Abstract

Francisco de Rojas Zorrilla was one of the poets most favoured by the Court, even more than Calderón de la Barca. That royal favour gave him a creative freedom that lead to experiment with new methods, genres and motifs. That was the case of Persiles and Sigismunda, not only a mere adaptation of the cervantine novel, but also an attempt to surpass the model that Lope de Vega had created for the byzantine comedy, adding new formulas to a genre considered closed.

Abstract

In many Calderón’s tragic plays, a room or a hall can turn into a space of violence, if locked or opened against the will of the character (mostly a woman) who lives in it. That is what we can observe in La gran Cenobia, El médico de su honra, El pintor de su deshonra, El mayor monstruo del mundo, La vida es sueño. In comic plays, on the contrary, dramatic situations like these use to turn out well, thanks to ingenious solutions or favorable chance: it is what happens in Amor, honor y poder and La dama duende; whereas the case of No hay cosa como callar confirms the generic ambiguity of this play.

Abstract

Tragedy was born in Greece and was subsequently claimed and defended in Europe during the Renaissance and Baroque but, this being a gender as orthodox as changeable, it will be necessary to resort to a new reading of its components in order to adapt them to the reality of the Golden Age. Humanism promotes this recovery of the classical world and generates a significant literature on drama precepts that will not develop the same way in all European countries. While Italy and France opt for the acceptance and conversion of the ideas of Aristotle and Horace into style rules, Spain and England cannot fail to point out the dramatic dissonance between stage theory and practice, and, the aim of pleasing the public, will prevail as a benchmark of success over fidelity to the classical precepts. However, despite theoretical differences, the French drama as the English and the Spanish drama will be committed to the development of tragedy. We will discuss some ideas about drama rules in France and England and their connection with what is represented on stage, as well as the nature and intensity of the government’s support to the theatre, in order to contextualize and show the differences with respect to the Spanish Baroque tragedy.

Abstract

This article analyzes the function of Hernán Cortés’ tears in the Historia verdadera by Bernal Díaz del Castillo. Some critics have read Cortés’ weeping as a sign of weakness. Actually, the tears of the hero are a manifestation that links the figure of the conqueror —and by extension the whole text— to the classical epic tradition, as well as to an incipient concept of tragedy.

Abstract

Prior to his rebellion against the Spanish Crown in 1544, Gonzalo Pizarro (Francisco’s younger brother) accomplished the Conquest of Charcas (present-day northwestern Bolivia), survived the siege of Cuzco by Manco Inca and attempted the failed exploration of the mythical «Land of the Cinnamon Tree», located somewhere in the Amazonian basin, according to Garcilaso’s historical account. During this doomed expedition, Pizarro endured treason, lost companions and was defeated by the forces of an aggressive environment. However, he ma­naged to emerge as the legendary political and military leader that rebelled against the first Viceroy of Peru, Blasco Nuñez Vela in 1546. Nuñez Vela would be defeated in battlefield and later executed. Gonzalo Pizarro’s pretension of becoming king of Peru by virtue of a political alliance with the surviving Incas would be seen in Garcilaso’s account as a proof of Pizarro’s heroic stature, albeit a tragic one.