SOURCE: “An essay on Becquer's La Ajorca de oro,” in Romance Notes, Vol. 13, No. 2, Winter, 1971, pp. 276-79.

In the following essay, Fedorchek discusses imagery in Becquer's “La Ajorca de oro.”

“La ajorca de oro” is the story of a sacrilege committed in the cathedral of Toledo. The protagonists are the beautiful María and her lover, the superstitious and valiant Pedro. María is irresistibly attracted to a gold bracelet on the arm of the statue of the Virgin. Pedro, fully aware that he will be violating the patroness of the city, contrives to be alone in the cathedral, makes off with the bracelet, and goes mad as a consequence of his act.

This leyenda has many of the traits common to Bécquer's other tales: the almost ineffable beauty of the poet's eternally beautiful woman (“El rayo de luna”); the lover, drawn to this woman and driven...