Heath's Modern Language Series: El trovador

ZARAGOZA
POR
EDITED WITH NOTES AND VOCABULARY
Yale University
D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO
Copyright, 1908, By D. C. Heath & Co.
Printed in U. S. A.
Antonio García Gutiérrez was born in Chiclina, a small town in Andalusia, July 5, 1813. His father wished him to become a doctor, but his own tendency towards poetry was so strong that he soon gave up all idea of a medical career and went to Madrid to seek his fortune. Here he wrote El Trovador , which was promptly rejected by the dramatic managers. After this disappointment he enlisted as a volunteer against the Carlists, and was in the army when his play was finally produced. Its success was instantaneous and overwhelming, and enabled the author to leave the army and give all his time to his chosen occupation. Among his other works may be cited Simón Bocanegra , Venganza Catalana , and Juan Lorenzo . These plays were not as enthusiastically received as El Trovador , and Gutiérrez regarded the public as unjust to him. In 1844 he went to Havana, and thence to Mérida de Yucatán; returning to Spain after five years' absence. He died August 26, 1884.
El Trovador is undoubtedly Gutiérrez' masterpiece. Interest in the play is quickly aroused, and well sustained by the rapidity of the action. Gutiérrez has not kept the classic unities of time and place, but he has kept the one important unity, that of action; since, although our interest may at times be divided between the protagonists of the drama and a less important character, we never lose interest in the former.
The characters, although well drawn, are not strong. Manrique is a selfish and ambitious man, who well deserves his fate. Nuño is unscrupulous and weak, but the weakest character of all is that of Leonor, who, knowing her duty, has neither strength nor will to accomplish it. Azucena is really the most interesting character in the play. From her first sad notes of Bramando está el pueblo indómito to her last despairing cry of Ya estás vengada we do not for a minute lose sight of the mortal conflict in her soul between the vengeance which she has sworn her mother and her love for Manrique.