Carmen

Act I

A square in Seville
Michaela enters, seeking Don Jose, for whom she bears a message from his mother. However, there is only Morales, because the brigadier Don Jose and the officer Zuniga are in command of the guard moment. As the noon strikes, the guard is relieved, and the women start coming out of the cigarette factory for a lunch break. Carmen is among them. She passes, flirting with all the men, and then, on her way back to the factory, tosses a flower to Jose.

Michaela returns, gives Jose the letter and his mother’s kiss, and he sends her home with loving messages. Suddenly, a riot breaks out at the factory. Carmen, who in a fit of rage has stabbed a girl, is arrested, and has her arms tied to prevent further mischief. Don Jose has to escort her to prison. Once alone with Don Jose, Carmen most seductively pleads for her release. He finally unties her hands, agrees to meet her at the house of Lillas Pastia, and connives at her escape.

The House of Lillas Pastia

Having spent two months in the military prison for his fault, Don Jose finds Carmen at Lillas Pastia’s, where she has been having a good time with his superior Zuniga, a band of Gypsy smugglers, and a toreador Escamillo. Carmen coquets with him, and urges him to run away with her and join the smugglers. Zuniga returns and orders Jose back to the barracks, reproaching Carmen for preferring a mere brigadier to an officer. Jealous, Jose denounces his superior, and they are about to fight, when suddenly the Gypsies disarm and bind Zuniga. Jose prefers joining them with Carmen to avoid another term in prison.

Act 2

The Smuggler’s camp

Carmen has tired of Jose, and wishes to rejoin the toreador. She tries to tell fortunes by cards, finding her death foreshadowed. Escamillo, who has found her retreat, comes to claim her, but is obliged to fight Jose. They are separated by the Gypsies, and Escamillo leaves, inviting Carmen to meet him at the bull-fight in Seville. Michaela comes, telling Jose that his mother is dying of grief, and they go away together as the toreador’s song is heard in the distance.

Act 3

Entrance to the Seville bull-ring

A crowd escorts Escamillo through the gates, but as Carmen is about to enter, Jose stops her. Though warned by her Gypsy friend Frasquita that Jose intends to kill her, she has no fear, and only laughs when he pleads his love and finally threatens her. Shouts from the bull-ring announce that Escamillo has again been victorious, and Carmen, with a cry of joy, moves toward the entrance, throwing at Jose the ring he had given her. In despair and rage, he stabs her, and Escamillo, returning from the arena with an admiring throng, finds Jose kneeling beside Carmen’s corpse.