman, Pascuala, to accompany him to “view the spoils of his conquest” (gross) both women refuse and anger the Comendador. We find out that Laurencia is the object of another man’s affection – Frondoso, whose feelings she returns. The two confess their feelings to each other in the forest but are interrupted by the Comendador. Laurencia tells Frondoso to hide, which he does until the Comendador attempts to assault Laurencia, at which point Frondoso picks up the Comendador’s crossbow and uses it to help Laurencia escape. 

Later the Comendador comes to the village to ask Esteban, Laurencia’s father, for access to his daughter (gross again). When Esteban refuses, the Comendador becomes enraged. Fearing for their safety, Laurencia goes on the run with Pascuala as well as Mengo, one of the peasants. They meet Jacinta, yet another young woman who is being pursued by the Comendador’s forces. Jacinta and Mengo are taken captive, Jacinta is assaulted, and Mengo is beaten. 

Esteban gives his permission for Laurencia and Frondoso to marry, but as preparations are being made for the wedding the Comendador shows up to arrest Frondoso for threatening him in the forest. Laurencia is also arrested and the Comendador attempts to assault her. She escapes and returns to Fuenteovejuna to incite the townspeople to action. After seeing her beaten state, the villagers collectively attack the Comendador, killing him and rescuing Frondoso. When Isabella and Ferdinand hear of this, they send a magistrate to determine who is to be punished. Even while being tortured, the villagers maintain their agreement to take collective responsibility for his death - "Fuenteovejuna did it". Upon hearing about this display of unity and the evils of the Comendador, Ferdinand and Isabella pardon the townspeople. 

Themes

Self-love vs. Harmonic/Communal Love – Mengo and Laurencia exemplify self-love, while Frondoso exemplifies harmonic love for others. Eventually Mengo sacrifices his own well-being to help protect Jacinta, revealing harmonic love within himself. Laurencia discovers harmonic love through her own self-love, and in attempting to protect her own honor is able to incite the townspeople to take action that ultimately benefits the entire village, bringing the whole community together in harmonic love. 

Class Struggle and Feudal Relationships – This play exemplifies a theme that was common to Golden Age writing, which is the demonizing of a more localized ruler, like the Comendador, and the omnipotence and goodness of the highest power, which, in this case, is Ferdinand and Isabella. This was a common theme since playwrights usually relied upon the monarchy for support, but also wanted to appeal to audiences who felt oppressed. This play also exemplifies the theme of feudal fidelity, which is based in the concept that a lord must be good to their subjects in order to earn respect and loyalty, as Ferdinand and Isabella do for the villagers. 

Collectivism and Natural Law – One of the plays biggest themes is collective punishment for collective action, as the townspeople band together to collectively take responsibility for the Comendador’s death. This is an example of natural law, which says that society will maintain the balance of right and wrong even when the government or other power systems fail to do so. In this case, it is killing the Comendador that rights the wrongs of the town and restores order. This action is further affirmed when Isabella and Ferdinand pardon the villagers and then reaffirmed again by the triumph of the two lovers, Frondoso and Laurencia, in their fight to maintain a pure relationship. 

Some examples of similar themes can be found in V for Vendetta, Spartacus, and, most recently, Cory Booker’s stance against Brett Kavanaugh which was backed by other Congress members despite the threat of being ousted from the Senate.²

^[1] “Fuenteovejuna.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, October 16, 2019. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuenteovejuna.

[2]“‘Spartacus Moments’ Part I: What Is a Spartacus Moment?” FF2 Media, January 2, 2019. http://ff2media.com/blog/2018/09/19/what-is-a-spartacus-moment/.

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