Hernani (Full title: Hernani, ou l'Honneur Castillan) is a drama by the French romantic

author Victor Hugo.

The play opened in Paris on 25 February 1830. Today, it is more remembered for the demonstrations
which accompanied the premire and for being the inspiration of Verdi's opera Ernani than it is for its
own merits. Hugo had enlisted the support of fellow Romanticists such as Hector
Berlioz and Thophile Gautier[1] to combat the opposition of Classicists who recognised the play as a
direct attack on their values.
It is used to describe the magnitude and elegance of Prince Prospero's masquerade in Edgar Allan
Poe's short story, "The Masque of the Red Death". Gillenormand in Les
Misrables criticizes Hernani.[2]
Contents
[hide]

1Plot
o

1.1Act I

1.2Act II

1.3Act III

1.4Act IV

1.5Act V

2Characters

3References

4External links

Plot[edit]
Set in a fictitious version of the Spanish court of 1519, it is based on courtly romance and intrigues.
Three men two noblemen and a mysterious bandit are in love with the same woman. What
follows in the ensuing chaos of action prompted the biographer of Hugo, J.P. Houston, to write "...
and a rsum [plot synopsis] will necessarily fail, as in the case of Notre-Dame de Paris, to suggest
anything like the involution of its details".[3]

Act I[edit]
In the first scenes Hugo introduces Don Carlos, King of Spain (the future Charles V, Holy Roman
Emperor) sneaking into the bedchamber of Doa Sol. He forces her maid to help conceal him within
the room. Shortly thereafter, Doa Sol enters to welcome her lover Hernani. Hernani and Sol discuss
their situation Doa Sol is about to be forced to marry her elderly uncle, and Hernani is a bandit
whose father was executed by the previous King. Hernani and Doa Sol plot to run away together,
but Don Carlos emerges from the cabinet where he was hiding, disrupting them. The two men clash
swords, but are interrupted by Sol's uncle and fianc Don Ruy Gomez de Silva. He demands to
know why both men are in Sol's private chambers. Don Carlos reveals his identity, and asserts that

he had come hoping to meet Ruy Gomez to discuss the recent death of Emperor Maximilian, and
claims that Hernani is a member of his entourage, thereby allowing everyone to leave peacefully.

Act II[edit]
Don Carlos had overheard Sol and Hernani's plans to run away together, and accompanied with
some aristocratic friends he appears at the rendezvous point, hoping to seduce Sol in Hernani's
place. Doa Sol recognizes him and rejects him. Infuriated, Don Carlos attempts to abduct her. As
Don Carlos and Doa Sol struggle over a dagger, Hernani arrives with his own sixty men having
overtaken the king's three friends. He explains his hatred for the king over the death of his own
father, and challenges Don Carlos to a duel. This time, the King is aware of Hernani's identity as a
bandit, and he refuses a duel (as only noblemen could duel), but challenges Hernani to murder him.
Hernani's sense of honor prevents him from attacking a man who won't fight back. The King
escapes, and sends his men to arrest Hernani and his band of thieves. Hernani escapes after a
farewell to Doa Sol.

Act III[edit]
Doa Sol and Ruy Gomez prepare for their wedding, and hear news that Hernani's men have all
been murdered. Hernani arrives at the house in disguise, and Ruy Gomez takes him in as a guest.
Hernani apparently suicidal reveals his identity and tries to provoke the servants to arrest him,
but Ruy Gomez still insists on protecting him. Hernani admonishes Doa Sol for agreeing to the
marriage, but when she reveals that she plans to kill herself on the wedding night, he has a change
of heart and encourages her to accept the match. Ruy Gomez is appalled to learn of Sol and
Hernani's relationship, considering it a betrayal of his hospitality, but he still continues his protection.
The King arrives to arrest Hernani, but Ruy Gomez refuses to surrender him, citing laws of
hospitality, which, he asserts, protect his guests even from the King. The King threatens Ruy Gomez,
and Doa Sol intercedes for him. The King forgives Ruy Gomez but abducts Doa Sol. Alone, Ruy
Gomez releases Hernani, initially intending to fight him to the death; but when Hernani learns of
Doa Sol's abduction he insists on trying to rescue her and promises to surrender himself to Ruy
Gomez after Sol is safe. Hernani secures his promise by giving Ruy Gomez a horn to blow to
announce the moment when Hernani should die.

Act IV[edit]
Two months later, in June 1519, in Aachen (capital of the Holy Roman Empire), Don Carlos is
awaiting the results of the imperial election while thwarting a conspiracy; among the conspirators are
Don Ruy Gomez and Hernani. The latter, appointed to assassinate the king, refuses to give way to
Don Ruy Gomez, who nevertheless asks him to break the pact. Don Carlos is elected emperor. He
pardons the conspirators and announces the marriage of Doa Sol to Hernani. Hernani reveals his
true identity: he is John of Aragon, noble but born in exile; and he abandons his idea of revenge.

Act V[edit]
Sol and Hernani are married, but, as they enjoy their wedding feast, Hernani hears the call of the
horn blown by Ruy Gomez. As Hernani is about to drink poison, Doa Sol enters the room and tries
to convince him that he is hers and he does not have to listen to her uncle. She is unable to
persuade him otherwise. Doa Sol, shocked by Hernani's decision to kill himself, drinks the half of
the poison. Hernani drinks the other half and they die in each other's arms. Ruy Gomez de Silva kills
himself.

Characters[edit]
Role

Description

Hernani

Son of the recently murdered king, in love with Dona Sol.

Dona Sol de Silva

In love with Hernani, but betrothed to Gomez.

Don Carlos

The king of Spain, also in love with Dona Sol.

Don Ruy Gomez de Silva

Duke of Pastrana, Dona Sol's uncle and her fianc.

Don Carlos is a fictionalized version of the real King Carlos I, later Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.
Don Ruy Gomez de Silva, Duke of Pastrana, gets his name from an actual duke by that name,
though the fictional version is an old man in 1519 whereas the real de Silva would have been a
toddler at this date. Hernani's name comes from a Basque town where Hugo once stayed.[4]

References[edit]
1.

Jump up^ Today in Literature: Hugo, Hernani, Hero

2.

Jump up^ Victor Hugo: Les Misrables From Page to Stage

3.

Jump up^ Houston 1974, p. 53.

4.

Jump up^ https://books.google.com/books?

id=HCtFixB0vx0C&lpg=PA29&ots=sKw0uJURNd&dq=hernani%20hugo
%20town&pg=PA29#v=onepage&q=hernani%20hugo%20town&f=false

Easton, Malcolm. Artists and Writers in Paris: The Bohemian Idea, 18031867. New York: St.
Martin's Press, 1964
Houston, John Porter (1974). Victor Hugo. New York: Twayne Publishers.

Houston, John Porter (1974). Victor Hugo, Revised Edition. New York: Twayne Publishers.
1988

Miller, Richard. Bohemia; the Protoculture Then and Now. Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1977.

Porter, Laurence M.. Victor Hugo. Ed. David O'Connell. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1999.