Heath's Modern Language Series: Tres Comedias Part 30

No explanatory or critical statements can rival the prologue. Whatever critics may decide to call it, the characters live and move, and offer amus.e.m.e.nt and food for thought to all cla.s.ses of persons.

Admirers of _Los intereses creados_ may receive a shock when they turn to the sequel, _La ciudad alegre y confiada_, in which a tone of pessimism prevails. Crispin has risen to be the ruler of the city that he had once entered as a servant, but in spite of his magnificence, his life is not as joyous as of old. Leandro is not happy as the son-in-law of Polichinela, nor even as the husband of Silvia. The protagonist of the piece is El Desterrado, a man once exiled by Crispin, but later permitted to return to the city. The play was greeted with enthusiasm, but it does not seem quite to reach the standard of its predecessor. The atmosphere is surcharged with impending disaster. In the prologue to _Los intereses creados_ it is stated that the world has aged since the days of the old farces; we may go further and state that in _La ciudad alegre y confiada_ the world of _Los intereses creados_ has grown old.

Puppet performances go back to the Italian _commedia dell'arte_ (Comedy of the Guild, Professional Comedy) which flourished especially in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries. The Italian plays were for the most part mere scenarios; the speeches were improvised by the actors. This kind of performance was peculiarly suited to the histrionic ability of the Italians, and to their genius for gestures. The _commedia dell'arte_ was received with favor in many countries of Europe, and its influence was felt by some of the greatest authors. The modern Punch and Judy show is its direct descendant.

The characters in these old comedies are mostly fixed types with fixed masks and costumes, and often fixed names, that occur, with additions, omissions, and variations, in all the plays. Some of them--notably the braggart soldier, the crafty servant, the lovers, the deceived parents, and the intermediary--are traced through the Renaissance to the comedies of Plautus and Terence and to the New Comedy of Athens, nearly all of which is lost. Others have a later origin. Benavente has achieved remarkable success in preserving the conventional traits of his figures, and at the same time in investing them with modern qualities. The more important masks in _Los intereses creados_ are listed below, with very brief notes designed to point out the usual characteristics of each, and, where necessary, certain modifications introduced by Benavente. It must not be forgotten that each character is carefully delineated both from the old and from the modern point of view.

THE CHARACTERS IN _LOS INTERESES CREADOS_

SIRENA--the elderly woman who lives by her wits and acts as a go-between in love affairs.

SILVIA--the typical heroine.

SEnORA DE POLICHINELA (Punch's wife)--frequently at odds with her husband; rather a colorless figure in _Los intereses creados_.

COLOMBINA (Columbine, fixed name)--a fairy-like dancer, represented as wooed by Harlequin.

LEANDRO--the typical hero.

CRISPiN--the crafty servant.

EL DOCTOR--the pompous, showy, corrupt man of the law.

POLICHINELA (Punch, fixed name)--one of the most prominent puppet characters, whose general qualities are hard to define; sometimes described as essentially ridiculous; very often represented as deformed and as a knave.

ARLEQUiN (Harlequin, fixed name)--a graceful and acrobatic character, sometimes supposed to be invisible and a spirit of the air; Benavente makes him a poet.

EL CAPITaN--the braggart soldier, considerably toned down in _Los intereses creados_.

PANTALoN (Pantaloon, fixed name)--a silly old man (frequently a merchant) considered a b.u.t.t of ridicule and fair game for all.

EL HOSTELERO (the Innkeeper)--generally an object of ridicule in all literature; not particularly connected with the _commedia dell'arte_.

EL SECRETARIO--a fit companion for the Doctor; not particularly connected with the _commedia dell'arte_.

[39.1] =primer termino.= See the following diagram for this and other stage directions.

(The directions =derecha= and =izquierda= are given from the standpoint of the actors, not from that of the audience; they are feminine to agree with =mano=, understood.)

C F ________________________ / / B / E / A / D

A--D: =proscenio= = front. (The part of the stage between its outer edge and the curtain.)

A--B: =primera derecha= = front, right.

B--C: =segunda derecha= = back, right.

D--E: =primera izquierda= = front, left.

E--F: =segunda izquierda= = back, left.

A--D--E--B: =primer termino= = foreground.

C--F: =foro= = rear, back.

[39.2] =el tinglado de la antigua farsa=. In general, the language of _Los intereses creados_ is modern; but by the use of well-chosen archaisms Benavente imparts to this play something of the spirit of the period in which the events are supposed to take place. The action of the piece is a.s.signed to the beginning of the seventeenth century.

[39.3] =el Puente Nuevo= _le Pont-Neuf_ (literally 'the New Bridge'). One of the oldest and most famous bridges in Paris; for a long time the most frequented spot in the city.

[39.4] =Tabarin.= a.s.sumed name of Jean Salomon (c. 1584-1633), a celebrated street actor who gave performances in Paris, thereby winning lasting fame and attracting the attention of famous French authors; the name is adopted as a type of farcical comedian.

[39.5] =que.= Used instead of =porque= to mean 'for' or 'because'; it occurs repeatedly in this sense in _Los intereses creados_, and is, in general, common in all sorts of language, particularly in poetry; but =porque= more strongly expresses the idea of cause, whereas this =que= expresses an additional fact without stressing that fact as a cause.

[40.1] =que.= See preceding note.

[40.2] =Lope de Rueda.= A famous itinerant actor-manager and playwright of the middle of the sixteenth century; he is regarded as the founder of the modern Spanish theater.

=Shakespeare.= Linked with the old farces by such works as _A Midsummer Night's Dream_.

=Moliere.= Influenced, particularly in his early plays, by the _commedia dell'arte_.

[40.3] =guinolesca=. An adjective formed from the Spanish =guinol= derived from the French _guignol_, meaning 'Punch' or 'the theater of Punch.'

[40.4] =comedia del Arte.= See page 118.

[40.5] =italiano.= We should expect =italiana=, in agreement with =comedia=; either =italiano= is a misprint, or it is attracted by the gender of the masculine =Arte=.

[40.6] =ninerias.= See page 7, note 3.

[41.1] =diga.= Subjunctive on account of the general command involved in the stage directions, which makes the relative clause indefinite.

[41.2] =en... dado.= The vocabulary should be examined whenever =dar en= occurs. Not only does this idiom mean 'hit upon,' 'chance upon,' or 'strike,' but it may also signify 'take a notion to.'

[41.3] =Picardia.= A noun of double meaning; as a common noun =picardia= denotes 'knavery' or 'roguery,' and as a proper noun =Picardia= is the name of an old province in Northern France centering in the valley of the Somme, and called Picardie (Picardy). In the thirteenth century there sprang up in Picardy a sect of heretics who became known as _les picards_, which came to mean 'rogues,' 'oath-breakers,' etc. Francois Villon alludes to them, and they were widely known.

[41.4] =asiento.= Another play on words, for =asiento= means 'seat' or 'bench'; hence the reference to the hardness of a seat in the galleys; =hacer asiento= is 'make a stop' or 'halt'; the pun is scarcely translatable.

[42.1] =que=, =malvendiendolos= (freely translated) 'when, by selling them (even) at a loss.' Here =que= may be taken as a relative p.r.o.noun, direct object of =malvendiendo=; in this case =los= repeats =que=. Or we may a.s.sume that =que= is a relative p.r.o.noun having no grammatical connection with what follows (_i.e._ the phenomenon known as anacolouthon). This =que= might also be considered a conjunction introducing an additional statement that amounts to an objection ('but,' 'for,' 'when'). In any case the general meaning of the sentence is clear.

[42.2] =desabrido.= See page 11, note 4.

[42.3] =Somos los hombres= 'We men are'; see page 31, note 4.

[42.4] =asi.= Used as a conjunction; see vocabulary.

[44.1] =Que ella... sea.= 'May it be.' A modified imperative expressing a wish. Cf. page 3, note 2.