Serrano, Mary Grace S.

STEM 12

08/22/16
Ms. Christina Bigcas
The Unfounded Love

Love should have no alternatives; love should be the sole reason for loving; love should
spring of itself. This is one of the famous lines of Nick Joaquin, one of the most important Filipino
writers in English. He is also a Filipino historian, journalist, and best known for historic stories and
novels. Joaquin died due to cardiac arrest on April 29, 2004 at his home in San Juan and is interred
at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. One of his famous works is May Day Eve that was published on
1947. The story May Day Eve happened in the year of 1847 on May night and it has a little blend of
horror, fantasy, and drama because of the beliefs of witch and devil as well as the relationship of
Doa Agueda and Don Badoy. Doa Agueda is a bold and young woman who strongly looks at the
mirror to find out whose woman she will be, she believed in the superstition of Anastasia and when
she looked at the mirror she saw Badoy coincidentally. They marry each other and later on fall out of
love because they both deceived their feelings and love. In marriage, love if the foundation of all.
We shouldnt force one person to love us in return instead, do something special in order
for you to feel loved and be loved back. Marriage is a sacred thing, we shouldnt neglect it also our
partner in life. In the May Day Eve, Doa Agueda and Badoy Montiya, they both lived and loved with
hate, bitterness, and regret. They believed in the superstion that whom youll saw in the mirror will be
your fate so when they saw each other in the mirror that fated night, which they are, bound to be with
each other. The tragedy is both are how both were not careful enough to fix their drifting marriage. We
must not risk our future in the conviction of fortune tellers and other superstitious beliefs. Both Badoy
and Agueda realized their marriage to be a taste of hell. The love didnt go away; it was just covered
up in the dust of time.
Aguedas character further shows the status of women while Badoy was a strong willed
young man who came from Europe when he met Agueda. It was the clarifying incident that clearly
portrayed the inner pain of Don Agueda in her marriage to a man she never loved. Men like Badoy
have seemingly irresistible power over the society especially to women like Agueda enabling him to
have her in the end. They claimed that it was the witch/devil they saw for that was probably how each
of them was to each other during their life together. Their contrasting attributes perhaps were what
brought them together. In this light, Badoy in the story was described as a representative of men
abusive of their superior status. The theme couldnt have been as visible and evident if the point of
view had not been that of a female or Agueda.
The story shows Aguedas utmost disguise in the dominance of men over them. He had
fallen deeply in love with her despite her obvious reluctance for him, and had sworn to have her no
matter what. The superiority of Badoy can be seen when Agueda finished her incantation and wanted
to pass for Badoy was barring the way instead of letting her pass he grabbed her by the wrist and
wont let Agueda pass. The story shows the reader understands of the unfortunate situation Doa
Agueda was undergoing because of Don Badoys dominance over her. Agueda recounts her
experience to her daughter and she goes on to describe her husband as the devil himself and she
said dirty, graying, and smelling horribly of tobacco.
What Agueda and Badoy failed to realize is that fate is dictated by the people involved. It is
not anything inevitable, since love cannot be forced only given or received. However, they fail to see
that it was how they saw their relationship to begin with, that caused them to be the devil/witch that
night. They chose to see the worst but in the end it can be seen that they were in love. The worst in
each other only came out when they chose to see it that way. This is a clear illustration of falling
they loved then they fell. Relationships must never be purely based on passion and infatuations.
Relationships like Badoy and Agueda never and will never be successful but it had been true love if
they didnt reassure their selves that it was really true love. Happiness comes out whenever we
choose to be happy. Life is always full of regret, for we always realize what we have when its gone.
Love was blinded and it turned into hatred.