Don Jose, tragic hero

Speranza

The two principals, Don José Bengolea, of Navarro, a brigadier of the dragoons, and Carmen, lie outside the genre.

While each is presented quite differently from Mérimée's portrayals of, respectively, a murderous brigand and a treacherous, amoral schemer, even in their relatively sanitised forms neither corresponds to the norms of opéra comique.

They are more akin to the verismo style that would find fuller expression in the works of Puccini.


Don José is the central figure of the 'dramma lirico'.

It is his fate rather than Carmen's that interests us.

The music characterises his gradual decline, act by act, from honest soldier to deserter, vagabond and finally murderer.

In act 1, Don Jose is a simple countryman aligned musically with Micaëla.

In act 2 Don Jose evinces a greater toughness,
the result of his experiences as a prisoner,
but it is clear that by the end of
the act his infatuation with
Carmen has driven his emotions beyond control.

In act 3 Don Jose is a trapped animal who
refuses to leave his cage even
when the door is opened for him, ravaged by a
mix of conscience, jealousy and
despair.

In the final act, his music assumes a grimness and purposefulness that reflects his new fatalism.

He will make one more appeal; if Carmen refuses, he knows what to do.