Lope through the looking-glass: metaphor and meaning in El castigo sin venganza

1979; Liverpool University Press; Volume: 56; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/1475382792000356017

ISSN

1469-3550

Autores

Janet Murray,

Tópico(s)

Historical and Literary Analyses

Resumo

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes 1. For a discussion of this controversy see C. A.Jones’ introductory notes to his edition of the play (London 1966), 9–13. All line references are to this edition. 2. ‘El castigo sin venganza, un oscuro problema de honor’, in El P. Las Casas y Vitoria (Madrid 1958), 123–52. 3. ‘Lope de Vega's El castigo sin venganza: the idolatry of the Duke of Ferrara’, BHS, XXXVII (1960), 154–82. 4. ‘Cuando Lope quiere, quiere’, CHA, nos. 161–62 (May–June 1963), 265–98. 5. Parker, art. cit., 15. 6. Cf. also 11. 174 and 694 in reference to the use of'remedio’ in the first act, and notice the irony in the prescription of marriage for the son as it had been prescribed, to such ill effect, for the father. 7. Note also that the physical ‘error’ becomes the moral ‘error’ of adultery: cf. 11. 478, 480, 485, 591-92, 1986-90, for example. Also note the irony in Aurora's explanation of Federico's tardiness, 1. 654, ‘mucho erró’. 8. Also compare these lines with Federico's denial of Aurora in Act III: Federico: No es Aurora, que es engaño. Casandra: ¿Pues quién es? Federico: El mismo sol; que desas Auroras hallo muchas siempre que amanece. (11. 1441–44) 9. Of course it is Casandra and not Federico who acts as teasing water to the fires of love, as we shall see reflected in the sea and siren images increasingly associated with her in this act, and in Batín's metaphor of the water-wheel in this act (11. 1781–86), another minor mock-image of resurrection. 10. Cf. Batin's speech in Act I (11. 256 ff.) already cited above, Casandra's mention in Act II (11. 1355 ff.) of her husband breaking his bridle like a wild horse, and see also Act III, 11. 2220 ff. where Batin relates Federico's malady to that of the bitted horse. 11. As Menéndez Pidal notes, ‘en el fondo de esta leyenda [of Phaedra] está el que Hipólito rinde culto a la casta diosa de la caza, Diana, rehusando venerar la diosa del amor Venus’ (123-24). The Phaedra story with its important implications of the stepson crashing with his chariot into the sea because of the duplicity of the enamoured Phaedra and the hasty ill-judgement of his father is a hidden allusion working as a parallel and ironic contrast (especially because of Theseus’ otherwise great reputation for justice) which never reaches the surface of the play. Also note Casandra's question in this speech, if Federico is in love with a nymph? And also, her transformation of the dangerous sea images into questions of practicality, as in the wax image transformation. 12. The intense finale of Act II beginning with Federico's sonnet (1. 179ff.) has been ably discussed by Victor Dixon (‘El castigo sin venganza: the artistry of Lope de Vega’ in R. O. Jones, ed., Studies in Spanish Literature of the Golden Age presented to Edward M. Wilson [London 1973]). Dixon's careful and penetrating analysis demonstrates absolutely the artistic control over nuances of prosody, language, and gesture which characterize the play. Dixon does not deal with the moral questions raised by the ending. But his reading of the love duet is quite consistent with my interpretation of the scene as presenting the lovers as justly damned, however glorious their love. It is hard to believe that Lope could lavish such attention upon the language of the play as Dixon demonstrates he does, and then carelessly ignore the contradictions between the title and the ending. 13. P. N. Dunn, ‘Some uses of sonnets in the plays of Lope de Vega’, BHS, XXXIV (1957), 213-22, esp. 215-17. 14. op. cit., 126. 15. Dixon (art. at., 77-80) traces the references to ‘veneno’ as part of the ‘besamanos-brazos’ pattern which emblemizes Casandra's consistent violation of the proper relationship between herself and Federico. 16. Notice the flower image here is a pathetic reminder of (a) Federico's former love for Aurora, when, as she tells Casandra in Act II, all the flowers in the garden reminded him of her and of her lips (11. 1268–72), a symbol of the naturalness of their passion, and (b) of Federico's ironic resolve in Act I not to tell Batin his incestuous thoughts (let alone act them out) until ‘habrá flores en el cielo/y en este jardín estrellas’ (11. 975–76). 17. The Marquis himself has rather a commonsensical attitude, as against Aurora's spiritual perceptiveness: ‘la muerte sola/es sin remedio invencible’, he tells her in response to her outrage. His is not a spiritual but a practical solution. Therefore his applauding of the Duke's action at the end is only that of the man glad to see an ugly situation at an end. He is not evil but neither is he deeply good because of his limited perceptions. Also, he is an emotional as well as political outsider to the situation. Aurora represents absolute goodness and perception; he is merely her worshipper and practical guide. And Aurora is shocked and silent at the end, as she was shocked by the adultery. 18. Cf. Casandra's reason for going through with the marriage despite her forebodings after meeting the Count. She fears that her father would kill her if she backed out, and, like the Duke, she does not want to be talked of all over Italy as dishonourable.

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