Dueling, Honor and Sensibility in Eighteenth-Century Spanish Sentimental Comedies

University of Kentucky UKnowledge University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2010 DUELING, HONOR AND SENSIBILITY IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY SPANISH SENTIMENTAL COMEDIES Kristie Bulleit Niemeier University of Kentucky, [email protected] Right click to open a feedback form in a new tab to let us know how this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Niemeier, Kristie Bulleit, "DUELING, HONOR AND SENSIBILITY IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY SPANISH SENTIMENTAL COMEDIES" (2010). University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations. 12. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/gradschool_diss/12 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION Kristie Bulleit Niemeier The Graduate School University of Kentucky 2010 DUELING, HONOR AND SENSIBILITY IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY SPANISH SENTIMENTAL COMEDIES _________________________________________________ ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION _________________________________________________ A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of the University of Kentucky By Kristie Bulleit Niemeier Lexington, Kentucky Director: Dr. Ana Rueda, Professor of Spanish Literature Lexington, Kentucky 2010 Copyright © Kristie Bulleit Niemeier 2010 ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION DUELING, HONOR AND SENSIBILITY IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY SPANISH SENTIMENTAL COMEDIES This dissertation explores the representation of dueling and honor in five theatrical works in order to answer one central question: How does the Golden Age concept of honor transform in the age of Enlightenment? This question may be broken down into specific inquiries, such as: 1) How is honor filtered through sentiment? 2) How did eighteenth-century ilustrados use theater to attempt to resolve the conflict between using violence to defend one’s honor and the Enlightenment ideal of avoiding excess? and 3) How did honor affect the private citizen and his relationship to the state in plays? During the eighteenth century, the age of sensibility rewrote the duel, transforming it from a ritual connected with the aristocracy into an act tied to individual, often middle-class lives. This project begins with an early play by José de Cañizares, Por acrisolar su honor (1711) and then examines sentimental comedies published and performed toward the end of the century: Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos’ El delincuente honrado (1773), Luciano Francisco Comella’s La Jacoba (1789), Antonio Valladares de Sotomayor’s El vinatero de Madrid (1784) and Gaspar Zavala y Zamora’s El amante generoso (1791). Sentimental comedies use sensibility to focus on individuals’ honor conflicts. An analysis of the representation of dueling offers a glimpse of the complex intermingling of multiple definitions of Spanish culture, where neither a lone enlightened model nor an identity based primarily on Spain’s Baroque past prevails. While sentimental comedies present conclusions that ostensibly exalt honor as virtue and rely on a belief in humanity’s goodness to resolve their conflicts, their representations of dueling point to a tense coexistence of multiple definitions of Spanish identity in the eighteenth century. Virtue is never enough to override the accusation that someone is a coward for not accepting a dueling challenge. The inclusion of extra elements that cater to social prejudices of the time also undermines the notion of honor-as-virtue. The contradictions revealed by sympathetic representations of dueling may point to the failure of sensibility as a cohesive model for resolving dramatic conflicts in a society with such diverse definitions of honor and citizenship. KEYWORDS: Dueling, Eighteenth Century, Honor, Sentimental Comedies, Spain Kristie Bulleit Niemeier Student’s Signature April 20, 2010 Date DUELING, HONOR AND SENSIBILITY IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY SPANISH SENTIMENTAL COMEDIES By Kristie Bulleit Niemeier Ana Rueda Director of Dissertation Haralambos Symeonidis Director of Graduate Studies April 20, 2010 RULES FOR THE USE OF DISSERTATIONS Unpublished dissertations submitted for the Doctor’s degree and deposited in the University of Kentucky Library are as a rule open for inspection, but are to be used only with due regard to the rights of the authors. Bibliographical references may be noted, but quotations or summaries of parts may be published only with the permission of the author, and with the usual scholarly acknowledgements. Extensive copying or publication of the dissertation in whole or in part also requires consent of the Dean of the Graduate School of the University of Kentucky. A library that borrows this dissertation for use by its patrons is expected to secure the signature of each user. Name Date ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ DISSERTATION Kristie Bulleit Niemeier The Graduate School University of Kentucky 2010 DUELING, HONOR AND SENSIBILITY IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY SPANISH SENTIMENTAL COMEDIES _________________________________________________ DISSERTATION _________________________________________________ A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of the University of Kentucky By Kristie Bulleit Niemeier Lexington, Kentucky Director: Dr. Ana Rueda, Professor of Spanish Literature Lexington, Kentucky 2010 Copyright © Kristie Bulleit Niemeier 2010 For Anastasia Acknowledgements My sense of accomplishment in the completion of this project pales in comparison to the gratefulness that I feel to the numerous people who helped me along the way. I would like to express my appreciation to the Graduate School of the University of Kentucky, whose Dissertation Enhancement Award facilitated my archival research in Madrid. Judy Fugate, from the William T. Young Library, provided me with research advice and guidance that helped make my time in Spain as fruitful and efficient as possible. For their hospitality and patience I am most thankful for the staffs of the Biblioteca Nacional, Biblioteca Histórica Municipal de Madrid, the Hemeroteca Municipal and the Biblioteca de la Real Academia de Ciencias Morales y Políticas, all of whom granted me access to several materials that were of great value to this study. In particular, I would like to express my appreciation to Purificación Lafuente García from the Biblioteca Nacional and Asunción Miralles Imperial from the Real Academia de la Historia, both of whom provided valuable assistance to me in the research phase. Many professors have guided me in my doctoral journey, and I am very fortunate to have a few of them on my committee. During my class with Susan Carvalho I learned tips on writing and research that I used on a daily basis for this dissertation. Ed Stanton’s theory class inaugurated my doctoral studies, and since that first semester he has been a wonderful mentor and provided many insightful comments on this project. Brandon Look made empirical philosophy accessible to a non-philosopher, and prepared me to comprehend more about the foundations of Enlightenment and sensibility. iii If it were not for Ana Rueda, I might have missed out on an area of study that fascinates me on a daily basis. She has taught me that there are many ways to view Enlightenment and awakened in me the curiosity to explore what took place in the blank space on many reading lists that is otherwise known as the eighteenth century. I am so grateful to Ana for her guidance in conceptualizing this project, and for her advice on writing and translating. She has been a valuable professor, mentor and friend to me. Many family members and friends have walked this journey by my side, and their support has sustained me the whole way. My parents were the ones who instilled in me a love for reading and encouraged me to follow my dreams. The assistance with meals and childcare from my in-laws, in addition to their encouragement, has been invaluable in the midst of such a time-intensive project. Most of all, I would like to express my appreciation to my husband, Brian, for his unwavering support. The sacrifices he has made are, in many ways, greater than my own. Thank you, Brian. iv Table of Contents Acknowledgements………………………………….………………………………….. iii Introduction…………………………………………...………………………………….. v Chapter 1: Historical and Literary Background……………………………………...….. 1 History of Dueling……………………………………………………..……...…..2 Dueling and Honor in Golden Age Spain and Its Comedias……...…….…..…….4 Concluding Remarks……………………………………………………….…... 21

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