The Poem of the Cid is an example of a literary genre known as the heroic epic. Other examples of this popular genre range from Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey to the story of Gilgamesh and its influence stretches from the medieval romances of Arthur and Roland to the trilogies of Luke Skywalker and Frodo on the big screen. Where the epic heroism of El Cid differs most substantially from other heroic epics is in its much more significance reliance upon factual events
The brave knight upon which El Cid is based did actually exist and even more unlikely is that many of the great events described in the poem actually took place. In fact, a very strong argument can be made that though the historical events which took place are not exactly factually recreated for the poem, The Poem of the Cid may can actually be argued to be more historically accurate than, say, Oliver Stone’s film JFK. Of course, that argument is highly dependent upon what one actually means by “historically accurate.”
While Stone’s film about the assassination of JFK brilliantly recreates historical events which can actually be checked for authenticity with filmed versions of the original, it relies upon distortions, half-truth, unsubstantiated theories, manipulation of details and in some cases outright lies to supports its underlying thematic foundation. By contrast, The Poem of the Cid ignores basic common sense to heighten and intensify the heroic aspect of its story—such as the idea that a few thousand soldiers are capable of overcoming an opposition which outnumbers them more than tenfold—but situates those individual moments within a solid foundation of socio-political historical authenticity to place those more fictionalized heroic deeds within context. The poem depends most heavily upon the historical record for recreating the milieu in which the Cid performed his actual deeds.
Rather than merely taking a larger-than-life hero and setting him down into a situation requiring displays of courage, intelligence, valor and unceasing heroism simply by virtue of that character being inherently endowed with a heroic character, the Cid’s epic heroism organically grows out of and is divulged to occur as a response to the underlying cultural tensions taking place at the time. El Cid becomes a hero of the people because he arises in a certain place at a certain time when the Spanish economy was transforming and creating new opportunities for more people to enjoy a better life at the very same time that cultural conflict between Christians and Moors were intensifying the obstructions to realizing those awakening possibilities.
While the individual historical events which give the Cid his chance to display heroism may be presented in a manner far removed from any actual historical fact, the presentation of the underlying historical forces at work creating the need and opportunities for those acts of heroism are surprisingly accurate—and even more surprisingly essential—to the construction of the poem.
