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44 pages 1 hour read

Prosper Merimee

Carmen

Fiction | Novella | Adult | Published in 1840

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Character Analysis

Don José

Content Warning: This section of the guide describes and discusses the novella’s racist and inaccurate portrayal of Romani people and culture, which includes racist slurs. The novella also includes other instances of racism and exoticism, as well as depictions of domestic violence against women cumulating in murder.

Don José was born in the Basque region of Spain as José Lizzarrabengoa. The title “Don” is similar to the English appellation of “Lord,” and indicates that he comes from a noble family. He is also known as José Navarro, with “Navarro” meaning “from Navarre.” He is the novella’s primary protagonist. Chapter 3 focuses entirely on his recollection of the events leading to his murdering Carmen and giving himself up to the authorities for execution.

Over the course of the third chapter, Don José falls from a position of wealth, happiness, and privilege—his life as a rich Basque nobleman in his hometown— to a state of disgrace and powerlessness as he awaits his execution. During his life he is both the beneficiary and victim of Power Imbalances in Relationships and Society. His decline in fortunes mimics a traditional Greek tragedy; his hardships result from his own fatal flaw, or “hamartia,” his excessive passion and the violence he commits as a result. Carmen blames herself for Don José’s downfall, calling herself a “devil” and promising that their association will lead him to the gallows. However, Don José had already shown a propensity for impulsive violence long before meeting her when fighting with his tennis opponent. Indeed, the narrator compares Don José to Satan from English poet John Milton’s epic poem, Paradise Lost (1667), which tells the biblical tale of Adam and Eve’s fall from grace, and chronicles Satan’s rebellion against God and damnation to the kingdom of hell. The narrator notes similarities between Satan and Don José’s tragic falls from grace.

Don José’s actions are governed by passion above all else, making him an archetypal Romantic hero. His intense feelings for Carmen guide the majority of his actions; he feels a possessive, obsessive desire for her that leaves him vulnerable to her manipulations and suggestions, and either unable or unwilling to let go of her. His passion manifests in fits of jealousy and rage when he feels spurned by Carmen, exemplified in his murder of the lieutenant and of Carmen herself.

Don José is weak-willed and easily led, willing to go against his reason, his better judgement, and self-interest in order to pursue a relationship with Carmen. He is also stubborn, determined to cage Carmen with his own system of morals and honor, and deny her freedom by binding her to himself regardless of her wishes. Their relationship is a constant struggle, where Don José fights to assert his dominance over her according to traditional power structures governing relationships between the sexes at the time, and Carmen resists.

His actions and character relegate him to the role of antihero at best, or a protagonist lacking heroism. He is presented as sympathetic. This is due in large part to his system of honor, which propels him to protect the narrator from Carmen, his self-professed naivety prior to his entanglement with Carmen, and his attempts to save the wounded El Remendado. However his premeditated murder of Garcia el Tuerto, as well as his lack of regret over murdering the lieutenant, illustrate his cold-hearted selfishness. He claims that he fell into a life of banditry through mere “thoughtlessness” rather than as a result of his own choices. This shows a lack of self-awareness, and an unwillingness to take full responsibilities for his life and actions.

Carmen

The titular character Carmen is a young Romani woman who uses her sharp mind and sensual beauty to earn a living at the expense of the men around her. She is cunning and manipulative, with few qualms about committing or facilitating violence. In her only meeting with the narrator, she robs him and tries to convince Don José to murder him. She expertly uses her beauty and the mystique afforded by her Roma heritage to lure men into vulnerable situations that she and her allies then exploit. As Carmen is the main Roma character in the novella, Prosper Mérimée uses her to explore traits that he falsely associates with Roma, as outlined in Chapter 4. Her ways and attributes are often contrasted with those of the non-Romani around her. In many ways, her characterization resembles a typical racist stereotype of the Roma people. This is a manifestation of Exoticism and Racial Prejudice, a main flaw of the novella from a non-racist modern perspective.

Despite these negative traits, she remains a somewhat sympathetic character. As a woman and Roma in 19th-century Spain, she is oppressed by Power Imbalances in Relationships and Society. She does not have any independent wealth or financial security, is not enfranchised or protected by the laws of any nation, and is physically vulnerable to those who are stronger or more well-armed. She is a victim of domestic abuse at Don José’s hand, who ultimately murders her for refusing to submit. Her own cunning, her ability to seduce men, and the support of the Romani community are her only sources of power and security—it is little wonder then that she makes such indiscriminate use of them all.

Her relationship with Don José leads both of them to ruin, exactly as she predicted in the aftermath of their first night together. Indeed, she is a skilled fortune teller whose predictions and warnings consistently foreshadow the novella’s tragic conclusion. Although it is very unlikely that she received any formal education, she is shown to speak at least three languages—Spanish, Basque, and the Romani language, and likely English too. She manages much of the intellectual side of the smuggling gang’s illegal enterprises: networking contacts, gathering information, and confidence trickery.

Like many heroines of the Romantic movement, Carmen values living in the moment over worrying about the past or future. Her skill at fortune-telling grants her insight. She is also fatalistic, believing that events are predestined and accepting her own tragic fate without fear. She is tempestuous. Through both her and Don José, the novella explores Passion as an Overwhelming Force. Carmen lashes out when provoked, and descends into merriment or childlike glee at a moment’s notice. She feels love and affection strongly, but fleetingly, and any loyalty she has toward her associates and lovers is fickle. Carmen enjoys the finer things in life, like sweets and wine, and indulges immoderately when the fancy takes her. Above all else she values her freedom, and chooses death rather than allow herself to be bound to Don José or cowed into submission by his threats. She is a victim of both society and her lover, but one who refuses to allow herself to remain victimized, wrestling back control and liberty even at the cost of her life.

The Narrator

The unnamed narrator is essentially a fictionalized version of Mérimée. The first two chapters and the final, fourth chapter are written in the first person from his point of view, and the third chapter is Don José’s recitation of his life story as told to the narrator. The narrator is not an active participant in the main body of the story; instead he meets both Carmen and Don José in brief encounters that comprise the framing narrative, then listens as a mute observer to Don José’s tale.

From the outset, it is clear that the narrator shares many traits with the novella’s author; he is French, educated, and dedicated to historical research to such an extent that he travels Europe to further his scholarly pursuits. The narrator clearly has a position of significant privilege in society. This contrasts with many of the other characters of the novella, most significantly Carmen. He is an educated white male who evidently comes from a wealthy background given his possession of an expensive repeater pocket watch. He is able to travel freely and securely at his leisure, and fears neither outlaws nor the law. He offers to use his wealth and influence to try and prevent Don José’s execution, highlighting his privileged position and Power Imbalances in Relationships and Society.

As an upper-class French man, the narrator is of the same demographic as the novella’s intended target audience. This means that he functions as an everyman character, allowing the reader to experience events vicariously and share in his reactions. His pragmatic, disinterested, but generally kindly attitude toward the dangerous events and characters contrasts dramatically with the passionate melodrama of Carmen and Don José’s tumultuous relationship. This juxtaposition heightens the drama of their romance.

The narrator shares Mérimée’s racial biases and prejudices, and treats women with period-typical misogyny by dissecting their appearance and physical characteristics on the basis of whether or not he finds them attractive. Nonetheless he is a generally sympathetic character for his amicability and generosity, and does not mean harm to even those who have wronged him, such as with Carmen, who wants Don José to murder him.

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By Prosper Merimee