Bullfights 

I have had for some time a fascination with bullfights. Now I have never seen a bullfight, merely snippets of one on TV. Ernest Hemmingway was a devotee of the “sport” and had written a bit about them but I cannot say that I actually read any of his writings on the matter.

In Mexico and in Portugal a rather tame version of bullfighting exists in which the matador does not actually kill the bull at the climax to the event. The Portuguese make it a point of differentiation between themselves and their Iberian neighbours, Spain, that they do not kill the bull.

Now I do not have a real good handle on the actual conduct of a bullfight but I understand it goes something like this.

The bull enters the ring and is of course confused by the roaring crowd. Hence he dashes about for a while. Then a number of people on foot enter the ring and perhaps tease the bull which then chases them around for a spell. They duck behind fences near the perimeter of the ring and on rare occasions one of the footmen gets gored or trampled. It is all pretty exciting as the footmen sometimes scramble into the grandstand to escape the angrier and angrier bull.

Some of the footmen stick little barbed lances into the bull’s back and neck. This of course makes the bull angrier. These chaps are called “picadors” I believe.

After a spell of this one (or several) mounted horsemen enter the ring and either, chase or are chased by the bull. The houses have a sort of quilted amour on them to minimize injuries I guess. The odd time the bull gets lucky and upends a horse to the delight of the rabble.

These mounted riders will “lance” the bull and cut some of the muscles on the bull’s neck. This results in a fair amount of blood flowing around. This has the effect of further enraging the animal, weakening him somewhat and tiring him out a bit. It does make it more difficult for the animal to move his head quickly since many muscles are severed in this process of lancing. At this point the bull is often a bit dazed and confused and after a few more futile rushes by the bull at the horsemen the riders retire from the ring.

Then to the roar of the crowd the matador enters the ring in his splendid kit and with his cape. Now the bull which had been harried and confused by several people or horsemen in the ring is faced with one adversary.

The matador goads the bull into rushing his cape or indeed his person. The bull finds only the cape in his fury.

The matador will work the bull around this way or that and thrill the crowd by coming as close as possible to the deadly horns. On a rare occasion a matador will be gored or trampled either as a result of excessive bravado or a particularly dangerous bull managing to contact him. This keeps the whole process credible in some way.

As the bull becomes more and more weakened and more and more confused the matador will seem almost to taunt the exhausted animal and then in a moment of great drama, and to the expectant crowd a hushed and magnificent point, the matador will coax the bull to him and in a lightening stroke drive his sword into the neck and shoulder area of the bull. There is apparently a spot at which the sword can be introduced without touching any bone and will go straight to the creature’s heart and basically stop him in his tracks. This shocks the animal and he sinks to the ground in his death throes.

For a really clean kill the crowd goes wild and the matador is cheered vigorously. For a sloppy kill he is chastened I guess.

A highly successful fight will end up with the matador being awarded the ears and tail of the bull as trophies.

The carcass is towed from the arena and given to the poor as I understand it.

As far as I can make out that is the mechanics of a bullfight. Two serious questions arise:

First; how can a civilized nation and EU member like Spain continue to stage this spectacle in a hundred arenas every weekend without the protest that our seal hunt attracts? After all we do not torture the animals in question. Is it just that their government claims this activity is a cultural practice and no one else’s business? Is it because seals are wild animals (“charismatic megafauna?”) while bulls are domestic animals?

Second; a far more profound question…What is really going on here on a deeper psychological or cultural level? Just what is a bullfight?

I think I know. I think a bullfight is like a Medieval Mystery or Morality Play. I think the whole thing is an allegory very deeply rooted in the human psyche but not elaborated elsewhere as clearly and cogently as it is in Spain.

It is the saga of “Man against Nature”. What is the bull? A powerful symbol of strength, virility, danger, wildness and Nature untrammelled and threatening.

So lets us see what happens allegorically in the above sequences of the bullfight. The bull rushes into the arena and is effectively a “dragon”. (Nature wild and dangerous.)  The numerous footmen are the “villagers”. They attempt to subdue or chase away the dragon but are overcome in spite of their numbers. Their little spears are useless against the might of the dragon. They are powerless and are pursued and run off before the power of the Beast.

The horsemen are “Knights”, noble men at arms. They are mounted and carry lances, definite symbols of medieval status and the military class in antiquity. They are brave and skilled but even their efforts, though they can harm or wound the dragon, are insufficient to destroy the dragon and save the village, and they too are eventually driven off by the dragon.

Finally the “hero” the lone brave man, St. George in English myth, enters the lists to save the “villagers” from the dragon. He does so with skill and panache, his costume is utterly different than the garb of others to help set him apart as special.

He alone, the brave man is the one who can subdue Nature and conquer the Dragon.

The whole thing is a reflection of Western European psyche arising from ancient myth and re-enforced by the Genesis exhortation to subject Nature to man’s will.

Perhaps my interpretation is flawed but I would really like to see a bullfight and watch both what is going on in the ring and in the crowd.

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