Golden Age of Spanish Literature: Lope de Vega, Tirso de Molina, and Calderon de la Barca
Lope de Vega
A prolific writer, Lope de Vega revolutionized Spanish literature with his new art of comedy. In addition to his lyrical production, his dramatic works brought him immense fame.
Drama
Lope de Vega’s stage production is vast. Forty-two mystery plays and over three hundred comedies are preserved.
Best-Known Works
- Comedies with a national theme: Fuenteovejuna, The Knight of Olmedo
- Comedies with invented subjects: Love is the most cultivated theme in these plays, often categorized as swashbuckling comedies. Works like La dama boba (The Stupid Lady) or El perro del hortelano (The Dog in the Manger) belong to this type.
Lope’s production covers numerous other topics: religious, mythological, pastoral, historical, foreign, etc.
Style
- Lope’s writing is characterized by its naturalness and spontaneity. His verses are notable for their dramatic emotion and lyrical simplicity.
- He skillfully handles formal procedures without falling into unnecessary artifice.
- One of his greatest achievements is the integration of popular and high culture. He often uses popular songs and traditional verses integrated into a formal scheme, achieving a successful, new, and original aesthetic dimension. This style influenced numerous followers.
Fuenteovejuna
Considered one of Lope’s best works, Fuenteovejuna is based on real events set during the reign of the Catholic Monarchs. The play depicts a conflict between the people of Fuenteovejuna, Cordova, and their tyrannical governor.
Tirso de Molina
Part of Lope’s school, Tirso de Molina possessed greater originality and dramatic talent than other playwrights of his time.
Work
He wrote around eighty plays, including El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra (The Trickster of Seville and the Stone Guest) and El condenado por desconfiado (The Doubter Damned).
Style
Tirso follows the Lopensian model but writes theater with distinct traits:
- Character Creation: His deep understanding of the human soul allows him to craft characters, especially female characters, with psychological depth, making them relatable and influential role models.
- Comedy: His humor is often acerbic and critical, giving his works a satirical tone, particularly noticeable in the secondary characters.
His style is also characterized by the contrast between the long poetic interventions of the protagonists and the witty remarks of the secondary characters.
One of Tirso’s merits is his ability to unite two independent traditions in a single play: the seducer of women and the macabre dinner. This is the first work in which the legendary Don Juan appears, who, along with Don Quixote, is the most universal and popular hero of Spanish classical literature.
Calderon de la Barca
During the seventeenth century, Spanish national comedy reached its peak of perfection with the Baroque school, to which Calderon de la Barca belonged, along with others like Rojas Zorrilla and Agustin Moreto.
Work
Calderon’s plays are usually divided into two stages:
- After 1621: The first stage begins with the writing of courtly and swashbuckling comedies, such as La dama duende (The Phantom Lady) or Casa con dos puertas, mala es de guardar (A House with Two Doors is Difficult to Guard).
- Between 1630 and 1640: His second stage marks his maturity as a playwright. This decade includes:
- Great tragedies and biblical plays like Los cabellos de Absalón (Absalom’s Hair) and El médico de su honra (The Surgeon of His Honour).
- El alcalde de Zalamea (The Mayor of Zalamea)
- His greatest work: La vida es sueño (Life is a Dream), an exceptional drama about man’s freedom and the limits of social ethics or reason of state.
During this stage of creative fulfillment, a crisis arose: social unrest coincided with the closing of theaters. Calderon and other playwrights lacked spaces to stage their works. When theaters reopened, Calderon focused on refining the morality of his plays.
Style
Calderon’s style embodies the dramatic system created by Lope. Its most characteristic features are:
- Structured Order: Emphasis on the middle and end. Unity of action is enhanced by eliminating minor characters and events, concentrating everything around the protagonist.
- Stylized Speech: Calderon is known for his meticulous attention to formal aspects of language.
- Intensification of Linguistic and Scenic Resources: Calderon is the epitome of Spanish Baroque playwriting.
Life is a Dream
Life is a Dream is Calderon’s most famous play and one of the pinnacles of universal drama.
The plot and development of the action are well-known. Prince Segismundo is imprisoned from birth in a remote location in Poland, unaware of his identity or the reason for his confinement. He is raised and educated by Clotaldo, father of Rosaura. Rosaura and her servant Clarín arrive at the prison. Abandoned by Astolfo after a relationship, Rosaura travels to Poland to reclaim her honor.
In a later scene, King Basil, Segismundo’s father, explains to his court the reasons for his son’s imprisonment. A horoscope predicted that the prince would become a tyrant, and Basil wanted to test the prediction’s veracity. He brought Segismundo to the palace while asleep and woke him up, making him believe it was all a dream. Ultimately, Segismundo chooses to do good. After being freed during a rebellion, he embraces freedom and self-control, forgives his father, and prepares to be a just king. He demonstrates control over his passions by renouncing his love for the beautiful Rosaura.