Summary of Sid
Pierre Corneille
Sid
The teacher of Elvira brings Dinya Khimene a pleasant message: from two lovers of the young nobles – Don Rodrigo and Don Sancho – the father of Jimena, Count Gormaz, wants to have the first son-in-law; namely don Rodrigo given the feelings and thoughts of the girl.
In the same Rodrigo, the girlfriend of Jimena, daughter of the Castilian King Donia Urraca, has long been passionately in love. But she is a slave of her high position: duty obliges her to make her only elected by birth – the king or prince of the blood. In order to stop the suffering, which causes her obviously unquenchable passion, Infanta did everything to make a fiery love connected Rodrigo and Jimena. Her efforts were successful, and now Dona Urraca is not waiting for the day of the wedding, after which the last spark of hope should be extinguished in her heart, and she will be able to resurrect in spirit.
Fathers Rodrigo and Jimena – Don Diego
When King Ferdinand faced the question of choosing a mentor for his son, he gave preference to the wise experience of Don Diego, than involuntarily tested the friendship of the two nobles. Count Gormas considered the choice of the sovereign unjust, Don Diego, on the contrary, praised the wisdom of the monarch, unmistakably celebrating the most worthy man.
Word for word, and reasoning about the merits of one and the other grandee go into a dispute, and then into a quarrel. There are mutual insults, and in the end the Count gives Don Diego a slap in the face; he snatches the sword. The enemy easily pushes it out of the weakened hands of Don Diego, but does not continue the fight, because for him, the glorious Count Gormas, it would be the greatest disgrace to slaughter the decrepit, defenseless
The mortal insult inflicted on Don Diego can only be washed away by the offender’s blood. Therefore, he tells his son to summon the count to a death battle.
Rodrigo in confusion – because he has to raise his hand to his beloved father. Love and filial duty are desperately struggling in his soul, but one way or another, Rodrigo decides, even life with his beloved wife will be an endless disgrace for him if the father remains unavenged.
King Ferdinand is angered by the unworthy act of Count Gormas; he orders him to apologize to Don Diego, but the haughty nobleman, for whom honor is above everything in the world, refuses to obey the sovereign. Count Gormas is not afraid of any threats, because he is sure that without his undefeated sword the King of Castile can not retain his scepter.
The sorrowful donja Jimena bitterly complains to the infant with the damned vanity of the fathers, threatening to destroy them from Rodrigo’s happiness, which seemed so close to both. No matter how things develop further, none of the possible outcomes promises her good: if Rodrigo dies in a duel, her happiness will die along with him; if a young man takes the upper hand, an alliance with the murderer of his father will become impossible for her; well, and if the duel does not take place, Rodrigo will be disgraced and will lose the right to be called a Castilian nobleman.
Doña Urraca in the consolation of Jimene can offer only one thing: she will order Rodrigo to be at his person, and there, that, and look, the fathers by the king themselves will settle everything. But the Infanta was late – Count Gormas and Don Rodrigo had already gone to the place they had chosen for the duel.
The obstacle that has arisen in the way of lovers, makes the infant grieve, but at the same time causes secret joy in her soul. In the heart of Dona Urraki, hope and sweet melancholy are again settled, she already sees Rodrigo conquer many kingdoms and thereby become equal to her, which means that her love is open to her.
Meanwhile, the king, indignant at the disobedience of Count Gormas, orders him to be taken into custody. But his command can not be executed, for the count has just fallen by the hand of the young Don Rodrigo. As soon as news of this reaches the palace, as before the sinking Jimena appears before Don Ferdinand, and on his knees he prays for the reward of the murderer; such retribution can only be death. Don Diego argues that victory in a duel of honor can not be equated with murder. The King listens favorably to both and proclaims his decision: Rodrigo will be tried.
Rodrigo comes to the house of Count Gormas, who was killed by him, ready to face the inexorable judge – Jimena. The teacher who met him Jimena Elvira is frightened: after all, Jimena can return home not alone, and if the companions see him at her house, the shadow of the girl will fall on the honor of the girl. Having heeded the words of Elvira, Rodrigo hides.
Indeed, Jimena comes accompanied by Don Sancho, in love with her, who offers himself as a weapon of retribution to the murderer. Jimena does not agree with his proposal, fully relying on the righteous royal court.
Left alone with the teacher, Jimena confesses that she still loves Rodrigo, does not think of life without him; and if her duty is to doom her father’s murderer to death, she intends, after revenge, to descend into the coffin after her beloved. Rodrigo hears these words and comes out of hiding. He extends the sword to Khimene, with whom Count Gormas was killed, and prays her with his own hand to execute the judgment over him. But Jimena drives Rodrigo away, promising that he will certainly do everything so that the murderer will pay for his life, although in his heart he hopes that nothing will come of it.
Don Diego is incredibly happy that his son, a worthy heir to the brave fathers of ancestors, washed away the stain of shame from him. As for Jimena, he says Rodrigo, then it’s only an honor one – beloved ones are changing. But for Rodrigo it is equally impossible neither to change love for Khimene, nor to connect fate with the beloved; it remains only to call death.
In response to such speeches, Don Diego proposes to his son, instead of looking in vain for the ruin, to lead a detachment of brave men and to repel the Moors, secretly under cover of night on ships approaching Seville.
The outing of the detachment led by Rodrigo brings the Castilians a brilliant victory – the infidels flee, two Moorish kings are captured by the hand of a young military commander. Everyone in the capital extols Rodrigo, only Jimena still insists that her mourning attends in Rodrigo, no matter how brave a warrior he is, a villain and cries for revenge.
Infanta, in whose soul does not go out, but, on the contrary, love of Rodrigo gets stronger, persuades Jimena to refuse revenge. May she not go with him to the crown, Rodrigo, the stronghold and shield of Castile, must continue to serve his sovereign. But despite the fact that he is revered by the people and loved by him, Jimena must fulfill his duty – the murderer will die.
However, in vain, Jimena hopes for the royal court – Ferdinand is immensely admired by the exploit of Rodrigo. Even royal power is not enough to adequately repay a brave man, and Ferdinand decides to take advantage of a clue given to him by the captured kings of the Moors: in conversations with the king they were called Rodrigo Sid, master, lord. Henceforth, Rodrigo will be called by this name, and only his name will start to tremble Granada and Toledo.
Despite Roderigo’s honors, Jimena falls at the feet of the sovereign and prays for revenge. Ferdinand, suspecting that the girl loves the one whose death he asks, wants to test her feelings: he sadly tells Khimene that Rodrigo has died from his wounds. Jimena is deadly pale, but as soon as he finds out that in fact Rodrigo is alive and well, he justifies his weakness by saying that if her father’s killer had died at the hands of the Moors, it would not have washed her off; she supposedly was frightened of being now unable to take revenge.
Since the king forgave Rodrigo, Jimena declares that the one who will defeat the Count’s murderer in a duel will become her husband. Don Sancho, in love with Jimena, immediately calls out to fight with Rodrigo. The king does not like very much that the life of the most trusted defender of the throne is not endangered on the battlefield, but he allows a duel, while setting a condition that, no matter who comes out as the winner, he will get the hand of Jimena.
Rodrigo is to say goodbye to Jimena. That wonders, really Don Sancho is so strong to defeat Rodrigo. The young man replies that he does not go to battle, but to be executed, in order to wash away the stain of shame with his honor with his blood; he did not allow himself to be killed in battle with the Moors, since he fought for the fatherland and the sovereign, but now it’s a completely different case.
Not wanting Roderigo’s death, Jimena resorts first to a far-fetched argument – he can not fall by the hand of Don Sancho, as this will damage his fame, while she, Khimene, feels better that her father was killed by one of the most glorious knights of Castile – but at the end ends asking Rodrigo to win so that she does not marry an unloved.
In the heart of Jimena there is growing confusion: she is afraid to think that Rodrigo will perish, and she herself will have to become the wife of Don Sancho, but the idea of what will happen if the battlefield is left for Rodrigo does not bring her relief.
Reflections Jimena interrupts Don Sancho, who appears before her with a naked sword and starts a speech about the just-concluded duel. But Jimena does not let him say two words, believing that Don Sancho will now start to boast of his victory. Hurried to the king, she asks him to mercy and not to force her to go to the crown with Don Sancho – let the winner take all her good, and she herself will go to the monastery.
In vain, Jimena did not listen to Don Sancho; now she learns that, as soon as the duel began, Rodrigo knocked the sword out of the hands of the enemy, but did not want to kill someone who was ready to die for Jimena’s sake. The king proclaims that the duel, though brief and not bloody, has washed off her stain of shame, and solemnly hands Khimene Rodrigo’s hand.
Jimena no longer hides his love for Rodrigo, but still can not become the wife of his father’s killer. Then the wise King Ferdinand, not wanting to mend violence over the girl’s feelings, suggests to rely on the healing property of time – he appoints a wedding in a year. During this time, the wound on the soul of Jimena will be prolonged, Rodrigo will perform many feats for the glory of Castile and her king.
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