In the wake of its first performances, Pierre Corneille’s Le Cid provoked a critical debate in which, among other criticisms, detractors of the play dismissed the Infante as a superfluous character. Scholarship on Le Cid has responded periodically to this criticism, and often has sought to justify the Infante’s role by portraying her dilemma as a mirror of the central conflict. This article offers an alternative reading. Rather than echoing the conflicts of Chimène and Rodrigue, the Infante’s role as spectator of the main plot functions as a form of social commentary, supplying a critique of the culture of surveillance and strict social codes that characterized the court of Louis XIII. I will argue that in addition to underscoring the oppressive nature of the seventeenth-century French court, the Infante’s role resonates with the particular circumstances of Anne d’Autriche. The passivity of the Infante, and her isolation from the primary plot structure, work together to stimulate an identificatory response from the audience. This reading lends additional insight into the belated efforts of Richelieu to undermine the popularity of Le Cid.