The Farmer with the Most Air (Spanish: El Labrador de más Aire) is a 1936 play, one of the first written by the Spanish poet Miguel Hernández. This work is part of the social theatre of Hernandez's literary work. It is the main dramatic piece in verse by the poet from Orihuela, of clear social intention, as it shows Miguel Hernandez's concern for the problems of the time he lived in, in the middle of the Spanish Civil War.
Historical context
This work by Miguel Hernández was written in 1936 and published in 1937. Previously, in 1935, he had written Los hijos de la piedra (The sons of the stone), another play in which he denounced and criticized the situation of the people of his time, their conditions and their rights. However, The Farmer with the Most Air was the most critical work of Hernández, and was curiously published before his imprisonment. Parallel to Miguel Hernández, other authors wrote works with similar themes such as the tragic fate and love, such as Federico García Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba (La casa de Bernarda Alba).
In the same year he wrote The Farmer with the Most Air, Hernández enlisted in the Popular Army of the Republic and he was appointed as Commissary of Culture. He participated in several battles, acting as soldier and poet, and was writing works of social protest such as his play Theater in War Time (Teatro en la guerra). During the war, he escaped to his homeland to marry Josefina Manresa and published Wind from the Town (Viento del pueblo), Poetry in the war (Poesía en la guerra), Theater in the war (Teatro en la guerra), and The Farmer with the Most Air (El labrador de más aire).
Theme
Although the play was published in 1937, it was not performed until the autumn of 1972. The author from Orihuela exposes in his dramatic play a love theme with a critical character, describing social problems related to the time he was living at that moment, such as the desire for power of an authoritarian leader and the poverty of innocent citizens.
Miguel Hernández presented a sequence of plot cycles in his work. Judging by the year and the plot, it can be observed that the work is in the middle of a period of transition from one cycle to another, since it began to be written in 1936, with the cycle of hernandian love, and ended in 1937, with the cycle of the story.
Influenced by Lope de Vega, Miguel Hernández composed this theatrical work written in verse, easy to understand, entertaining, with themes that were popular at the time, such as the peasant love, and with a critic intentionality.
Structure and metric
It consists of three acts divided into frames that help to a better understanding of the scenes.
The first act has two frames, with the first one having eight scenes and the second one four more. There is a brief presentation of the characters in this act. This is followed by the different feelings and thoughts about the protagonist, other characters and the situation in the village.
The second act is composed of three frames; the first frame with three scenes, the second one with four and the third one with eight. Here takes place the action that leads to the confrontation and subsequent enmity between the hero and the villain.
The third act is composed of three frames; the first frame has five scenes, the second one has another five and the third one has three scenes. In this last act, the events that lead to the dramatic end of the play take place, resulting in the unusual victory of the villain.
Miguel Hernández used a very careful metric and rhyme, alternating different types of stanzas according to the character of the scene. Popular songs and verses appear together with other cultured ones: décimas, quintillas, quatrains, hexasyllabic and octosyllabic romances, seguidillas and pie quebrado couplets.
Plot
Fist act
Encarnación is in love with her cousin Juan, but he does not know it and she does not dare to confess it to him. Juan notices that she is sad and insists that she tell him what is happening to her, but she refuses. Another of the young men, Tomaso, is in love with Encarnación.
In the meantime, several girls are gathered together celebrating the figure of Juan, of whom they are all in love. They also argue among themselves, trying to compete for Juan's attention. When Encarnación goes to the girls, they urge her to intercede for each of them, but she confesses that she also feels love for him, even though he is her cousin.