Doctoral Dissertation Template
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UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE A THEOLOGY OF ANGELS: THE REPRESENTATION OF SPIRITUAL BEINGS IN TEN DRAMATIC WORKS OF TIRSO DE MOLINA, ODEM A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY By MARIAN AMOS KASPEREK Norman, Oklahoma 2013 A THEOLOGY OF ANGELS: THE REPRESENTATION OF SPIRITUAL BEINGS IN TEN DRAMATIC WORKS OF TIRSO DE MOLINA, ODEM A DISSERTATION APPROVED FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF MODERN LANGUAGES, LITERATURES, AND LINGUISTICS BY ______________________________ Dr. A. Robert Lauer, Chair ______________________________ Dr. Bruce A. Boggs ______________________________ Dr. Luis Cortest ______________________________ Dr. David J. Hildner ______________________________ Dr. Grady C. Wray ______________________________ Dr. James J. Yoch © Copyright by MARIAN AMOS KASPEREK 2013 All Rights Reserved. Dedicated to Miss Barbara Lewis and Mrs. Marcy Wolsieffer, for the countless hours they have spent investing in the lives of their students, for the lifelong love of Spanish literature and pedagogy they shared with me, for the constant source of encouragement and support they have provided, and, most of all, for their continual graciousness, humility, and love for God they have consistently demonstrated. Acknowledgements I would like to express my gratitude to the many people who have made this project possible. I would like to thank the professors from the department of Modern Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics from the University of Oklahoma. I have learned much in your classes and appreciate the time you have invested in my academic training. I would like to offer a special word of thanks to each of my committee members from the University of Oklahoma: Dr. Bruce Boggs, Dr. Luis Cortest, Dr. Grady Wray, and Dr. James Yoch. I have enjoyed our many conversations throughout this process and have benefitted greatly from your suggestions, comments, and criticisms. I especially appreciate your flexibility and patience during the final weeks of this project. I also wish to express my deep appreciation to Dr. David Hildner from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Thank you for your willingness to participate despite the distance, for the graciousness with which you offered criticism, and for the many questions which provoked me to further study and consideration. None of this project would have been possible without the valuable expertise and direction of my chair, Dr. A. Robert Lauer from the University of Oklahoma. I appreciate the many hours he has devoted to the refinement of this project, the extreme care and attention to detail he has consistently offered, and, most of all, the iv enthusiasm for Golden Age Drama he has shared with me. Thank you very much for all the advice and help you have offered over the years. I would be remiss if I neglected to mention those in my family who have provided much needed support and encouragement during this process. I am grateful to my parents for their love and generosity. I deeply appreciate my wife, Sarah, for all the hours she spent patiently listening to me talk about Tirso‟s plays and for her valuable help in proofreading my dissertation. I especially thank her for all the extra work that she did at home that made it possible for me to have the time I needed to read, study, and write. Finally, I would like to thank my son, Titus. His smiles, laughs, and frequent visits to my office to help me reorganize my books provided much needed distractions from the pressures of school. v Table of Contents Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................... iv List of Tables ................................................................................................................. viii Abstract ............................................................................................................................ ix Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: An Overview of Tirsian Studies ..................................................................... 4 The Dramatist‟s Life ................................................................................................... 4 Issues of Authorship ................................................................................................... 6 General Trends in Tirsian Criticism ......................................................................... 14 Early Tirsian Studies .......................................................................................... 15 Tirso and the Lopean Drama .............................................................................. 19 Excellence of Characterization ........................................................................... 21 Morality and Religion ......................................................................................... 26 Didacticism and the Comedia ............................................................................. 31 Chapter 2: Angels and Demons in 17th Century Spain ................................................... 34 The Prominence of Angels in the Golden Age ......................................................... 34 Christian Angelology in the Medieval Period .......................................................... 37 Approaching a Scholastic Theology of Angels ........................................................ 41 A Thomistic Theology of Angels ............................................................................. 52 Chapter 3: Angels and Demons in the Plays of Doubtful Authorship ........................... 70 The auto: La madrina del cielo ................................................................................ 70 The Theological Drama: El condenado por desconfiado ......................................... 89 The Hagiographic Plays ......................................................................................... 108 vi El caballero de gracia ...................................................................................... 109 La joya de las montañas ................................................................................... 118 La ninfa del cielo .............................................................................................. 127 Chapter 4: Angels and Demons in the Plays of Undisputed Authorship ..................... 138 The Hagiographic Plays (cont.) .............................................................................. 138 Santo y sastre .................................................................................................... 138 Quien no cae, no se levanta .............................................................................. 146 La Santa Juana, trilogy .................................................................................... 156 El mayor desengaño ......................................................................................... 180 The Biblical Play: La mujer que manda en casa .................................................... 187 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 194 References .................................................................................................................... 204 Appendix A: Revisiting the Conundrum of Tirso‟s Date of Birth ............................... 217 vii List of Tables Table 1. The Plays of Doubtful Authorship ................................................................. 202 Table 2. The Plays of Undisputed Authorship ............................................................. 203 viii Abstract As a Mercedarian Friar in seventeenth-century Spain, Tirso de Molina composed many dramatic works in which religious themes and images are prevalent. While critics have investigated various aspects of theology and religious imagery in his works, to date no comprehensive study has explored the roles that supernatural beings fulfill in his drama. Consequently, the purpose of this thesis is to analyze the way in which Tirso represents spiritual beings in ten of his dramatic works. The study will focus on the plays in which angels and/or demons appear in the cast of characters. All of the works for analysis in this study portray the spiritual struggle that the human characters experience in different circumstances of their lives and the role that the angels and demons play in that struggle. The plays represent four different subgenres, including an auto, a theological drama, seven hagiographic works, and a biblical play. The narratives include stories of redemption and conversion, suffering and martyrdom, and persecution and service. The textual analysis will be contextualized within the framework of St. Thomas Aquinas‟s Summa Theologiae as well as the biblical evidence that forms the basis for angelology. Special attention will be given to the functions that the spiritual beings perform in the works, the way in which the dramatist chooses to represent them, the similarities and differences between the different subgenres, and the way in which his works would help shape the popular belief of the audiences that watched his plays in the corrales. ix Introduction As Sancho Panza and his master were discussing the extent of Dulcinea‟s enchantment, they happened upon a group of odd-looking characters. In response to Don Quixote‟s enquiry as