Carmen (1845) novella by Prosper Mrime - Essay Example

There are several attitudes being brought up by the author and though they seem contradicting to some extent, it reflects the changes in the thought pattern of the author in the three parts of the novella and even in the appendix. These attitudes include but are not limited to: disdain, attraction, detachment, romanticism and roguish attitudes. Some of these attitudes are more evident and pronounced in the novella and specific for particular genders. The attitude of disdain of the author in the appendix is evident where he describes the facial features and ugliness of the Gypsies.

According to his description, they are incomparable even to the dustiest, greasiest and most unkempt mane. This repulsiveness of their looks which according to him become worse as the individual ages can be said to be a reflection of the description of Don Jose Navarro whom the author meets in part one of the novella. He is a robber but that is not enough to make the author describe him as such (Merimee, 1989). He is not the only one that the author criticizes about his looks because he does the same even for women.

Even the seemingly beautiful Carmen (whose looks are described as good looking because she is young) is described as a witch by the author. This attitude is brought about by the fact that the Gypsy women are described by the authors as people dealing with illicit and secret dealings and those not involved in these dealings have their own mysterious associations with such women and that is evident in the author’s description of Carmen. The other attitude and thought of the author in the appendix and that is evident in the novella is romanticism.

This involves impractical romantic ideals that the characters of the novel and the other gypsies in general have. According to the author, when courting a girl, she will prefer being given piasters by the man instead of gold. They also seem to be involved with the “bad boys” and that seems a good romantic deal. According to part three of the novella where Don Jose tells his story to the author, Carmen has always been involved romantically with the “bad boys” who are bandit members and even killers.

The men on the other hand have their own romanticism ideologies intertwined with violence. Don Jose for example resorted to kill Carmen’s husband in order to show that he is more violent and even more deserving of Carmen’s love instead of that husband and even forces Carmen to get married to him and even further kills other men whom Carmen seems to flirt with because of jealousy. According to the author, it is this romanticism thought that finally leads Don Jose to kill even Carmen (Merimee, 1989).

Other than the two attitudes and thoughts mentioned above, Merimee who is the author also indicates the attitude of the gypsies being detached. According to the appendix, this roguish attitude also leads to them being roguish. A perfect example of this is drawn from part two of the novella soon after Merimee meets Carmen. After the initial encounter of the two, Carmen seems fascinated by the repeating watch of Merimee. As a pretense, she invites him over to her house to tell him his fortune (one of the illicit and secret behaviors that the gypsy’s women commonly engage in and which are a fraudulent way to extort people of their money, most of whom are too dumb, ignorant or distressed to realize).

Merimee having been fascinated by the