Gestualidad en el Cantar de Mio Cid: Gestos públicos y modestia

Abstract

This article examines the problem of gesture in CMC in two complementary perspectives: the fundamental character of mesura (moderation) that the Cidian critique has always perceived in this hero, and the description of the use of certain objects and clothing. The question of gesture in medieval culture has already gone through a long lifetime of historical and literary research. The purpose of this combination of clothing and gesture in CMC, is the spectacular display in order to provoke, through certain bodily "signals", an attitude of admiration. On the other hand, some resemblance may be established between mesura and monastic prescriptions on gestical behaviour, which indicate, according to Schmitt, the mentality of the whole twelfth-century society. The modestia/ gesticulatio opposition, which can be identified in CMC, may be equaled to mesura/ desmesura, the axis according to which are arranged the positive and negative characters in the poem.