Zorrilla and the Moor of Victor Hugo

Abstract

José Zorrilla's Moor is distinct from other Moors in literature that are considered to be more conventional. Critics like Narciso Alonso Cortés have noted that other Romantic authors of the same period created Moors that appeared to be more like "puppets." By contrast, Zorrilla's Moor, inspired by the characters of Victor Hugo, was always a man of flesh and blood who corresponded to his surrounding reality. In Zorrilla's Orientales (1837) one finds the true traces of Arabic Spain. Through a verbal magic, the poet has created a fantastic world while perfectly depicting characters full of color, life and passion. Zorrilla was a very skilled observer and so when he discovered something noteworthy, he wrote about the towns, characters and customs of Grenadine Spain. His Orientales contain not only exoticism, but the main characteristics of his first Moors. In this study, I examine the development of the typical Moor of Zorrilla beginning with his first appearance in Oriental (de los gomeles). The Moorish man desires to possess the Christian girl that he intends to kidnap while guarding his masculine pride. This characteristic distinguishes him from another type of Moor who considers himself to be the slave of the Christian woman in Dueña de la negra toca.