The Cid

Rodrigo has a choice to make. His father has been humiliated by the Count of Gormas, and only blood can wash that shame away. But the Count is the father of Chimène, the woman Rodrigo loves. When he kills the Count to preserve his honor, he destroys the future he wanted with the woman he loves. Now Chimène must do what honor demands: demand the King's justice against her father's killer, even as she still loves him. And Rodrigo must face the consequences of his choice, caught between the glory of his deed and the ruin of his heart. Pierre Corneille's 1637 masterpiece caused a scandal in Paris, sparking the most famous literary controversy of the century, because it dared to make honor complicated. This is not a simple tale of virtue and vice. It is about what happens when love and duty point in opposite directions, and choosing either one means losing something essential. Five acts of verse that changed drama forever.