Three Major Plays

by Lope de Vega

  honest: his love for Inés is dishonest in the sense that they meet in secret, 133

  not in the sense that they are having improper sexual relations.

  My lord . . .: another example of prose used for a message. See note to 134

  p. 100.

  Cato: Marcus Porcius Cato, the Elder ( 234-149 BC), a Roman statesman 135

  noted for his moral seriousness.

  three acts: the traditional length of a play in Lope's time. Just as the letter 136

  seems to Tello to be too long, so a play would seem too long and tedious to a notoriously impatient Spanish audience if its plot was not consist-

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  ently entertaining. The three-act structure of Spanish plays has persisted well into the twentieth century, as many of Lorca's plays suggest.

  136 the ribbon: worn by the participants in jousting and the like and frequently a gift from their lady. whatever suit: the servant or squire of a knight was traditionally rewarded with a gift of his clothes.

  137 Last night: Alonso's account of his dream marks the moment when the play changes from a mood which is often comic to one which is increasingly dark.

  A hawk: although the colouring of the hawk is not mentioned here, it is clearly much darker than that of the goldfinch and to that extent a reminder of Rodrigo, who frequently appears in dark clothing and whose passion for Inés and hatred of Alonso is both dark and dangerous.

  138 hopelessness: it seems quite probable that, at this point in the play, Alonso is suffering from what doctors of the time would have described as unnatural melancholy. This could be caused by extreme heat in the body, which would in turn be the consequence of passion, and whose effect would have been to ignite the four humours of blood, choler, phlegm, and melancholy (natural) and leave behind a poisonous substance known as unnatural melancholy. In this condition the individual would be subject to fearful dreams and visions of future catastrophe. Love-sickness, which is what Alonso is suffering, was therefore a genuine and potentially fatal illness. Another melancholic in Lope's theatre is Federico in Punishment Without Revenge, his condition caused by his unspoken passion for his stepmother Casandra.

  Act Three

  139 outshine Medina's best?: the envy, and indeed hatred, felt by Rodrigoand to a lesser extent by Fernando -- towards Alonso are clearly rooted in matters of the heart, but there was also a historical rivalry between Medina and Olmedo which Lope used as the broader context for his play. See the Introduction, pp. xxii-xxiii.

  140 Greek and Roman times: while the reference is somewhat vague, the topic of a country's ingratitude towards its subjects was a familiar enough one in both Classical and Renaissance literature. One example was Valerius Maximus's Facta et dicta memorabilia, iii ('De ingratis romanorum'). The lance: a kind of dart with a wooden shaft and an iron tip which was thrust into the neck of the bull. The breaking of the lance was an indication that the manœuvre was successful. changing horses: until the eighteenth century the bullfighter was always on horseback.

  141 sorrel: a horse which is reddish or yellowish-brown in colour. chopped: when the bullfighter had fatally wounded the bull and withdrawn from the ring, it was the practice of his assistants to cut the tendons of its back legs with a blade in the shape of a half-moon.

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  141 enter the ring: the bullfight in this play clearly takes place off-stage, as the subsequent stage-direction and the earlier shouting suggest. In the theatres of the time there was, nevertheless, an area of the pit which could be roped off and where jousting on horseback could take place.

  142 the chain: Tello's plan to get the chain from Fabia echoes the resolve of Pármeno and Sempronio in La Celestina to make Celestina share with them the reward given her by Calisto.

  Medea, Circe, Hecate: in Greek legend Medea was the daughter of Aetes, King of Colchis, who helped Jason to obtain the Golden Fleece. Circe was, in Homer Odyssey, the enchantress who changed the companions of Odysseus into swine by means of a magic potion. Hecate was originally, in Greek mythology, a goddess descended from the Titans who had power over earth, sky, and sea, but she was later regarded as goddess of the underworld and was associated with magic and sorcery. All three are, therefore, examples of supreme cunning and black arts.

  143 Orlando: the Italian name for Roland, the hero of the Anglo-Norman epic La Chanson de Roland, and the protagonist of Ariosto Orlando furioso, which was published in 1516 and which subsequently became a source of inspiration for many Spanish writers. Tello is thinking here of Orlando as a lover rather than a knight, for in Ariosto's poem he falls madly in love with the beautiful but disdainful Angelica.

  144 the inspiration: this is a parody of the novels of chivalry in which the heroic knight undertook his adventures and achieved great victories in the name and through the inspiration of his lady. blinkers: the horses which are used in the bullfight are provided with blinkers.

  145 more | Dark-brown than bay: dark-brown or chestnut horses had the reputation of being more reliable than bays. With servants from Olmedo: yet another reference to the rivalry between Medina and Olmedo. See the note to p. 139.

  146 I owe my life: Rodrigo is now indebted to Alonso to the extent that, far from wanting to kill him, he is obliged to protect him. To take away the life of a man to whom one owed one's life was unforgivable. dishonoured: in the sense that, having been rescued by Alonso, he thinks he has been made to look foolish in public. Witnesses to the incident will therefore talk openly about it in future, praising Alonso at the expense of Rodrigo. observed Rome burn: in AD 64 Nero watched Rome burn while he stood on the Capitol Hill.

  147 those pearls: see note on coral and pearl, p. 86. Apollo: the Greek god of youth, masculine beauty, music, song, and prophecy, also identified with the sun-god Helios.

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  147 And meet the Infante: this meeting seems to have no basis in historical fact.

  148 S.D. It is night: as indicated previously, the performance of the play would have taken place in daylight, in the afternoon. See note to p. 105.

  149 the window: the window would have bars in the traditional Spanish manner. In such circumstances the suitor would stand outside, usually in the street, and, if the window was on an upper floor, would have to call up to her.

  150 My foot already in the stirrup?: Alonso's speech here is similar in structure to his poem in Act Two (see note on I'm dying, p. 116): a five-line traditional poem which serves as a basis for elaboration, each line becoming the last in five stanzas of ten lines (décimas). In the translation I have not attempted to follow the elaborate rhyming pattern of Lope's original but, with the exception of the first stanza, have retained the tenline format. Lope had previously introduced an elaboration of the same traditional poem in Knowing Can Be Dangerous (El saber puede daQar).

  151 I go, then, to my death: the poem is a fine example of the tragic irony which runs throughout the play. The ideas and concepts expressed by Alonso are poetic commonplaces which are entirely to do with death in the sense of absence from the beloved, yet for the audience they have a deeper and darker implication, and even Alonso seems to some extent aware of their relevance to the danger which lies ahead.

  153 S.D. SHADOWY FIGURE: the appearance of other-worldly figures is no less common in Golden Age than in Elizabethan and Jacobean drama, and Hamlet's famous observation about his father's ghost -- 'There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, | Than are dreamt of in our philosophy' (I. v. 174-5) -- is equally relevant. Sometimes such figures were prophetic. In the case of Alonso, the figure could be a product of his unnatural melancholy, which previously has been responsible for his dream at the end of the second act. Indeed, a few lines later Alonso himself speaks of the figure as being fashioned by his own sadness, but he also thinks that it might be a vision conjured up by Fabia. Lope allows for various possibilities and therefore makes the episode that much more fascinating.

  154 lacking noble blood: in expressing the view that honour is to be found only in thos
e of noble birth, Alonso may be compared with Fernán Gómez in Fuente Ovejuna, though if he were, as a Knight Commander, to exercise power over lands and their inhabitants, one cannot imagine him behaving in the same way. Romance!: the word is used here in the sense of the vernacular, or everyday Spanish, as opposed to Latin, which Tello has been pretending to teach Inés.

  155 witchcraft: see note on satanic flames, p. 94. While neither Alonso nor Tello believes in Fabia's magical powers, Rodrigo clearly does.

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  155 Acheron: in Classical mythology, the river of woe, one of the rivers of Hades. musket: strictly speaking, a harquebus, which was the predecessor of the musket. It was often supported on a tripod or a forked rest.

  156 For at night they killed: this is the famous song around whose origin so much controversy has raged. For different opinions on this matter, see the Introduction, p. xix.

  157 Fabia: if the song was told to the peasant by Fabia and warns Alonso to turn back, the implication is that she is concerned with his well-being, not with his downfall. She is not, therefore, an evil woman but a potential saviour. This is yet another example of the ambiguity which makes Lope's play so interesting.

  158 someone from Olmedo: Alonso -- and therefore Lope -- may be thinking here, of course, of Don Juan de Vivero, an alderman from Olmedo, who in 1521 was murdered by his enemies on the road between Medina and Olmedo, an incident which, according to some critics, gave rise to the song sung by the peasant in Lope's play. See the Introduction, pp. xviii-xix. Remove your sword: Rodrigo has claimed earlier to be a man of honour, yet the way in which he disposes of Alonso -- a dishonourable act itself because he owes him his life -- is made worse by the fact that he strips him of any means of self-defence. The more honourable procedure would have been to challenge Alonso to a duel.

  159 offends | The people of Medina: see note to p. 139. It is, perhaps, significant here that the hostility towards Olmedo is mentioned not by Rodrigo, whose hatred of Alonso is coloured by jealousy and envy, but by Fernando, whose motives are less personal.

  161 Warden of Burgos: the Spanish word alcaide described in the Golden Age a person who was entrusted by the King with guarding and defending a town, city, or fortress, but it could also mean simply a jailer. Don Pedro has presumably been honoured by the King with the task of defending Burgos, a city in Old Castile and birthplace of El Cid.

  162 a cross: as a Knight Commander, Alonso will wear the cross which distinguished members of the Order. See note on the old one, p. 131.

  165 the envy of | Your enemies: a reference to the extremely turbulent times in which Castile found itself during the reign of Don Juan II, constantly threatened by enemies both outside and inside its boundaries. old|In years: Alonso's father. both poles: the two fixed points on which, it was thought, the heavens turned. The halfway point would have been reached at midnight. six men: in the earlier stage-direction (3.402) only four are indicated.

  166 justice: as in Fuente Ovejuna, the King, God's representative on earth, is called upon to right wrongs and restore order to a disordered situation.

  167 The Knight from Olmedo: in the printed text of 1641 the last line of the

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  play is followed by the words: 'Fin de la Comedia del Caballero de Olmedo.'

  PUNISHMENT WITHOUT REVENGE

  [subtitle] A Tragedy: on the play as tragedy, see the Introduction.

  Act One

  171 No modern poet: a sarcastic reference to the poet Luis de Góngora and his followers. The so-called culto or culterano poets of the seventeenth century, of whom Góngora ( 1561-1627) was the supreme example, developed a style of extreme artificiality, characterized by complex syntax, Classical allusion, and elaborate imagery. Lope was initially much opposed to such a style, scolding Góngora and his imitators for their poetic excesses.

  172 For him who gives: that is to say, the wife's lover. In the following lines Febo complains that, after the wife's death, the lover's gifts should become the property of the husband.

  I turn ¶ The phrase around: as indicated above, syntactical complication, including inversions, was a characteristic of the poet Góngora and his followers.

  173 fiery dark brunette: the allusion is probably to a girl of gypsy origin. In general they had the reputation of being hot-blooded and passionate.

  174 S.D. Cintia above: it is quite possible that Cintia would have appeared on one of the balconies of the houses at the back of or to the side of the stage.

  175 Mantua: a fortified provincial capital in the Italian province of Lombardy. It is situated on the river Mincio, about 40 miles from Ferrara.

  176 famous emperors and kings: amongst those who used such cunning was the Roman emperor Nero. In Calderón famous play The Surgeon of Honour (El médico de su honra), King Peter the Cruel walks the streets of Seville, disguised and at night, in order to keep himself abreast of any scandalous events in the city.

  I have lived indulgently: writing this play at the age of 69, Lope was no doubt looking back on his own indulgent life and, not least, on his many love affairs, though he did marry several times. See the Introduction, pp. ix-x.

  177 An actor-manager: in the Golden Age the actor-manager was called the autor, though he was not usually a dramatist but quite often an actor. Punishment Without Revenge was first performed, it seems, by the company run by the actor-manager, Manuel Vallejo, who played the part of the Duke.

  a friendly audience: as a professional playwright, Lope was only too aware of the importance of the favourable reaction of a theatre audience.

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  In the Madrid of his day the theatre was an intensely competitive business.

  177 ingenuity exceed ¶ Vulgarity: in his poetic essay The New Art of Writing Plays, Lope gave the impression (tongue-in-cheek) to the stuffy traditionalists of the Madrid Academy that he had lowered his standards in trying to please the public. In reality, of course, his standards were very high and his work distinguished by its intelligence and craftsmanship, as well as by its entertainment value.

  178 Andrelina: the well-known Italian actress and poetess, Isabel Andreini ( 1562-1604). The reference is, at all events, anachronistic and fairly typical of Lope in that respect.

  A mirror to all men: Lope's definition of a play, like Shakespeare's, has its origin in the saying attributed to Cicero: 'est imitatio vitae, speculum consuetudinis, imago veritas' ('it is an imitation of life, a mirror of customs, the likeness of truth').

  179 Comedy with seriousness and tragedy ¶ With jokes: Lope sets out here his belief that the new Spanish drama, which he largely helped to fashion, should, in imitation of life itself, mix the serious and the comic in a way which Greek and Romann drama did not. It echoes what he had written more than twenty years earlier in The New Art of Writing Plays. See the Introduction, p. x.

  willow-trees?: presumably weeping willows and therefore an appropriate setting for Federico's dejection. The change of scene from the streets of Ferrara at night to the countryside in the daytime is suggested largely by the dialogue, which locates the action quite precisely.

  melancholy thoughts: Federico appears to be dejected here rather than truly melancholic. The kind of melancholy experienced by Alonso in The Knight from Olmedo, and which was often the result of excessive passion, affects Federico in Act Two. On the topic of melancholy, see note to p. 138 above.

  180 A loyal subject once: this is a good example of the stories often told by servants to their masters in Golden Age plays, which are both amusing and relevant to the master's particular predicament. Although, as in Batín's case, the servant is a comic character, he is usually wiser and more observant than his master. The source of this particular story is unknown.

  182 S.D. with Casandra in his arms: this is, of course, a quite brilliant foreshadowing of the events which lie ahead, when Casandra will lie in Federico's arms in quite a different context. The important point here concerns the physical contact between two young people who are immediately attracted to eac
h other before they become aware of their respective identities.

  S.D. Batín with Lucrecia, a servant, in his arms: in many Golden Age plays the activities of servants act as a comic counterpoint to the events concerning their masters. Here, for example, the beautiful and sylphlike Casandra, borne effortlessly to the river-bank by Federico, provides

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  a delightful contrast to the overweight Lucrecia, carried with some effort by a breathless Batín.

  183 Fortune's wheel: the image of Fortune's wheel, constantly turning, was an extremely common one in literature of the medieval and Renaissance periods. As it turned, a man might find himself at one moment at the very peak of good fortune only to be plunged at the next moment to the depths of misfortune.

  184 Let me embrace you!: a pointer, perhaps, to Casandra's youthful impetuosity and imprudence, as well as an ironic anticipation of her subsequent relationship with Federico.

  Your excellency: Lope frequently made fun of the rules governing the different forms of address.

  185 Not her from Rome?: the wife of Collatinus, Lucretia, was raped by Sextus Tarquinius and, in consequence, committed suicide in 510 BC. She thus became a symbol of female chastity.

  greatly fancied: Batín distorts the traditional story, assuming, of course, that he knows it, in order to persuade the 'chaste' modern Lucrecia to succumb to him, just as, he suggests, the Roman epitome of chastity yielded to Tarquin.