Lies and Promises: Practical and Ethical Consequences in the Cantar de Mio Cid (Part I)

The episode of the arcas de arena in the Cantar de mio Cid has received considerable critical attention, especially regarding the possible anti-Semitic undertones of the incident or its possible comic implications. While this two-part study recognizes these and other interpretations of the episode, it deals specifically with the ethics of the Cid resorting to an elaborate ruse in which he willfully chooses to lie to Raquel and Vidas in order to obtain needed funds. The first part explores the poet's construction of the episode in which the Cid deceives Raquel and Vidas to obtain a loan of six hundred marcos. It explores the Campeador's motives for lying as well as possible audience reactions to his mendacity. It provides a close reading of the episode in which Martín Antolínez requests the loan and the moneylenders' subsequent meeting with the Cid. The incident is examined within the theological and moral teachings about deception and dishonesty contemporaneous to the composition of the Cantar.