Lope Is My Friend: A Spanish Comedia

Yesterday I (and all of the Theatre History students at RTT) turned in their gigantic final research papers for the semester. It was quite a feat finishing that beast, let me tell you. Mine came out to about 16 pages with 60 endnotes, 4086 words, and a four page bibliography. I could not be more proud of it, though. It's beautiful. It's my personal little (or not-so-little) work of art. And in the whole process of researching and writing this monstrosity, I think I made a friend.

That friend is Lope de Vega, a 16th Century Spanish Renaissance playwright and poet, and the subject of my paper. Lope was a child prodigy of the written word, and once claimed that he had written fifteen hundred plays in the span of his life. He had a dark past filled with women (LOTS of women, Lope was a player. He finally married an insane woman. Literally, insane.), exile, travels throughout Spain, death, a stint as an ordained priest, and an eventual decline in popularity, health, and well being. This totally did not stop him from being completely awesome, though. He had huge impacts in the world of literary drama and theatre. Lope was writing during the Spanish Golden Age of theatre when the private and public spheres were colliding, when the world of theatre was becoming professional with acting troupes (which even included women on the stage), when elaborate costumes were paid for and contributed by the community, and the building of permanent theatres. In 1609, Lope went before the Madrid Academy (the big cheese of the Spanish literary world) and introduced his Arte nuevo de hacer comedias en este tiempo in which he introduced a new form of the comedia (play). Lope's form would become the national drama of Spain because it combined the classical styles with modern Spanish concepts to create more accessibility with its audiences. Not only that, but Lope's dramas emphasized the theme of honor in the lowest classes on people, even peasants. He also created strong female roles which embodied honor and a woman's virtue. Lope was amazing, despite his personal failings.

My paper also explored the reasons why we as a Western culture do not know anything or study anything about Lope or all of Spanish culture/literature. What I found was a historical phenomenon known as the Black Legend, a prejudice that traces its roots all the way back to the Protestant/Catholic tensions between Spain and the rest of Europe, especially its worst enemy England. It's this prejudice that has lasted us for so long, and it's this same type of prejudice that prevents us from truly seeing modern cultures such as some Middle Eastern and Asian cultures because of stereotypes and prejudices we have placed on a whole group of people. It makes you see the world differently when you have it all laid out in front of you.

Lope stood for the little people. He wrote about the passion and honor of the peasant, even if he was a player... He made contributions to the intellect, form, and evolution to the Spanish drama. That's why Lope is my new friend. I got pretty emotional as I finished the final sentences Sunday night at 12:30 in the morning, and it wasn't just because I was exhausted. I felt like I was letting go of and losing a really great friend. But Lope will always be in my mind and in history. And by the way, bringing all of those books back to the library was an unbelievable feeling.

Yeah, that's right. A whole Price Chopper shopping bag.

One of my books on the Black Legend was called Tree of Hate, and there was a hilarious picture of the professor who wrote it. He looked terrifying and like he was constantly judging you. I forgot to take a picture of it, but here is me trying to replicate it for you:

This doesn't really do it justice, especially with my Reese's bowl behind me, but you get the idea. TREE OF HATE!!!

Thanks Lope for all the fun times!

Peace out!