Plot
After the initial character genealogy, in which the ancestry of the hero is recounted, the poem tells how the young Rodrigo killed an enemy of his father, the count Don Goméz, himself father of Jimena Díaz. In order to make amends for his guilt, King Ferdinand orders him to marry Jimena. However the hero refuses, in a common folkloric motif of postponement of an obligation through the pursuit a difficult and long-lasting mission, until he has won five battles.
Although the five battles had remained vague in earlier versions of The Mocedades de Rodrigo, in this particular text, they can be considered to be the victory against the Moor Burgos de Ayllón, the victory against the champion of Aragon for the possession of Calahorra, the defense of Castile against the conspiracy of the treacherous counts, the battle against five allied Moors and the moving of the seat of the bishop of Palencia. At this point, the king of France, the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and the Pope demand a humiliating tribute from Castile, amongst the items demanded in tribute are fifteen noble virgin maidens each year. Faced with this situation, Rodrigo encourages King Fernando to conquer France and together, finally, they will triumph over the coalition formed by the count of Savoy, the King of France, the Emperor and the Pope. After this tremendous victory and in the middle of the negotiations over the surrender, the manuscript ends.
Read more about this topic: Mocedades De Rodrigo
Famous quotes containing the word plot:
“Ends in themselves, my letters plot no change;
They carry nothing dutiable; they wont
Aspire, astound, establish or estrange.”
—Philip Larkin (19221986)
“After I discovered the real life of mothers bore little resemblance to the plot outlined in most of the books and articles Id read, I started relying on the expert advice of other mothersespecially those with sons a few years older than mine. This great body of knowledge is essentially an oral history, because anyone engaged in motherhood on a daily basis has no time to write an advice book about it.”
—Mary Kay Blakely (20th century)
“Those blessed structures, plot and rhyme
why are they no help to me now
I want to make
something imagined, not recalled?”
—Robert Lowell (19171977)