Key Literary Genres and Dramatic Forms
Linguistic Concepts
The Passive Voice
The passive voice is formed with the verb “to be” acting as an auxiliary and the participle of the verb that is conjugated.
Nonpersonal Verb Forms
Nonpersonal forms (infinitive, gerund, and participle) lack person and number. They function like a noun, an adverb, and an adjective.
Dramatic Literary Genres
Dramatic Subgenres
Dramatic subgenres are classified into two types:
- Major: Tragedy, Comedy, and Drama
- Minor: Entremés (Interlude), Farce, etc.
Tragedy
Tragedy presents a conflict with no possible solutions. Its characters are driven by fate or by others, unable to master passions (love, hate, etc.). They face each other with great violence until the end, always destroying themselves. The ending is always catastrophic. In ancient tragedy, the characters were superior beings (gods, etc.), while in modern tragedy, they are normal characters.
Ancient Tragedy
Ancient tragedy was born in Greece during celebrations to honor Dionysus. Peasants sang hymns, which eventually introduced dialogues. A male goat was sacrificed (tragedia = goat song). The most important author was Sophocles. One of his most outstanding works is Antigone. The characters represent the great values of the individual (freedom, sense of duty, etc.).
Modern and Contemporary Tragedy
In the sixteenth century, the English playwright William Shakespeare was a major figure. Born in the village of Stratford, he was protected by nobles and went on to have his own theater company. At the end of his life, he returned to his native land. His writings include Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet.
Writers of the 20th Century in Spain:
- Federico García Lorca wrote poetry and plays. His characters are always women who fight against laws and customs that prevent them from being happy.
- Antonio Buero Vallejo is the most prominent Spanish playwright of the second half of the twentieth century. His characters seek freedom and justice, but do not find it.
Comedy
Comedy is a dramatic work that aims to entertain. It borrows its storyline and characters from everyday life and has a happy ending. Comedy was also born in Greece. The most famous ancient Roman playwright was Plautus. His works were full of slaves, soldiers, lecherous old men, prostitutes, etc.
Modern and Contemporary Comedy
The creator of French comedy was Molière, who wrote Tartuffe, criticizing hypocrisy.
To the Spanish playwright Fernández de Moratín belongs The Maiden’s Consent, where he defends the right of girls to choose a husband.
Two Spanish comedies of the twentieth century contain a bitter protest against the society which prevents people from being happy:
- The Bonds of Interest by Jacinto Benavente, which criticizes the passion for money.
- Three Top Hats by Miguel Mihura, which presents disparate situations and dialogues between a couple who must give up their love after getting to know each other the same night.
Drama
Drama is a genre somewhere between tragedy and comedy. The characters may be from high classes or ordinary people. The action usually ends in catastrophe and admits both cultured and popular language.
Spanish Drama
The masterpiece of Spanish literature is La Celestina by Fernando de Rojas, which tells the unfortunate love affair between two young people.
In the seventeenth century, Lope de Vega gave definitive form to the genre, especially dramas of honor. Honor, the most precious gift after life itself, must be punished with the death of the guilty if lost.
Pedro Calderón de la Barca followed in the footsteps of Lope de Vega. His work The Mayor of Zalamea is an example. Here, the mayor of a town executes a captain for having kidnapped his daughter.
Romantic Drama
Romantic drama highlights two dramas with a religious undertone:
- Faust by the German Wolfgang Goethe, the story of an old man who sells his soul to the Devil.
- Don Juan Tenorio by José Zorrilla, a gallant story of an unbeliever, challenger, and conqueror of men and women, who is saved by the spirit of the girl he loved just before dying.