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Mythological and Other Classical Allusions in The Theatres of Tirso, Alarcon and Vélez

1958; Auburn University; Volume: 10; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/boc.1958.0005

1944-0928

Gerald E. Wade,

Historical and Modern Theater Studies

O fuese alguna cuitada herida de mal francés, que me hiciese andar después, por un hora de posada, muerto dos años o tres?6 Nevertheless, notwithstanding their suspicions both allow themselves to be persuaded, and are led into two regally furnished rooms where they are offered sumptuous refreshments . While in Bandello's short story it is the woman who first asks to hold the hand of her new lover, and the secret rendezvous are carried on for seven years until the death of the young man, in the comedia the request comes from the male sector and the rendezvous (we are informed) are repeated only six or seven times. Only one meeting is described in the novella-, in the comedia, on the other hand, through the medium of amplification , the meeting that takes place in the second act is renewed in the third when the widow identifies herself and the conventional cape and sword marriage follows. A number of minor points might have been further adduced to enlarge the above comparison without adding materially to our proof. But from what we have given it is clear that contrary to the affirmation of Schaeffer and Kohler, Lope not only adopts the fundamental "noyau dramatique" of the Italian short story, he also incorporates in his comedia practically all of the essential elements that it contains. Perhaps in no other play does Lope show himself so indebted toward his model. NOTES 1 Cf. Novellieri Italiani: Matteo Bandello. Parte Seconda. Firenze, 1833, p. 762. 2 Loe. cit., p. 762. 3 See BAE, XXIV, p. 70. 4 Loe. cit., p. 70. 5 Op. cit., pp. 763-64. 6 Op. cit., p. 73. It appears from the parallels just cited that Lope was directly utilizing Bandello in an Italian text rather than in the translation by the pseudo-Bellforest. This tends to give confirmation to a similar statement made by C. H. Leighton, "La Fuente de la Quinta de Florencia" Nueva Revista de Filología Hispánica, X, 1956, p. 3, note 9. Mythological and Other Classical Allusions in The Theatres of Tirso, Alarcon and Velez by Gerald E. Wade, University of Tennessee Some years ago, Miss Jessie Velma Davis did a Master's thesis on the "Mythological and Other Classical Allusions in the Theater of Tirso de Molina." Shortly thereafter, a similar study was made by Miss Eva Bessie Veynar for the theaters of Ruiz de Alarcón and Vêlez de Guevara.1 Neither thesis was published. Although they are too long to have adequate summary here, perhaps a brief account may be of interest. Miss Davis's Introduction explains that her catalogue of allusions concerns the names of geography, history, literature and art that are found in Greek and Roman men of letters from the earlier days to the time of the later emperors of the west.2 She points out that her list may serve as a partial measure both of their authors' familiarity with classic lore and of the extent of playgoers' understanding of it. She further suggests the possibility that her catalogue might be useful in helping to determine the authorship of doubtful plays. Her allusions w.ere taken from eighty plays either surely from Tirso's pen or attributed to him. The allusions total 283 different items, a rather imposing number . Listed in alphabetical order, the items range from Acates to Zopiro. For each item there is offered the probable classical source of Tirso's knowledge about it, a modern source reference wherein the item may be identified and explained, and the item's location by page and line number in the play or plays where it is found. In its form, Miss Veynar's catalogue of the allusions in the drama of Alarcon and Vêlez follows that of Miss Davis exactly. Miss Veynar examined twenty-seven plays for Alarcon and fifteen for Vêlez (this of course 6 represents only a part of Vélez's total production ). The allusions total 252 different items. In an Appendix, Miss Veynar compiled a table showing the number of times each allusion was made by Alarcon and Vêlez; utilizing the Davis thesis, she also included a...