The Bases of Humor in the Contemporary Spanish Theatre

THE BASES OF HUMOR IN THE CONTEMPORARY SPANISH THEATRE By PHYLLIS ZATLIN BORING A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE COUNCIL OF' THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA December, 1965 Copyright by Phyllis Zatlin Boring 1965 ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author wishes to express her sincere apprecia- tion and thanks to her committee chairman, Dr. Prancis C. Hayes, and to Dr. Alfred Hower for the time-consuming task of reading and correcting the original draft of this dissertation, and to the other members of her committee, Prof. Pedro Villa Pernandes, Dr. Murray Lasley, and Dr. Maxwell Wallace, for their he?p and encouragement throughout her graduate study. iii TABLE OP CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION 1 Chapter I. MECHANICAL ASPECTS OP HUMOR 48 II. MACABRE HUMOR 86 III. COMEDY OP CARICATURE AND CHARACTER ... 111 IV. HUMOR SET IN THE PAST 157 V. SATIRE OP THE PRESENT 201 VI. PANTAST AND LUNACY 231 CONCLUSION 278 BIBLIOGRAPHY 284 INDEX OP CONTEMPORARY SPANISH PLAYS 294 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 299 iv INTRODUCTION "Prom the beginning, humor has been an essential ingredient of the dramatic literature of Spain, ever ready to appease what has been called 'la c'olera del 1 " espanol sentado. 1 In the "Auto de los Reyes Magos," first extant work in the Spanish theatre, there is some humor in the portrayal of the Jewish counselors to King Herod. Although no other plays are available for study until the end of the fifteenth century, scholars know from references in Alfonso el Sabio's Siete Partldas that Spain developed a type of realistic, satirical play called .luegos de escarnio . These secular works were condemned for their licentiousness, but even the serious religious drama was not devoid of the humorous, realistic element. Judging from the development of drama in other European countries and from the sixteenth century manuscripts that are available, critics of Spanish theatre know that the shepherd of the early nativity play soon developed Into a comic character, a simple or bo bo . Prom the .luegos de escarnio and the use of the comic shepherd, Spanish playwrights developed and perfected a one-act farce whose humor was based on 1 " the more or less realistic portrayal of certain popular types, usually drawn from the lower classes. This form of farce may be recognised in the pa so and entrerne's of the Renaissance and the Golden Age, in the sainete of the eighteenth century, in the ênero ohico of the nineteenth- It is significant to note that these humorous plays, which were essentially popular in nature, have often outlived the more ambitious works being written at the same time. Cervantes, as a playwright, i^ remembered generally, not so much for his longer, more serious works, as for his excellent entremeses . Ihe eighteenth century in Spanish drama would be almost a void were it not for the sainetes of Ramo*n de la Crus. At the end of the nineteenth century some of the best theatr-3 produced in Spain was the ênero ohico of such playwrights as Bicardo de la Vega. Because few medieval plays have been preserved, the history of the Spanish drama really begins in the late fifteenth century with Juan del Encina. One of Encina 1 s best known works is the "Auto del repelo*n, which deals with student pranks played on stupid peasants and doubtless steis from the lost medieval .iuertos de esoarnlo and .lueaos ascolares . The students throw the countrymen's vegetables -L.to the mud, drive away their donkeys, and pull their hair, 'tfuch of the humor depends upon the peasant dialect, the naive expressions of the rustics, their Hegro-like misuse of long words. 5 We find here already two of the commonest farce types, the student and the hobo or simple , the rural simpleton. 2 This is a popular play, with humor that often verges on slapstick. Encina, however, ftlftO wrote for the aristoc- racy. In his eglogas he introduces shepherds who are held up to scorn because they try unsuccessfully to imitate the manners and courtly love of the upper class. In "Egloga representada en requesta de unos amores," for example, Encina presents a knight dressed as a shepherd who is a rival of Mingo, a married shepherd, for the love of a shepherdess. The knight wins his lady and Mingo becomes the object of the audience's laughter.-5 In other plays, Encina uses the comic device of sleep to make his shepherds humorous. In "Egloga de tres pastores," a tragedy, there is the burlesque element of one shepherd's sleeping through another's account of his lamentable problems. ' Again, in "Egloga de Pl£cida y Vitoriano" some shepherds will not aid in a burial until they have had a nap. Among the other outstanding contributors to the early development of Spanish drama were Sanchez de Badajoz, Lucas Fernandez, Gil Vicente, and Torres Naharro. G. T. Horthup considers Sanchez de Badajoz to be the link between the religious drama and the later farce in Spain. Writing in the first quarter of the sixteenth century, Badajoz placed comic episodes In his religious allegories; he Introduced many of the stock comic types of the period, such as the sacristan, the Ifegro, the Moor, the boastful soldier. One such braggart soldier appears in the "Parsa teologal." ine soldier has been badly frightened but wijhes to conceal his fright. Lying to explain tlie loud exclamations he made in his fear, he says that he has a toothache. A dentist soon appears and begins pulling the soldier's teeth, promising to send a bill in the morning. ^ Badajoz also introduces on stage the figure of the devil, a favorite comic type in medieval European drama. .Along with many of his contemporaries, he satirizes the clergy and he is harsher with them than the other playwrights of his time. £ Lucas I'emdndez and Gil Vicente, along with many anonymous authors, satirized the friar and religious orders. The friar was satirized for such things as selling bulls and fathering illegitimate children. He was portrayed as a rather stupid person, with little dignity or moral character. Similarly public officials, such as the alguacil , were criticized for thjir dishonesty and for their injustices. "Social satire is to play a consider- able part in the entrem es as it develops. It is a form that in every way lends Itself to such subjects." 10 Essentially Lucas Fernandez co-j.ti.-rjc.J. the pattern T already set by Etieina, writing farces end Iglogas . Iis shepherds are more vulgar la their language than -ere Encina's. 11 He is credited with turning the conventional pastoral play into farce. 12 Rather than introduce aristocrats disguised as shepherds, he introduces real shepherds and makes fun of courtly love. In his "Farsa o ouasl comedia" he presents a burlesque courtship of a lady by a shepherd, and in his *l(lagA Bttvra" hi presents a hermit, a taffy-vender, and a friar who fight over a shepherdess. Ctil Vicente, who wrote in both Castllian and Portu- guese, is noted for his ironic vio.v of certain types from 1 society, for his blend of social satire and poetry. -5 Like Badaôz, hn ~ses the -'.evil as a character. In "Auto da barca do inferno" he uses the comic device of having someone call the devil names. In "Auto da barca do purga- torlo" a character has seni-comic, semi -philosophical 14 speeches with the devil and with an angel. The devil again appears in a "Faroa chamada auto das fadas." In this case the devil has be~n called to appear by a witch. The play also contains an element of satire against the clergy, as do "Farca dos flslcos," "Templo d' Apollo," and other of Vicente* s works. 15 Vicente also concerns himself with marital problems. In "Auto da India," for example, he shows how a wife plays one man against another while being unfaithful to her absent husband. 16 In his longer work, Oomedia del viudo . he achieves much comic effect when a friend of the widower complains about 17 his unbearable wife. A common theme in later farces is that of literary parody; Vicente already introduces this idea in "Amadis de Gaola," which satirizes the language of the novels of chivalry. 18 " " Among these early playwrights of the late fifteenth century and the early sixteenth century, Torres Waharro has been given credit for lending the greatest impetus to the development of humor in the Spanish drama. 1 ^ Torres Naharro es el padre del humorismo en la escena espaHola. Las crudas bufonadas de los pastores de Encina se han tornado en fina crftica humorfstica en labios de los criados de Torres Naharro. 2n las Iglogas de aqull hay exageracio*n comica; en las comedias de este, interpretacio'n humorfstica. Es un humorismo de superior categorfa, porque es mas honda la observacidn y mas universal. Detra*s de las ironfas y satiras del autor de la tropaladla hay una filosoffa moral, un sent! do etico, una personalidad. 20 Specifically, Torres Naharro is given credit for intro- ducing to the Spanish stage true humor, the comic prologue, the type of the gracioso and graciosa so common to the Golden Age, and the first models of the comedies of 21 intrigue and customs. His works have also been noted for their anti-clerical satire—a comic element that disappeared with the censorship of the Counterreform when the sacristan became the substitute for the friar— their portrayal of character, and their "honor calderoniano. 22 One device frequently found in his works is the use of several different languages.

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