Three Major Plays (6 page)

plays translated here suggest that only the main stage was used for
their performance. This said, there are several occasions when the
curtained 'discovery space' at the back of the stage might have been
used. At the end of Act One of
Fuente Ovejuna,
for example,
Frondoso could have hidden there from the Commander, as could Frondoso
and Laurencia in Act Two when her father and uncle approach. In the
final act of Punishment Without Revenge, the Duke may have hidden
there to listen to the conversation of Federico and Casandra, and
later in the act it was probably the place where "The bodies are
revealed" (3.978), the curtains being dramatically pulled back to reveal
the bloodstained corpses.

Stage furniture, like scenery, was reduced to a minimum. In
Fuente Ovejuna
it seems likely that the only furniture required would have been
benches on which the villagers would sit at the beginning of Act Two
and for the council meeting in Act Three, and more impressive chairs for
the Catholic Kings in the scenes at Court. Much more importance,
however, would have been given to the visual and symbolic impact of
costumes. The Commander's red cross, embroidered on his doublet, would
have been a vivid visual reminder of the Order to which he belongs and
of the ideals he fails to put into practice. The Master would also
have been richly dressed, and the Catholic Kings, of course, would
have worn costumes appropriate to their station and intended to
impress a contemporary audience. The peasants, by contrast, would have
worn simple costumes, reflecting their way of life, except for the
wedding at the end of Act Two. At the beginning of Punishment Without
Revenge the Duke appears 'disguised' (1.89), undoubtedly dressed in
dark clothes which are not merely suited to the late hour at which he
is consorting with prostitutes, but are also a symbolic pointer to the
darker side of his nature. In Act Three, by contrast, he is
'handsomely dressed as a soldier'
(3.255), his military uniform a visual image of his role on the
battlefield as the 'mighty lion of the Church' and also of the victory
which he claims to have won over his baser instincts. In The Knight
from Olmedothe dark clothing worn by Alonso when he visits Inés at
night in Act One, and by Rodrigo when he watches her house, are
traditional enough, but also point, in Alonso's case, to the
less-thaninnocent nature of his behaviour, and in Rodrigo's, to the
dangerous character of his jealousy. And in Act Two, when Fabia enters
'with a rosary and walking-stick and wearing spectacles'
(2.451) and Tello

-xxxiii-

'wearing a scholar's cap'
(2.491), the effect may be comic, but their costumes also suggest the
disparity between what the two individuals are and what they are
pretending to be.

In Golden Age
theatre music also played a significant part. During the interval
between the acts of plays musical interludes were often introduced,
but the plays themselves also contained music of different kinds. In
Act One of
Fuente Ovejuna
the peasants sing a song of welcome
to the Commander (1.405-19); in Act Two they have two songs in
celebration of the wedding of Laurencia and Frondoso (2.509-16,
546-69); and in Act Three, after the Commander's death, their song
expresses their loyalty to the Catholic Kings and wishes them a long
life. In each case, music is used in order to celebrate love and
harmony and, to that extent, is an earthly image of that perfect
harmony which characterizes a divinely inspired universe.
²
The Knight from Olmedo has fewer songs, but all are important, in
particular the doom-laden song sung by the peasant in Act Three
(3.473-6, 484-9). In Punishment Without Revenge the Duke alludes in
Act One to music as a remedy for melancholy (1.184). Towards the end
of the act music would undoubtedly have accompanied the arrival of
Casandra at the Duke's estate when the party enters
'with pomp and splendour'
(1.809). Its suggestion of the harmony which ought to accompany their
marriage is, of course, ironically at odds with the private feelings
of the individuals concerned.

-xxxiv-

Spanish Golden Age drama is written almost entirely in verse. Unlike
their Elizabethan counterparts, Lope de Vega and his contemporaries
favoured an octosyllabic line, in part because it allowed for
lightness and speed and enabled the play to unfold with the pace which
restless and easily bored Spanish audiences demanded. In addition,
all the Spanish playwrights, following Lope's example, employed a
variety of stanza forms, which ranged from three to ten lines and
which were characterized by complex rhyme schemes, or else by a
pattern of assonance in the last word of alternate lines which was
easily achieved in Spanish and which also had a rhyming effect.
English translators of Spanish plays have frequently abandoned both the
octosyllabic line and rhyme in the belief that unrhymed iambic
pentameter is more suited to English or British actors, but this only
creates further problems. In general, Spanish words are longer than
their English equivalents, which means that in translation there would
be more English than Spanish words in a line of eight syllables, and
more again in a line of ten syllables. To opt for the latter
invariably means that the translator has to introduce unecessary extra
words.

In the plays printed here I
have of course attempted to convey the meaning of the original
Spanish, but they are not 'literal' translations and there will,
inevitably, be some small differences. As far as line-length is
concerned, I have opted in the main for an octosyllabic line in an
attempt to preserve the quick pace of Lope's original, though there
are too a number of lines of ten syllables. In general, absolute
consistency in the number of syllables seems less important than a
sense of flow and rhythm. Furthermore, I have avoided any attempt to
reproduce the rhyming patterns of the original, since to try to do
that would lead in English to distortion of the syntax and a
clumsiness which is at odds with the musicality of the Spanish. My
policy has been to use occasional rhyme both at the end of lines and
within lines, but in a way which allows the verse to flow naturally.
Above all, because the plays of the Golden Age were written in verse
and employed rhyme, they have a sense of discipline and style. It is
important in translation that that sense of style -- of verse

-xxxv-

which is musical and pleasing on the lips of an actor and the ears of
an audience -- be preserved. This, in the end, has been my main
concern.

In the case of
Fuente Ovejuna,
my translation is based on the Spanish text published in Madrid in 1619 in the
Dozena Parte de las Comedias de Lope de Vega Carpio,
of which there is a copy in the British Library (1072.i.12). A modern
edition is Lope de Vega: Fuente Ovejuna, ed. and trans. Victor Dixon (
Warminster, 1989). For the translation of The Knight from Olmedo, I
have followed the Spanish text published in 1641 in Zaragoza in the
Veintiquatro Parte Perfecta de las Comedias del Fénix de España, Frey Lope Félix de Vega Carpio,
of which there is a copy in the
Biblioteca Nacional
, Madrid (R. 13875). A good modern edition is
El caballero de Olmedo,
ed. Francisco Rico ( Madrid, 1981). Punishment Without Revenge is
based on the autograph manuscript of the play dated 1 August 1631 and
now in the Ticknor Library in Boston. A modern edition is
El castigo sin venganza
, ed. C. A. Jones ( Oxford, 1966).

-xxxvi-

Castro, A. and Rennert, H. A.,
Vida de Lope de Vega (1562-1635)
( Salamanca, 1969).

McKendrick, Melveena,
Theatre in Spain 1490-1700
( Cambridge, 1989). See chapter 4.

Rennert, H. A.,
The Life of Lope de Vega (1562-1635)
( Glasgow, 1904).

----
The Spanish Stage in the Time of Lope de Vega
( New York, 1909).

Shergold, N. D.,
A History of the Spanish Stage from Medieval Times until the End of the Seventeenth Century
( Oxford, 1967). See chapters 7 and 8.

Vossler, K.,
Lope de Vega y su tiempo
( Madrid, 1940).

Wilson, E. M. and Moir, D.,
A Literary History of Spain, the Golden Age: Drama 1492-1700
( London, 1971). See chapter 3.

Wilson, Margaret,
Spanish Drama of the Golden Age
( Oxford and London, 1969). See chapters 4 and 5.

Anibal, C. E., "The Historical Elements of Lope de Vega's Fuente Ovejuna",
Publications of the Modern Language Association of America
, 49 ( 1934), 657-718.

Carter, Robin, "Fuente Ovejuna and Tyranny: Some Problems of Linking Drama with Political Theory",
Forum for Modern Language Studies
, 13 ( 1977), 313-35.

Darst, David H., "The Awareness of Higher Authority in Fuente Ovejuna",
Oelschläger Festschrift, Estudios de Hispanófila
,
36 ( Chapel Hill, NC, 1976), 143-9.

Dixon, Victor,
Lope de Vega, Fuente Ovejuna
( Warminster, 1989).

Gerli, E. Michael, "The Hunt of Love: The Literalization of a Metaphor in Fuente Ovejuna",
Neophilologus
,
63 ( 1979), 54-8.

Hall, J. B.,
Lope de Vega, Fuente Ovejuna, Critical Guides to Spanish Texts
( London, 1985).

---- "Theme and Structure in Lope's Fuente Ovejuna",
Forum for Modern Language Studies
, 10 ( 1974), 57-66.

Herrero, Javier, "The New Monarchy: A Structural Reinterpretation of Fuente Ovejuna",
Revista Hispánica Moderna
,
36 ( 1970-1), 173-85.

Larson, Donald R.,
The Honor Plays of Lope de Vega
( Cambridge, Mass., 1977).

-xxxvii-

McCrary, William C., "Fuente Ovejuna: Its Platonic Vision and Execution",
Studies in Philology
, 58 ( 1961), 179-92.

Moir, Duncan W., "Lope de Vega's Fuente Ovejuna and the Emblemas morales of Sebastión de Covarrubias Horozco . . .", in
Homenaje a William L. Fichter
, ed. A. David Kossof and José Amor y Vázquez ( Madrid, 1971), 537-46.

Pring-Mill, R. D. F., "Sententiousness in Fuente Ovejuna",
Tulane Drama Review
, 7 ( 1962), 5-37.

Ribbans, G. W., "The Meaning and Structure of Lope's Fuente Ovejuna",
Bulletin of Hispanic Studies
, 30 ( 1953), 150-70.

Brownstein, Leonard A.,
"Comedy in El Caballero de Olmedo",
in
Perspectivas de la comedia
,
2 ( Valencia-Chapel Hill, 1979), 27-37.

Casa, Frank P., "The Dramatic Unity of El caballero de Olmedo",
Neophilologus
,
50 ( 1966), 234-43.

Gerard, A. S., "Baroque Unity and the Dualities of El caballero de Olmedo",
The Romanic Review
, 56 ( 1965), 92-106.

Hesse, Everet W., "The Role of the Mind in Lope's El caballero de Olmedo",
Symposium
, 19 ( 1965), 58-66.

Jones, Sonia, "The Tragedy of Passion: Lope's El caballero de Olmedo",
Reflexion
, 3-4 ( 1974-5), 138-5.

King, Lloyd, "The Darkest Justice of Death in Lope's El caballero de Olmedo",
Forum for Modern Language Studies
, 5 ( 1969), 388-94.

King, Villard F.,
"El caballero de Olmedo: Poetic Justice or Destiny",
in
Homenaje a William L. Fichter
,
ed. A. David Kossoff and José Amor y Vázquez ( Madrid, 1971), 367-79.

McCrary, C.,
The Goldfinch and the Hawk: A Study of Lope de Vega's Tragedy, El caballero de Olmedo
( Chapel Hill, 1966).

McGaha, Michael, "The Structure of El caballero de Olmedo",
Hispania
, 61 ( 1978), 451-8.

Powers, Harriet B., "Unity in El caballero de Olmedo",
Bulletin of the Comediantes
,
27 ( 1974), 52-9.

Schafer, Alice E., "Fate versus Responsibility in Lope's El caballero de Olmedo",
Revista canadiense de estudios hispánicos
,
3 ( 1972), 26-39.

Soons, Alan, "Towards an Interpretation of El caballero de Olmedo",
Romanische Forschungen
,
73 ( 1961), 160-8.

Turner, Alison, "The Dramatic Function of Imagery and Symbolism in Peribáez and El caballero de Olmedo",
Symposium
, 20 ( 1966), 174-85.

Wardropper, Bruce W., "The Criticism of the Spanish Comedia: El caballero de Olmedo as Object Lesson",
Philological Quarterly
, 51 ( 1972), 177-96.

-xxxviii-

Wilson, Edward M., "The Exemplary Nature of El caballero de Olmedo", in
Spanish and English Literature of the 16th and 17th Centuries
( Cambridge, 1980), 184-200.

Yates, Donald A., "The Poetry of the Fantastic in El caballero de Olmedo",
Hispania
, 43 ( 1960), 503-7.

Bianco, F. J., "Lope de Vega's El castigo sin venganza and Free Will",
Kentucky Romance Quarterly
, 26 ( 1979), 461-8.

Dixon, Victor, "El castigo sin venganza: The Artistry of Lope de Vega", in
Studies in Spanish Literature of the Golden Age Presented to Edward M. Wilson
, ed. R. O. Jones ( London, 1973), 63-81.

---- and Parker, A. A., "Two Lines, Two Interpretations",
Modern Language Notes
, 85 ( 1970), 157-66.

Edwards, Gwynne, "Lope and Calderón: The Tragic Pattern of El castigo sin venganza",
Bulletin of the Comediantes
, 33: 2 ( 1981), 107-20.

Evans, W. P., "Character and Context in El castigo sin venganza",
Modern Language Review
, 74 ( 1979), 321-34.

May, T. E., "Lope de Vega's El castigo sin venganza: The Idolatry of the Duke of Ferrara",
Bulletin of Hispanic Studies
, 37 ( 1960), 154-82.

Morris, C. B., "Lope de Vega's El castigo sin venganza and Poetic Tradition",
Bulletin of Hispanic Studies
, 40 ( 1963), 69-78.

Pring-Mill, D. F.,
Introduction to Lope de Vega: Five Plays
, trans. Jill Booty ( New York, 1961).

Wade, Gerald E., "Lope de Vega's El castigo sin venganza: Its Composition and Presentation",
Kentucky Romance Quarterly
, 23 ( 1976), 35764.

Wilson, E. M., "Cuando Lope quiere, quiere", in
Spanish and English Literature of the 16th and 17th Centuries
( Cambridge, 1980), 155-83.

Luís Vaz de Camõs,
The Lusíads
, trans. and ed. Landeg White.

Miguel de Cervantes,
Don Quixote de la Mancha
,
trans. Charles Jarvis, ed. E. C. Riley.

----
Exemplary Stories
, trans. and ed. Lesley Lipson.

-xxxix-