May Day Eve by Nick Joaquin

Nicomedes Marquez Joaquin

• May 4, 1917 – April 29, 2004
• A Filipino writer, historian ,and journalist known for his short stories and novels in English language.
• Pen name: Quijano de Manila.
• “National Artist of the Philippines” for Literature.
• Considered one of the most important Filipino writers in English
Characters
• Agueda-a beautiful young woman with long dark hair. A bold and liberated girl unlike among her age.
• Badoy Montiya - a rich stereotypical, forceful man intent on proving his machonismo
• Dona Agueda - old lady who has gray hair, full of sentiments, emotional and resentful.
• Don Badoy Montiya - full of sentiment old man, who regrets the fact that he failed to show his late wife how important
she really is to him
• Agueda’s daughter - a very keen child who is close to her mother
• Voltaire-Don Badoy’s grandson, a very curious child like any other child who believes in superstition
• Anastasia-an old lady who is obedient to her mistress, believes in superstitious beliefs. A mischievous old woman, who
was called a maga.
• Other girls in the dormitory
Setting
• Place – In an unarmed place, possibly in a rural area. Room with a big hanging mirror
• Time – May of 1847; unknown time; and
1890
Plot Summary
• As Don Badoy Montiya comes home to his old home at Intramuros, Manila late at night he finds his grandson chanting
an old spell in front of a mirror, memories of his youth came back. He recalled how he fell in love with Agueda, a young
woman who resisted his advances. Agueda learned that she would be able to know her future husband by reciting an
incantation in front of a mirror. As she recited the words: “Mirror, mirror, show to me him whose woman I will be,”
Agueda saw Badoy. Badoy and Agueda got married.
• However, Don Badoy learned from his grandson that he was described by Doña Agueda (through their daughter) as a
"devil". In return, Don Badoy told his grandson that every time he looks at the mirror, he only sees a "witch" (Agueda).
Don Badoy ponders on love that had dissipated. The truth was revealed, Badoy and Agueda had a “bitter marriage”,
which began in the past, during one evening in the month of May in 1847. The tragedy of the story is Badoy’s heart
forgot how he loved Agueda in the past. They were not able to mend their broken marriage because their love was a
“raging passion and nothing more”. their broken marriage because their love was a
“raging passion and nothing more”.
Plot Diagram
Exposition
• Anastasia told the girls about the story that they would be able to know their futute husband by reading an incantation
in front of the mirror but if it goes wrong, they would see a devil.
Complication
• Agueda tried the incantaiton in front of the mirror then she saw Don Badoy. They had some Confrontaion and she
ended up biting Don Badoy’s hand because he wouldnt let her go. At the moment, he fell in love with her bu he would
still make her pay for what she did.

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 Climax
• Don Badoy told his grandson, Voltaire, that he once saw a witch in front of the mirror when he caught him doin the
incantation in front of the mirror. Amazed by what he said, Voltaire told him that his grandma once saw the devil in the
mirror.
Denouement
• Don Badoy realized that he ponders on love that had been wasted. They shared a bitter and loveless marriage. He
forgot his love for Agueda since that May day eve.
Resolution
• Don Badoy reminisced the time when he saw Agueda in front of the mirror and when he fell madly in love whith her,
that old love had been blinded by hatred, but it has now resurfaced but it’s too late because Agueda is dead.
Conflict
• The conflict within the story May Day Eve is when the protagonist, Don Badoy Montoya, hears from his grandson that
his wife, Doña Agueda, describes him as a devil. Badoy is devastated at this news and in return tells the boy that his
wife is nothing but a witch.

Theme
• The main theme that is present in May Day Eve by Nick Joaquin is magic realism, sometimes known as magical realism.
Other strong theme that is recurrent within the short story is the theme of true love.
• “Love is not just full of happiness. It also has a sad or evil side of bitterness and hate
Symbolism
• The mirror symbolizes the illusory love between Agueda and Badoy.
• The mirror symbolizes the illusion of feminist strength in young Agueda when she dealt with young Badoy fiercely
during their encounter at the sala
Point of View
Third Person Omniscient Point of View
• The story uses pronouns like he, she, it, or they. It differs from the first person, which uses pronouns such as I and me,
and from the second person, which uses pronouns such as you and yours.
• This means that the story is told from the perspective of a non-character narrator who knows and sees all, including the
private thoughts and feelings of the characters.
Important Events
• Agueda looks in the mirror during May Day eve and sees her future husband, Badoy.
• Agueda marries Badoy
• In Nick Joaquin’s May Day Eve, Agueda and Badoy’s bitter marriage all began on a May night.
• Agueda and Badoy are two, completely diverse people.
• Agueda is a girl ahead of her time. She is boldand liberated unlike most girls her age. She stands out from the broad
spectrum of conformists of her era. •Badoy, who at first comes off as a stereotypical, forceful man intent on proving his
machismo, is more of a promiscuous fellow who is used to getting his way. This is shown in how he initially treats
agueda.
• Badoy was a strong-willed young man, who just came from Europe when he met Agueda. It was the defining incident
that clearly portrayed the inner anguish of Doña Agueda in her marriage to a man she never loved. Men like Badoy had
a

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 seemingly irresistible power over the society especially to women like Agueda, enabling him to have her in the end. Agueda
was a beautiful and brave young girl who despised men like Badoy. In this light, Badoy in the story was depicted as a
representative of men abusive of their superior status.
• The short story, May Day Eve, by Nick Joaquin carefully and brilliantly depicted the status Filipino women had during in
the past. In this still seemingly patriarchal world, we are somehow forced to believe that men are superior and that
women
are just subordinate to men. This ideology was even more highlighted in the past, where women were totally deprived
of the necessary rights that men had always enjoyed. In the story, the vital issue of marriage, wherein women are
forced to marry men, was particularly portrayed.
• •Women had lost the capacity to decide and fulfill their own desires, making their lives almost meaningless. Agueda in
the story had died miserably because her life was molded into something she didn't wish. She was forced to marry don
badoy montiya because the latter had a tremendous desire for her. Her whole life was spent grieving for the situation
she can't escape.
Important Events
• Resulted to a bitter marriage
• The tragedy is not that. The tragedy is when Badoy’s heart forgets how much he felt for Agueda. The tragedy s how
both were not careful enough to mend their drifting marriage.
• An irony surfaced in the latter part of the story: Doña Agueda was telling her daughter about a devil she saw in the
mirror on a may day eve, while deep inside she means the DEVIL to be her husband.
• As with Badoy, he illustrated his WITCH to his grandson with features that were of his wife’s. This just goes to show how
each of them saw their marriage.
• Both Badoy and Agueda perceived their marriage to be a taste of hell. Instead of admitting that they saw their spouses
in the mirror, 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.
• Perhaps this was because the premise of their love was based only on raging passion and nothing more. Passion, after
all, is evanescent and transitory. Love cannot be based on passion alone. Their contrasting attributes perhaps were
what brought them together. But it could also have been

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the root of the bitterness that concluded their time together.

Social Issues
• Gender Inequality
• Filipino Superstitions
• Marriage without Love

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