Fuenteovejuna

Act One, as is traditional, does much of the heavy lifting in establishing the important elements of the play. We are introduced to Fuenteovejuna in a kind of stasis, albeit a horrific one: the town is under the rule of a brutal lord in the Commander, but largely does not resist, instead appealing to him and praising him in order to feed his ego and keep him placated. Interestingly, this is in sharp contrast with the turmoil of Spain, which is in the middle of a bloody civil war. The town ostensibly is free from the bloodshed of the war, but at the cost of their own freedom. The Commander’s rule undermines the moral, righteous image he ascribes to himself in the first scene—his feelings of being slighted or insulted are shown not to be based in any kind of decorum, but rather in his desire to be and feel powerful.

It is through this lens of power—who has power and who does not—that we experience the events of Act One. The Commander has power, but not as much as Rodrigo, so he grumbles about him when he isn’t around and feigns deference to him when he is. Likewise, the Commander holds power over the townspeople of Fuenteovejuna, who sing songs of praise to him despite being terrorized by him, and who bring him gifts despite being able to afford or spare very little themselves.Like the Commander with Rodrigo, the townspeople also speak ill of him when he is not around. However, Laurencia—and to a lesser extent, Pascuala—resist the Commander, a slight to his power he cannot let go, which ultimately sets into motion the main conflict of the play. (It’s notable that this is in contrast with Laurencia’s father’s deference to the Commander.)

A juxtaposition between rural peasant life and city life emerges through Act One, as well. The Commander dismisses the people of Fuenteovejuna to Master Rodrigo, who expresses shock that the Commander deigns to live there (9). Both represent people of urbanity, and neither is a sympathetic character—Rodrigo more so than the Commander, but he is still portrayed as young and arrogant, and will ultimately be on the wrong side of the battle. The peasants of Fuenteovejuna, on the other hand, are fallible but virtuous; more importantly, they are victims, not only of the Commander but of the war itself, which is being fought between factions far away who seem to care little about them, if they are even aware of the town’s existence. They are similarly dismissive of “the city fashion” (15), but whereas the Commander and Rodrigo dismiss the town as beneath them, Laurencia and Frondoso dismiss the people of the city for their morality.

Oppression exists through numerous channels in the play. The townspeople are poor, so there is the motif of class inequality throughout the play—they have little, and they are forced to give up what little they have to those who already have much, like the Commander. Oppression is also exerted through raw power, as well, as the town is not only taken over by someone wealthier, but specifically by the military—they are unable to fight not only due to a lack of resources, but also a lack of training, and are thus representative of civilians who are often overlooked as casualties of war.

Additionally, however, there is the oppression of the women of the play, which begins and remains front and center throughout: We are introduced to the people of Fuenteovejuna through the eyes of two of its women who are complaining about both the Commander’s oppression of them and of the treatment of women by men more broadly. It is notable that through their discussion, the Commander’s actions toward the women of the town are effectively equivalent to those of men as a whole. Further, the action of the play through Act One hinges largely on the Commander’s pursuit of Laurencia (and, to a lesser extent, Pascuala). In fact, this decidedly-unwanted pursuit is mirrored by the Commander’s conquering of Ciudad Real: it is after he returns from taking the city by force that he twice attempts, and twice fails, to take Laurencia by force. Taking the metaphor further, the second time, Laurencia is saved by Frondoso’s unexpected (to the Commander) entry, foreshadowing Ferdinand and Isabella’s eventual saving of Ciudad Real.

Lastly, Act One queries the nature of love. A central conversation in Scene Two debates the existence of love, with Mengo arguing against its existence while Barrildo and Frondoso argue for it. This conversation could also be interpreted as a debate between self-centered individualism and the collective, however, as Mengo’s main argument is that love exists only to serve our own self-interests, whereas Barrildo argues that love serves to tie us together. (Interestingly, the women push the conversation aside as one that is both out of their depth and a waste of time, suggesting that although the peasants may not be learned enough to debate the topic, such debate is pointless, anyway.) Later, Frondoso declares his love for Laurencia, who won’t reciprocate, but won’t reject it, either.

Act One ends with the culmination of all of these themes to provide the inciting incident. Frondoso and Laurencia are discussing love—specifically, their love for one another. The Commander interrupts them in order to attempt to exert his power over Laurencia: as a poor peasant, as his property (because he has taken the town), and as a woman. In doing so, love and lust are juxtaposed against one another. (Oddly, Laurencia suggests that the previous women taken by the Commander, who were in all likelihood similarly forced, were themselves lustful and at fault, positioning herself as the virtuous resister.)

Frondoso, representing love, is able to stop the Commander, upsetting the balance of power irreparably. Frondoso’s decision not to kill the Commander is then notable in two ways. First, it reinforces the motif of the virtuous peasant, who chooses not to kill despite presuming he would be killed were the tables turned. Second, the crossbow can be interpreted as a phallic symbol; therefore, Frondoso’s decision not to shoot the Commander is akin to a decision not to forcefully penetrate him and could further be viewed as symbolic of Frondoso’s chastity, which is likewise associated with virtue.