Fuenteovejuna

The Commander controls the town of Fuenteovejuna. He considers the town to be a poor, backwater town, and he spends his time there brutalizing its citizens while demanding their affection. He thinks very highly of himself, and while he demands fierce loyalty from his own subjects, he does not extend the same sense of hierarchy to those above him, working within power structures only to exploit them in order to serve himself. He is particularly brutal to the women of Fuente Ovejuna, forcing any woman he wants to sleep with him, violently if necessary.

A citizen of Fuenteovejuna and the daughter of the mayor, Esteban. She is strong-willed and pure; the main conflict of the play arises from her refusal to sleep with the Commander. She disdains city people and dislikes men, whom she feels only want women for sex. She is impatient and forceful, and it is she who rouses the townspeople into action against the Commander.

Frondoso is another citizen of Fuenteovejuna; at the start of the play, he is Laurencia’s secret lover, and ultimately her husband. He takes the Commander’s crossbow and prevents him from raping Laurencia.