The Cid

by Pierre Corneille from 1636

About

Corneille's Le Cid (1637) is the founding document of French classical tragedy and the play that launched the great querelle du Cid — a literary controversy about whether it conformed to the rules of classical drama. Following the Spanish hero Rodrigo, who must kill the father of his beloved Chimène to avenge his own father's honor, the play stages the conflict between love and duty with a rhetorical grandeur that made it the most admired play in France for a generation. The Académie française criticized it on technical grounds; audiences loved it without reservation. It established the Alexandrine verse and the principle of the three unities as the framework of French tragic theater for the next century.

Translated from the original French.

Tragedy Romance Verse Drama Baroque Passionate Moving Intense Solemnen

The Cid

Characters: 11
Words: 11.6k
Scenes: 28
Duration: ~1 hr 27 min

Characters

#CharacterPlayerLines

1

Don Rodrigo

—

70

2

Infanta

—

41

3

Don Diego

—

40

4

Count

—

38

5

Don Fernando

—

38

6

Elvira

—

28

7

Leonora

—

17

8

Don Arias

—

13

28 sections

11.6k words

#TitleWords

1

Scene I.—CHIMÈNE and ELVIRA.

4003:00

2

Scene II.—The INFANTA, LEONORA, and a PAGE.

7225:25

3

Scene IV.—COUNT DE GORMAS and DON DIEGO (meeting).

8316:14

4

Scene VI.—DON DIEGO and DON RODRIGO.

2752:04

5

Scene I.—COUNT DE GORMAS and DON ARIAS.

4273:12

6

Scene II.—The COUNT and DON RODRIGO.

4563:25

7

Scene III.—The INFANTA, CHIMÈNE and LEONORA.

2291:43

8

Scene IV.—The INFANTA, CHIMÈNE, LEONORA, and a PAGE.

340:15

9

Scene V.—The INFANTA and LEONORA.

4783:35

10

Scene VI.—DON FERNANDO (the King), DON ARIAS, DON SANCHO, and DON

7115:20

11

Scene VII.—DON FERNANDO, DON ALONZO, DON SANCHO, and DON ARIAS.

1280:58

12

Scene VIII.—DON FERNANDO, DON DIEGO, CHIMÈNE, DON SANCHO, DON ARIAS,

4533:24

13

Scene I.—DON RODRIGO and ELVIRA.

3052:17

14

Scene II.—DON SANCHO, CHIMÈNE, and ELVIRA.

1451:05

15

Scene III.—CHIMÈNE and ELVIRA.

990:45

16

Scene IV.—DON RODRIGO, CHIMÈNE, and ELVIRA.

7475:36

17

Scene VI.—DON DIEGO and DON RODRIGO.

7345:30

18

Scene I.—CHIMÈNE and ELVIRA.

1801:21

19

Scene II.—The INFANTA, CHIMÈNE, LEONORA, and ELVIRA.

3712:47

20

Scene III.—DON FERNANDO (the King), DON DIEGO, DON ARIAS, DON

1.2k8:43

21

Scene IV.—DON FERNANDO, DON DIEGO, DON RODRIGO, DON ARIAS, DON ALONZO,

670:30

22

Scene V.—DON FERNANDO, DON DIEGO, DON ARIAS, DON SANCHO, DON ALONZO,

6384:47

23

Scene I.—DON RODRIGO and CHIMÈNE.

5243:56

24

Scene III.—THE INFANTA and LEONORA.

4453:20

25

Scene IV.—CHIMÈNE and ELVIRA.

2261:42

26

Scene V.—DON SANCHO, CHIMÈNE, and ELVIRA.

220:10

27

Scene VI.—DON FERNANDO, DON DIEGO, DON ARIAS, DON SANCHO, DON ALONZO,

2872:09

28

Scene VII.—DON FERNANDO, DON DIEGO, DON ARIAS, DON RODRIGO, DON

5213:54

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