THE PREVAILING QUALITY OF THE SPANISH DRAMA--TYPICAL EXAMPLES--‘LA DAMA MELINDROSA’--‘EL TEJEDOR DE SEGOVIA’--‘EL CONDENADO POR DESCONFIADO’--THE PLAYS ON “HONOUR”--‘A SECRETO AGRAVIO SECRETA VENGANZA’--THE “AUTO SACRAMENTAL”--THE “LOA”--THE ‘VERDADERO DIOS PAN’--‘LOS DOS HABLADORES.’
[SN: _The prevailing quality of the Spanish drama._]
There may well seem to be something over-bold, even impudent, in the attempt to give an account of the different kinds of Spanish drama in one brief chapter. Its abundance alone would appear to render the effort vain, and the common elaborate classification of the plays into heroic, romantic, religious, of “cloak and sword,” and so forth, seems to imply the existence of a number of types distinct from one another, and calling for separate treatment. Yet though I cannot hope to be exhaustive, it is, in my opinion, possible to be at least not wholly inadequate. The task is materially facilitated by the great uniformity of the Spanish drama. No matter what the name may be, the action is much the same, and the characters do not greatly vary. It has been said that Calderon’s personages are all like bullets cast in a mould; and though this, as is the case with most sweeping assertions, fails to take notice of the exceptions, it has much truth, and may be applied to others. The Spanish drama is above all a drama of action, conducted by fixed types. Juan de la Cueva had said in a spirit of prophecy that the artful fable was the glory of the Spanish stage, and Lope appeared in good time to prove him right. The types who move in the action are the _Dama_, the _Galan_, the _Barba_, and the _Gracioso_--the Lady, the Lover, the Old Man, and the Clown. They have the stage to themselves in the _comedia de capa y espada_. This phrase, when translated into French or English, has an air of romance about it which is somewhat misleading. The cloak and sword were the distinctive parts of the dress of the private gentleman. _Caballero de capa y espada_ was the man about town of our own Restoration plays, who is neither great noble, churchman, nor lawyer. The _comedia de capa y espada_ was then the genteel comedy of Spain. But the _Dama_, the _Galan_, the _Barba_, and the _Gracioso_ figure in every kind of play, even in those of religion. By these is meant the stage drama turning on some religious motive, and not the _auto sacramental_, which was a mystery differing from those of the Middle Ages only in this, that it was written by men of letters on whom, and on whose art, the Renaissance had had its influence. In the Romantic plays there is more passion, and the sword is more often out of its scabbard, but we find the same types, the same general action. Spain produced a certain number of plays approaching our own comedy of humours. These are the _comedias de figuron_. _La Verdad Sospechosa_ and the _Lindo Don Diego_ are the best known examples. But here again the “humour”--the _figuron_--is placed in the midst of the stock types and the customary action.