Lope de Vega and 17th-Century Theater
Lope de Vega
Item 9. Lope de Vega
Lope de Vega was a passionate figure in the literary life of his time. His love life was intense, his religiosity led him to become a priest, and he had very influential friends.
Works
- Poetry: Rhymes
Rhymes is a compilation that includes poetic texts, most notably sonnets.
- Narrative: Notable works include the pastoral novel Arcadia and the Byzantine novel The Pilgrim in His Own Country. Arcadia describes court life in Alba de Tormes. The Pilgrim in His Own Country is an adventure novel.
Lope de Vega’s Theater
The New Comedy
Lope de Vega authored several mystery plays, such as The Heavenly Heir, but comedy was the most representative genre of his plays.
Comedy is a genre that emerged from the union of the Italian commedia dell’arte and Spanish Renaissance Theater. Lope added his sensitivity to public taste.
Features of Lope de Vega’s Comedy:
- Union of the tragic and the comic, and the popular with the noble.
- Breakdown of the rule of three unities of classic theater.
- Use of various types of poems.
- Creation of situations of intrigue.
Characters:
- They function as archetypes.
- They are stereotyped without a complex psychological profile, appearing repeatedly in different works. These include the king, the lover, the lady, the fool, and the powerful villain.
17th-Century Theater
Item 10: The Seventeenth-Century Theater
In Europe:
- Shakespeare: His work encompasses almost all genres of drama: historical drama (Richard III), comedy (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), and tragedy (Romeo and Juliet, Othello, and Hamlet).
- Molière: In his works (Don Juan, The Miser, and The Imaginary Invalid), the psychological construction of the characters and the social satire of common services stand out.
In Spain:
1) The Text: Baroque theatrical works adopted changes in literature. Any topic could be the subject of Baroque theater. What is relevant is that there is an absolute Hispanization of content. Regarding form, the theater insists on rejecting the rules and classical language, which causes the following effects:
- Plays, without the limits of the classic unities, suffer imaginative debauchery.
- Conceptism and culteranismo usually complicate the language.
- Ideological and doctrinal intent.
2) The Drama: The theater began to compete with other shows and caused changes in representation and scenery:
- The emergence of corrales de comedias, which were courtyards of houses.
- The scenery was evolving to achieve stunning visuals.
The School of Lope de Vega
Calderón de la Barca learned from Lope de Vega and Tirso de Molina.
Tirso de Molina:
- Life: He was a Mercedarian priest who was forbidden to write on moral and political grounds.
- Work: His work shows a sense of humor, a virtuoso handling of language close to conceptism, and character creation.
Works According to Theme:
- Historical Drama: Prudence in Woman
- Religious Works: The Best Revenge, The Threshing Woman, or Herod.
- Moral Works: Condemned for Unbelief, The Trickster of Seville and the Stone Guest.
- Comedy of Intrigue: The Bashful Man at Court or The Love Doctor.
Calderón de la Barca:
- Life: He was an official court playwright. His character became disillusioned and pessimistic. Upon becoming a priest, he turned to writing religious works.
- Work: In his work, there are two different styles: a realistic style, close to that of Lope de Vega, as seen in The Phantom Lady, and a poetic and symbolic style, as in The Great Theater of the World.
Works According to Theme:
- Swashbuckling Comedy: The Phantom Lady
- Auto Sacramental: The Great Theater of the World
- Philosophical Dramas: Life is a Dream
- Dramas of Honor: The Mayor of Zalamea