Tyranny vs. Collectivism Theme Analysis

Fuente Ovejuna’s plot centers on the Commander, a tyrannical leader of the titular Spanish town Fuente Ovejuna. While the villagers are kind and loyal, the Commander and his servants, Flores and Ortuño, abuse the townspeople—namely, by sexually assaulting the women in the town and by beating or threatening any man who tries to protect the women. Gradually, however, the townspeople realize how much the Commander has mistreated them, and they collectively rise up against him and kill him. When they are interrogated for their crimes, the townspeople simply say, “Fuente Ovejuna did it,” so that no individual can be punished. Because banding together is the only way for the villagers to escape the Commander’s cruelty and any penalty for their resistance, the play suggests that collective power is necessary to overcome tyranny.

Initially, the Commander’s ability to easily overpower and abuse the citizens in Fuente Ovejuna demonstrates how difficult it is for individual people to overcome his tyranny. The Commander preys on the women in particular, knowing that they are often unable to fight back because they are physically weaker than he is. When the Commander finds the young protagonist Laurencia alone in the woods, he attempts to rape her—and the men in the village discuss how he’s raped other local women as well. Laurencia only escapes this fate because Frondoso, a young man, rescues her. This highlights how if she were alone, it’s likely she wouldn’t have been able to escape the Commander’s oppressiveness, as none of the other women are able to do so. The Commander’s noble status also allows him to abuse the citizens at will: he vows to beat Esteban (Laurencia’s father and a town magistrate) over the head with a stick because Laurencia is warding off the Commander’s attacks. Esteban comments, “Then beat me! / I bow to you as overlord.” With this, Esteban speaks to how the Commander’s social rank enables him to act however he wishes, while the villagers have little recourse. The Commander’s stature also means that he has faithful servants (Ortuño and Flores) to support his tyranny. For example, Ortuño and Flores abduct a woman named Jacinta on the Commander’s behalf. Witnessing this, another villager, Mengo, tries to defend Jacinta and appeals to the Commander’s morality, asking what she has done wrong. In response, the Commander instructs his henchmen to carry Mengo off and brutally flog him. Through both Jacinta and Mengo’s inability to rise up against the Commander, the play demonstrates that it is hard for individual people to fight tyranny because tyrants can act outside the law and force others to do their bidding.

The citizens in Fuente Ovejuna soon recognize their common grievance, and by working together they find a collective power to overthrow and kill the Commander. At Laurencia and Frondoso’s wedding, the Commander arrests Frondoso for protecting Laurencia and abducts her for his own pleasure. Referring to the Commander, Esteban says to his fellow townspeople that “there is not a single one / Of us whose life that criminal / Has not dishonoured.” Recognizing the truth in his words, another alderman says that “The town should die, / Or kill these tyrants. We are many, they are few.” Thus, the townspeople recognize that their common cause, and their ability to band together to address that cause, gives them power over tyranny. Taking action, the townspeople storm the Commander’s house. They shout, “Fuente Ovejuna!” as a rallying cry—suggesting that they have power in working collectively as one town with one voice and one purpose. They are then able to free Frondoso and kill the Commander. As individuals—and even at the wedding, where many townspeople were gathered—the villagers were unable to stop the Commander’s tyranny. But now, in recognizing their collective power, they are able to do so. Laurencia is even able to lead the women to attack the Commander’s henchmen, who have victimized the women as much as the Commander himself did. Individually, the women were easily preyed upon and had little means to escape the men’s vile behavior. But as a group, they can get vengeance for the cruelty they experienced.

Not only do the villagers find collective power in overcoming tyranny and killing the Commander and his henchmen, but their collective solidarity also helps them overcome that punishment and pursue justice without retribution. After killing the Commander, Esteban recognizes that the King and Queen will likely try to find out what happened to the Commander. He suggests that when they are interrogated, all of the villagers should say, “Fuente Ovejuna did it.” This again emphasizes that their power came from their collective action. Only by working together as a single town—as “Fuente Ovejuna”—were they able to overcome the Commander’s tyranny. When a judge interrogates the citizens, they all stick to their story and say, “Fuente Ovejuna did it.” The judge reports back to King Fernando, explaining that “the citizens are all of one accord, / United in their fortitude.” As such, the judge is unable to discover which individuals are guilty, and the King pardons the whole town. This illustrates how the citizens’ collective power not only enabled them to overcome tyranny, but also to avoid being punished for seeking justice.

Significantly, the townspeople only take up this collective action because of the Commander’s tyranny, and the play implies that they are only justified in doing so because he was so cruel. When the judge forces the villagers to plead their case to King Fernando, they explain how the Commander wronged them, declare their intentions to be the King’s loyal vassals, and ask him to be merciful—all of which convinces the King not to punish them. In this way, the play suggests that class hierarchies and power disparities are necessary and appropriate with a model ruler, while still maintaining that collective action is sometimes justified when facing a tyrant.