The Grotesque in Ramón del Valle-Inclán’s Bohemian Lights
The Grotesque in Ramón del Valle-Inclán’s Bohemian Lights
Esperpento and Characters
Valle-Inclán’s characters are far removed from traditional heroes. They are often drawn from the underclass and are characterized by ignorance, apathy, and moral misery. They steal, lie, and take advantage of others. Examples include the government minister, Don Latino de Hispalis, and prostitutes.
These characters are dehumanized, appearing like puppets or animalized figures. They are also depicted as idiotic, stupefied by their own selfishness and ignorance.
Spaces and Environments
The settings in Bohemian Lights are marked by dirt, darkness, and vulgarity. Spaces are messy, poorly lit, and filled with vulgar objects.
Other Literary Resources
Valle-Inclán employs a variety of literary techniques, including:
- Contrasts (between the serious and the burlesque, between misery and composure)
- Humor
- Irony
- Sarcasm
Modernism and the Generation of ’98
Bohemian Lights reflects key themes of Spanish Modernism and the Generation of ’98, including:
- The topic of Spain and its decline
- Existential concerns
- A focus on language and its expressive power
Open and Closed Spaces
The play utilizes both open and closed spaces:
- Open: The street, where Max is arrested, revolts occur, and the Catalan prisoner and the child’s mother are killed. It is also where Max dies.
- Closed: Max’s house, the Cave of Zarathustra, the Picalagartos tavern, the police station, the prison, the office of the “Impartial” newspaper, the ministry offices, and the Columbus Café.
All spaces are presented in an “esperpentizado” manner, reflecting the grotesque nature of the characters who inhabit them.
Light also plays a symbolic role, with its intensity shifting throughout the play.
Time
Scenes: Part One takes place between dusk and dawn, in dim light. Part Two takes place over approximately twelve hours (wake, funeral, cemetery, and tavern).
Historical Time: The play is set between 1910 and 1920, a period marked by the crisis of the Generation of ’98 and the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera. It features allusions to historical figures such as Antonio Maura, José Canalejas, and Alfonso XIII.
Politics and Social Reality
Valle-Inclán critiques the corruption prevalent in Spanish society. He also highlights the poverty and misery of the Spanish people, as well as their lack of ideals and appreciation for culture.
Asides
The asides in the play serve a poetic function. They blend dramatic, narrative, and lyrical elements, and are addressed directly to the reader.
Language
Language of the Characters: The language is rich and diverse, utilizing elements of oral speech (short sentences, interruptions, repetitions, questions, exclamations, and colloquialisms). It is tailored to each character’s social class and level of education.
- Educated characters use literary quotations and irony.
- Officials and subordinates employ formulaic language, poetic phrases, and official pronouncements.
- Characters from the lower classes use slang, shortened names, and popular expressions (“chilli” for police, “purple” for silly, “to hoarseness” for no money).
Language of the Stage Directions: The stage directions employ expressionistic techniques:
- Personifications (e.g., “the broom frolics”)
- Onomatopoeia and alliteration
- Vivid imagery (e.g., “face of rancid bacon”, “green snake scarf”)
- Avant-garde language (e.g., “the cricket phone in the great bureaucratic urine lap”)
- Grotesque features (dehumanization, use of stark lighting, animals on stage)
Cruelty and Horror in Valle-Inclán’s Theatre
Valle-Inclán’s drama is significant for its break with traditional aesthetics. He created a new form of drama characterized by the grotesque, exploring themes of lust, greed, and death in innovative ways.
Cruelty and horror are central to his aesthetic and ideological renewal. He became a pioneer of modern European theatre by using horror as a destructive force, often linked to the ridiculous, to create a grotesque effect that eliminates emotion.
In Valle-Inclán’s grotesque, characters are caricatured, the historical situation is distorted, and the audience is distanced from the story, creating a sense of accusation and despair.
Cruelty is a deliberate element in the behavior of many characters and permeates the atmosphere of the play.
The Grotesque, Cruelty, and Horror in Luces de Bohemia
Bohemian Lights represents the culmination of Valle-Inclán’s efforts to create a new form of drama. It employs the grotesque to expose how conservative forces impose their values and lifestyle on society.
The play highlights the social environment of the time, including Carlism, worker riots, police repression, and the role of sensationalist journalism. It depicts a chaotic and unjust society.
Cruelty and horror serve to denounce social injustice and the stupidity of those in power. Cruelty is a pervasive characteristic of Spanish society, and the grotesque aims to expose and dismantle the absurdity of the human condition.