I loved Cecilia Valdés because I love romance and of course I was curios about the ending of the love story. If you are planning on reading the rest of the story, don't read my blog. Cecilia ends up falling in love with Leonardo. The two become lovers but plot twist: Leonardo is Cecilia's half brother. Her father is Candido de Gamboa, a wealthy upper class white man. Leonardo is his legitimate son. Unfortunately, neither of them know this and they have a son. Later Leonardo leaves Cecilia for a white upper class woman, Isabel Ilincheta. They are engaged and plan to get married. Meanwhile, poor Pimienta is still in love with Cecilia. She has him assassinate Leonardo on the day of his wedding. Pimienta is then executed and Cecilia sent to prison.
I couldn't help but notice some similarities between this story and the story of Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare. Both Romeo and Juliet and Cecilia and Leonardo meet and fall in love at a party. Both couples are not supposed to be together. Romeo and Juliet's families are enemies of each other. Cecilia and Leonardo come from different social classes. Cecilia is a mulatta and illegitimate child. Leonardo a white upper class man. They are also half siblings. Both Juliet and Cecilia have other men pursuing them. Juliet is being pursued by Paris, kin of the king. She was supposed to marry him. Pimienta is madly in love with Cecilia and gives up his life for her. Both end in tragedy. Juliet fakes her death when Romeo is banished and he poisons himself. When she wakes up, she finds him dead and kills herself. Pimienta murders Leonardo for Cecilia and as a result is executed, and she spends the rest of her life in prison. The difference is Romeo wanted to be with Juliet forever; Leonardo left Cecilia for another women. Paris, the man Juliet rejected, was killed by Romeo. Pimienta, the man Cecilia rejected, killed Leonardo. Both are tragic love stories. I wonder if Cirilo Villaverde ever read any Shakespeare...
Jacqueline,
ReplyDeleteI loved your analysis and comparison between the stories of Romeo and Juliet, and the story of Cecilia Valdés! I too love romantic novels, and we learn nothing better than we are approached with an ending juxtaposing our hopes; from this juxtaposition I believe authors wish us to learn something and derive the message they wish to imbue in their work. I would love to know if Villaverde had been a scholar of Shakespeare, as the works do have quite palpable similarities and can, I believe, be discussed as a common story yet with a rearrangement of the roles of the characters. The interaction between the three main characters in both novels gives a resounding reassurance as to these similarities and perhaps Villaverde meant to write this novel as a derivation of the Romeo and Juliet novel, as to example and reinforce these trying circumstances, yet with racial and class connotations, in Latin America?