But is that why they do it? I have always understood they do it to get the bull’s fury aroused. Same with the guy who places the barbed sticks.
Now, I’m not a bullfight enthusiast. I have never seen one except on films. I have also read James Michener’s explanation of bullfighting. The following strikes us a strange. It would strike some as cruel. But it makes sense on its own terms.
The bulls are specially bred for aggressiveness. If done properly, the function of the horsemen and the guy who places the barbs is to arouse that aggressiveness. The whole purpose of the whole thing is to exemplify excellence…both that of the men and that of the bull. Death and suffering are simply part of that exemplification…both for the men and for the bull.
The matador’s early passes serve three purposes. First to assess the bull; particularly his best qualities. Does he show excellence in attacking from a distance, or perhaps from up close? Are his legs strong enough to sustain distance charges. Is his excellence perhaps more in the way he hooks at the matador? Perhaps in the way he raises his head at a pass. Is the bull brave or only reckless? The matador then decides which passes also exemplify his own best qualities. Is the matador good at close passes? Can he “wrap the bull around his own body” in a slow pass, to show his own best qualities as well as that of the bull? Finally, he actually trains the bull to do those things that best show the bull’s prowess; his most dramatic and attractive moves, as well as his own.
In the end, the matador risks death the closest he will come in the ring, probably. The most celebrated final pass is when the matador kills the bull “recebiendo” or “receiving”. The matador plants his feet and does not move them for the final charge. He has trained the bull by then to charge at his signal. At the last split second, the matador deceives the bull to pass his horns as close to the matador’s body as possible without impaling him, but to simultaneously impale himself on the matador’s sword, which goes right to the bull’s heart if done properly. Death is immediate, and any matador who does a sloppy job of any of it is dishonored and will not last long in the “profession”.
We can say it’s a primitive thing. It’s almost like the “aristeia” of the ancient Greeks…to fight well and gracefully and to die well. To demonstrate courage and excellence in a duel to the death. We see the remnants of Minoan paintings and murals and see those people and those bulls doing something very similar. We admire the excellence of the bull in those paintings; his musculature and grace, and the prowess of the gymnasts who take a charge full on and somehow grasp the horns and vault themselves over the back of the bull. Same thing. Nowadays, we have little girls spinning on vaulting horses at the risk of broken necks. And we admire it because we don’t see the deadliness in it. Those who watch bullfights do see it.
Primitive. But those Spanish people conquered a continent with a bravery and a fortitude from which most of us are so distant we do not see the least merit in it. Those people sustained a horrendous civil war and produced many martyres and heroes as well as villains. To this day, little Spanish boys go out and fight heifers of that fighting breed, risking life and limb just to do it. Few of them ever become matadors, just like few of our Little Leaguers ever become big league players. And yet, it’s potentially deadly, even with a near-grown heifer. It’s a different way of thinking. We do see a bit of it every year on TV when they run with the bulls at Pamplona. It’s crazy, we think. Pointless. Yet they do it. They do it to show what they call “pundonor”, which is equivalent to “honor”, and “gracia”, equivalent to “grace” or “excellence”.
We latter-day inheritors of Anglo-Saxon culture don’t think in that way, and we think of it as alien, remote, cruel. Except for circus performers (most of whom aren’t of our culture anyway) we don’t get into rings with deadly animals. We see cattle in a field, and we don’t realize or even think what excellent creatures they really can be; the prowess and deadliness all but an occasional rancher who makes a mistake never know anything about.
I’m not pushing bullfighting here. I am only encouraging others to at least try to understand it better, as I did after reading up on it.
My guess is that most bullfighters come from rural backgrounds. Most people who hunt deer, quail, etc. probably have done so since their youths. Would I be right in saying that bullfighters & hunters do so because of upbringing 
Some had said that the image of Hitler as a vegetarian who loved dogs & children was propaganda used by Josef Goebbells & other Nazis to make Hitler look kind & gentle. Germany (later Austria after Anschluss) did pass animal welfare laws which were advanced for it’s time during the Nazi period-such as laws regarding humane hunting, protecting the eagle (Eagle perched on Swastika was national symbol) & the Germans were advanced when it came to veterinary science during the time of the Nazis. The wolf & the eagle were the 2 animals which were prominent in Nazi themes. There’s also the Wolf’s Lair, Eagle’s Nest & Seawolves was sometimes used when referring to the Nazi naval campaign.