Le Cid

Le Cid
Title page of 1637 printing of Le Cid.
Written by	Pierre Corneille
Characters	See below
Date premiered	January 1637
Place premiered	Théâtre du Marais, Paris
Original language	French
Genre	Tragicomedy
Setting	Kingdom of Castile

Le Cid is a five-act French tragicomedy written by Pierre Corneille, first performed in January 1636 at the Théâtre du Marais in Paris and published the same year. It is based on Guillén de Castro's play Las mocedades del Cid, published in 1618. Castro's play in turn is based on the legend of El Cid.

The play followed Corneille's first true tragedy, Médée, produced in 1635. An enormous popular success, Corneille's Le Cid was the subject of a heated polemic over the norms of dramatic practice known as the Querelle du Cid. Cardinal Richelieu's Académie française acknowledged the play's success, but determined that it was defective, in part because it did not respect the classical unities.

Today, Le Cid is widely regarded as Corneille's finest work.

The play focuses on Don Rodrigue and Chimène. Rodrigue's father, Don Diègue, is the old upstart general of Kingdom of Castile and past his prime, whereas Chimène's father is the successful current general, Comte de Gormas. Rodrigue and Chimène love each other, but any chance of marriage is brutally disturbed when Chimène's father insults Rodrigue's father. Torn between his love for Chimène and his duty to avenge his father's honour, Rodrigue chooses the latter and faces the general in a duel in which Don Gormas is killed. Without denying her love, Chimène asks the King for Rodrigue's head.

When the Moors attack, Rodrigue gets the chance to redeem himself in the eye of the nation, and, more importantly, gets a chance to win back Chimène with honour still satisfied. His victories on the battlefield win him the renown of the people, the title of "the Cid", and the gratitude of the King.