Summary Carmen Prosper Merimee
Prosper Merimee
Carmen
In the early autumn of 1830 an inquisitive scholar (in whom Merimee himself guessed) hires a conductor in Cordoba and goes in search of ancient Munda, where the last victorious Spanish battle of Julius Caesar took place. The midday heat makes him seek refuge in a shady gorge. But the place by the stream is already occupied. A dexterous and strong fellow with a gloomy proud look and blond hair rises up to meet the narrator suspiciously. The traveler disarms him with an offer to share a cigar and a meal with him, and they continue their journey together, despite the eloquent signs of the conductor. They stop for the night in a remote venta. The companion places beside the musketeer and falls asleep with the sleep of the righteous, but the scientist can not sleep. He leaves the house and sees a stealing guide who is about to warn the Lancers post that the bandit Jose Navarro stopped in the venta, for the capture of which two hundred ducats are promised.
The scientist continues his search in the library of the Dominican monastery in Cordoba. After sunset, he usually walks along the shore of Guadalquivir. One evening, on the waterfront, a woman dressed as a grisette comes to him, and with a bunch of jasmine in her hair. She is not tall, young, well built, and she has huge slanting eyes. The scientist is struck by her strange, wild beauty and especially the look, both sensual and wild. He treats her with cigarettes, finds out that her name is Carmen, that she is a gypsy and knows how to guess. He asks permission to take her home and show him his art. But divination is interrupted at the very beginning – the door swings open, and a man wrapped in a cloak bursts into the room with curses. The scientist learns in it his friend Jose. After a violent squabble with Carmen in an unfamiliar language, Jose takes the guest out of the house and points the way to the hotel. The scientist discovers that, in the meantime, the gold watch with the battle, which Carmen liked so much, disappeared.
Jose Aisarrabengoa tells him that he is a Basque, was born in Elisondo and belongs to an old noble family. After a bloody fight, he fled from his native land, joined the dragoon regiment, served diligently and became a foreman. But one day, in his misfortune, he is appointed to the guard at the Seville Tobacco Factory. That Friday, he sees Carmen for the first time – his love, his pain and his death. Together with other girls she goes to work. She has a flower of acacia in her mouth, and she walks, leading her hips like a young Cordoba mare. Two hours later, cause an outfit to stop a bloody squabble in the factory. Jose must bring to prison the instigator of the quarrel Carmen, who mutilated the face of one of the female workers with a knife. Along the way, she tells Jose the touching story that she is also from the Basque country, in Sevilla she is alone, she is poisoned as someone else’s, because she took the knife. She lies, as she has been lying all her life, but Jose trusts her and helps her escape. For this he is demoted and sent to prison for a month. There he receives a gift Carmen – a loaf of bread, a golden coin and two piastres. But Jose does not want to run away – military honor keeps him. Now he serves as a simple soldier. Once he stands on watch at the house of his colonel. The carriage with the gypsies, invited for the amusement of the guests, arrives. Among them is Carmen. She appoints Jose a meeting, they spend together a happily happy day and night. At parting, Carmen says: “We’re even, goodbye… You know, son, I think I’ve fallen in love with you a little.” But the wolf and the dog do not get along well, “Jose tries in vain to find Carmen. It appears only when it is necessary to conduct smugglers through a breach in the city wall, which protects Jose. So, For the promise of Carmen to give him a night he violates the military oath. Then he kills the lieutenant, whom Carmen leads to himself. He becomes a smuggler. For a while he is almost happy, since Carmen is sometimes affectionate with him – until the day when Garcia Curve appears in the detachment of smugglers, a disgusting freak. This is the husband of Carmen, whom she finally manages to rescue from prison. Jose and his “companions” are engaged in smuggling, robbing and sometimes killing travelers. Carmen serves as a liaison and a gunner. Rare meetings bring short happiness and unbearable pain. One day, Carmen hints to Jose that during the next “business” one could substitute a crooked husband for enemy bullets. Jose prefers to kill the opponent in an honest duel and becomes Roma (gypsy husband) Carmen, but she is increasingly burdened by his obsessive love. He suggests that she change her life, go to the New World. She also raises him to laugh: “We are not created to plant cabbage.” After a while, Jose learns that Carmen is fascinated by the matador Lucas. Jose furiously jealous and again offers Carmen to go to America. She replies that she is good in Spain, but she will not live with him anyway. Jose takes Carmen to a secluded gorge and again and again asks if she will follow him. “I can not love you – I do not want to live with you,” answers Carmen and tears the ring he gave away from his finger. In a rage, Jose twice plunged a knife into her. He buries her in the forest – she always wanted to find eternal peace in the forest – and puts a ring and a small cross in the grave. She also raises him to laugh: “We are not created to plant cabbage.” After a while, Jose learns that Carmen is fascinated by the matador Lucas. Jose furiously jealous and again offers Carmen to go to America. She replies that she is good in Spain, but she will not live with him anyway. Jose takes Carmen to a secluded gorge and again and again asks if she will follow him. “I can not love you – I do not want to live with you,” answers Carmen and tears the ring he gave away from his finger. In a rage, Jose twice plunged a knife into her. He buries her in the forest – she always wanted to find eternal peace in the forest – and puts a ring and a small cross in the grave. She also raises him to laugh: “We are not created to plant cabbage.” After a while, Jose learns that Carmen is fascinated by the matador Lucas. Jose furiously jealous and again offers Carmen to go to America. She replies that she is good in Spain, but she will not live with him anyway. Jose takes Carmen to a secluded gorge and again and again asks if she will follow him. “I can not love you – I do not want to live with you,” answers Carmen and tears the ring he gave away from his finger. In a rage, Jose twice plunged a knife into her. He buries her in the forest – she always wanted to find eternal peace in the forest – and puts a ring and a small cross in the grave. Jose furiously jealous and again offers Carmen to go to America. She replies that she is good in Spain, but she will not live with him anyway. Jose takes Carmen to a secluded gorge and again and again asks if she will follow him. “I can not love you – I do not want to live with you,” answers Carmen and tears the ring he gave away from his finger. In a rage, Jose twice plunged a knife into her. He buries her in the forest – she always wanted to find eternal peace in the forest – and puts a ring and a small cross in the grave. Jose furiously jealous and again offers Carmen to go to America. She replies that she is good in Spain, but she will not live with him anyway. Jose takes Carmen to a secluded gorge and again and again asks if she will follow him. “I can not love you – I do not want to live with you,” answers Carmen and tears the ring he gave away from his finger. In a rage, Jose twice plunged a knife into her. He buries her in the forest – she always wanted to find eternal peace in the forest – and puts a ring and a small cross in the grave.
In the fourth and final chapter of the novella, the narrator selflessly shares his observations with the readers about the customs and language of the Spanish Gypsies. In the end, he quotes a meaningful gypsy proverb: “In a tightly closed mouth, a fly is ordered to fly.”
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