“Lope is like ten brilliant minds inhabiting one body. An attempt to enclose him in any formula is like trying to make one pair of boots to fit a centipede”, said Ezra Pound in The Spirit of Romance. Lope de Vega (1562-1635) is renowned in Spanish literature on a level only second to Miguel de Cervantes, for both his literary prolificacy and the sheer volume of work he produced in his lifetime. He is the author of approximately 1,800 plays and hundreds of other dramatic pieces, of which it is claimed that he wrote five comedies in two weeks. This makes it even more impressive to examine the quality of his work, given his admittance that many of them were written in haste. Perhaps what he is best known for is the establishment of ‘comedias’ in their three-act form, which was a bold leap forward from the predominant traditionalist styles of his peers. Lope de Vega was fluent in Latin and Spanish by the time he was five years old, which is unsurprising given his propensity for the defence of Latin and old Castilian, in his belief that he was a ‘pure’ Spaniard and there was a necessity to differentiate between classes of education. Lope de Vega was nicknamed by Cervantes as “the phoenix of wits” and “monster of nature” because of his extraordinary productivity and extravagance of imagination.
In his personal life, Lope gained a reputation as a philanderer, with a life of tempestuous passion since his return to Madrid, where he met Elena Osorio. He developed an intensely obsessive love for her which led to heightened jealousy over her associations with the far more powerful nephew of the cardinal de Granvelle. Once Elena left Lope, he wrote such fierce defamations about her and her family, that he ended up in jail. Whilst in the middle of this heinous court case, he abducted the sixteen-year-old Isabel de Urbina, who is the subject of many of his early romance poems, and they soon married. Almost immediately after this, Lope left with the Spanish Armada for Britain in 1588, and when he returned, he spent a period of time in Valencia where he wrote a considerable number of plays and romance and ballad poetry. After his wife died in 1585, his relationship with Antonia Trillo de Armenta caused him another public court case. Around 1595, he met Micaela de Luján, whom he loved for almost twenty years, and wrote a significant amount of poetry for. Finally, he married again to Juana de Guardo, whilst continuing his affair with Micaela and trysts with others. However, it was at this point in the early 17th century that his literature began to rise to its peaks. After Juana died in 1612, Lope joined a priesthood in 1614, explaining the ecclesiastical references his work came to exhibit. This did not affect his romantic life, as he met likely his greatest love, Marta de Nevares in 1616, and was with her until her death in 1632. Further tragedy ensued in 1635 with the death of Lope’s son, and abduction of his daughter, all eventually culminating in Lope’s own tragic end in August of that same year.
Lope’s playwrighting underwent a transformation from its beginnings as imitations of Greek tragedies, to this tragicomic style which was eventually given the moniker “comedia”. In his artistic manifesto in 1609, “Arte nuevo de hacer comedias en este tiempo”, it is apparent that he made a conscious effort to disobey the rules of traditional poetry and drama, but he desired to carve out a unique path in which he could truly depict the beauty of old Castilian, which was considered to be dying out at that time, only maintained by the elites. Although it is onerous to classify the grand oeuvre that Lope cultivated, both due to its magnitude and range, many of his most illustrious works were ‘cloak and dagger’ dramas, involving elements of espionage and romantic intrigue. Examples of this are “El perro de hortelano”, “El castigo sin venganza”, and “El maestro de danzar”. “El perro de hortelano” demonstrates the idle problems of aristocracy through the Countess Diana’s haughty behaviour, but also the complications of the social class hierarchy, in which Diana’s love for her secretary, Teodoro, must prevail over the countless noble suitors that she rebukes. However, in the end they do not get together by way of overcoming a challenge, instead they manipulate the system to falsify social positions. The marriage vows at the end of the play satirize the stringent class structure of the era, and the fairy tale belief that true love always triumphs. It is the action of embellished language and circumlocution which defines the differences between emotions for the sake of pretence and genuineness, which is such a prevalent theme in the romantic interconnections of the characters. Even the title portrays Lope’s multiplicity, with the relation to the European idiom of the “gardener’s dog”, a proverb about a dog who continued to guard his gardener’s cabbage patches long after the gardener died, and a clear euphemism for the situation of Diana, Marcela, and Teodoro. Modernisation of theatre was a key feature in all of Lope’s works. He integrated poetry into his plays as can be seen by the sonnet delivered as a soliloquy in “El perro de hortelano” when Diana consents to the marriage between Teodoro and Marcela. This aside is used to highlight the false emotions she must display due to the issues of status, as honour must supersede love in this instance. This is an example of one of many dramatized ballads that Lope utilised in his scripts.
One of the many reasons that Lope is so highly regarded for his playwrighting is the lack of a Spanish niche beforehand. Classical dramas can be taken all the way back to when the Greeks and Romans arrived at the Iberian Peninsula, and consequently religious dramas of the Middle Ages were not inherently Spanish. During the Renaissance, many Spaniards returned from travels in Italy with the “comedias humanísticas”, which contrast Lope heavily with their purpose of a simplistic argument, a famous example being “La Celestina” 1499. Lope’s formulation of “comedia nueva” broke away from this style of rigid separation between tragedy and comedy in a five-act structure and less characters with uncomplicated plots. He declared his independence from this by pioneering an assimilation between Spanish populism and refined classicism. His innovated dramaturgical form was dictated as three parts of a delineation, climax, and denouement. Lope’s assertation was that nature was boundless, and therefore if art is a representation of the natural world, what appears on stage should also be limitless. His incorporation of juxtapositions being able to co-exist unproblematically in art was another aspect that highly appealed to his audience. As we have established, tragedy and comedy were interwoven in a manner never seen before, and peasantry and gallantry interacted as frequently on stage as in reality. This encapsulates the ever-famous phrase “life imitates art”. It also meant that his audience did not suffer from boredom of watching never ending hours of inflexible structures and obvious storylines about unrelatable characters.
“El mejor alcalde, el rey” is a historical comedy set during the 12th century reign of Alfonso VII, and tells the story of the gentry born Sancho, who falls in love with the peasant Elvira. Immediately, one can see the similarities between this play and “El perro de hortelano”, with a class conflict already emerging. Elvira’s ethereal beauty causes the region’s overlord, Don Tello de Neira to kidnap her to his castle, meanwhile Sancho sets out on a quest for justice involving setting out to the king’s court to plead his case. Alfonso is presented as the ideal monarch and leader in his swift decision to concern himself with the issues of one of his subjects. He is also the one to reinstate Elvira’s virtue after Don Tello rapes her, showing his power over his Kingdom. This is likely reflective of Lope’s feelings on the highs and lows of the last quarter of the 16th century. Despite many regarding the late 16th and early 17th century as the Spanish “Golden Age”, one could argue that the moral and economic failures of events, such as the Armada Campaign and Phillip II’s government declaring bankruptcy, deeply embittered those who felt that the country was gambling its prosperity. A general pensive mood occupied the country at the beginning of the 17th century, in which social and economic commentary became more widespread. As many aspired to the position of “el cacique”, it created a sense of national dissatisfaction. Lope alludes to this in “El mejor alcalde, el rey”, by portraying an optimal justice system in which the protagonists’ problems are righted. As the play is set in the 12th century, it shows how such socioeconomic issues transcend time and even culture, making his plays far more than just trivial entertainment, but rather they serve a greater purpose. The lust of the powerful is eventually overcome by the passion of the humble, making it understandable as to why Lope was regarded as one of the first to write a proletariat drama in Spain.
As previously mentioned, the tragedies in the final years of Lope’s life led him to join several religious orders. During this period, he wrote almost exclusively religious works, such as “La corona trágica”, which was a poem about Mary, queen of Scots, and was dedicated to Pope Urban VIII. This embodies the puzzling nature of Lope’s randomised inspiration, which appears almost too remote in content at first glance. It is also representative of Lope’s character, as he constantly yearns to take on such momentous challenges. Perhaps it was the notoriety of “La Reine d’Escosse” which sparked his interest in theme, as he anathematised Queen Elizabeth I in a way that elicited a similar angry reaction and tensing of relations. Whilst no evidence exists that Lope saw this play, it would not be unthinkable to assume he may have, considering both the subject matter and the curiosity of the writer in question. The religious aspects of Lope’s poem can be seen through the equation of Catholicism with all things good, coming from his churchman bias. He also holds a cultural bias which is shown when he assigns names to many of the English and Scottish characters erroneously, such as Paleanto and Foresto, whose identities are left open to interpretation due to the unrecognisable names. These inclinations can be found humorous if enough contextual knowledge of Lope and Anglo-Spanish relations of the time is had.
In conclusion, Lope de Vega’s productivity and quality are both astonishing, even if exaggerated, the statistic that he claimed to have written twenty sheets on average per day is extremely impressive. He was admired by both his contemporaries and future literary critics for his establishment of “comedia” and the magnitude of his bibliography. He abolished concepts of time, place and action that were so fixedly instated by previous dramatic playwrights, and instead encouraged a degree of lyrical fluidity to flow through the drama. Lope’s absolute creative ingenuity is the making of some of the greatest and most revered works in all of Spanish literature. Praise was heaped on him by equally distinguished peers such as Cervantes who also referred to him as “the prodigy of nature”. He was also envied by Luis de Góngora and acclaimed by Franciso de Quevedo, both two more great givers to the Golden Age of Spanish literature. Many writers aim to produce such a broad and vivid oeuvre, but there exists only a gifted few who can bring it into actuality. Lope de Vega deserves such credit for revolutionising Spanish theatre and to an extent poetry, because he was able to reach the heights that all writers strive for. There is no question that he was one of the most glorious contributors to the Golden Age, and perhaps also one of the most prolific writers in literary history who can be accredited with substantial innovations and triumphs throughout his work.
By Ishyka Ahluwalia