Fuente Ovejuna

Lope de Vega was the creator of the national theater in Spain, and his achievements in drama are comparable in many respects to those of Shakespeare in England. Lope embraced all of Spanish life in his drama, combining strands of previous Spanish drama, history, and tradition to produce a drama with both intellectual and popular appeal. A prodigious writer whom Cervantes called the "monster of nature," Lope is attributed by his biographer with nearly 2,000 plays, 400 religious dramas, and hundreds of pieces of poetry and literature in every form. He was also involved throughout his life in numerous amorous and military adventures and was ordained as a priest in 1614. In his didactic poem New York Art of Writing Plays (1609), Lope defined his primary purpose as entertainment of the audience. He recommended a three-act play in which the outcome is withheld until the middle of the third act, when the denouement should be swiftly developed. Maintaining that the possibilities of classical theater had been exhausted, he advocated casting Terence and Plautus aside, that is, abandoning the classical unities. His definition of drama was eclectic, admitting combinations of comedy and tragedy, noble and lower-class characters, a variety of verse forms as demanded by different situations, and a wide panoply of themes---national, foreign, mythological, religious, heroic, pastoral, historical, and contemporary. His major strength was the execution of plot; he created no character of the depth or complexity of Shakespeare's major figures. He captured the essence of Spanish character with his treatment of the themes of honor, Catholic faith, the monarchy, and jealousy. In Peribanez (1610?), a lower-class hero is shown to be more honorable than a nobleman. King Henry the Just, a fictional creation, pardons Peribanez for his revenge killing of the nobleman who contrived to dishonor him by abusing his new bride. In Fuente Ovejuna, a play based on an event narrated in the Spanish chronicles, the people resist a cruel overlord, refusing to join the army he tries to mount against King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel. After the overlord interrupts a village wedding, the townspeople of Fuente Ovejuna collectively murder him and finally receive pardon and gratitude from the Catholic kings. Toward the end of his life Lope lost popularity, but all of Madrid attended his funeral, and his death was mourned throughout Spain. Albert Camus adapted his play, The Knight of Olmedo (1623?), for French-speaking audiences. Lope de Vega fue uno de los más importantes poetas y dramaturgos del Siglo de Oro español y uno de los más prolíficos de la literatura universal. Cultivó todos los géneros literarios: desde las obras pastoriles La Arcadia y Los pastores de Belén, en las incluyó numerosos poemas, hasta la novela bizantina El peregrino en su patria, que incluye cuatro autos sacramentales, pasando por las novelas cortas de tipo italianizante La Filomena y La Circe. A la tradición de La Celestina, se adscribe La Dorotea, donde narra sus frustrados amores juveniles con Elena Osorio. Sin embargo, donde realmente vemos al Lope renovador es en el género dramático. Después de una larga experiencia escribiendo para la escena, compuso el Arte nuevo de hacer comedias en este tiempo, donde expone sus teorías dramáticas. Sus obras más conocidas son las que tratan los problemas de abusos por parte de los nobles, situaciones frecuentes en el panorama político de la España del siglo XV. Entre ellas se encuentran: Fuente Ovejuna, El mejor alcalde, el rey, Peribáñez y el comendador de Ocaña y El caballero de Olmedo. De tema amoroso son La doncella Teodor, El perro del hortelano, El castigo del discreto, La hermosa fea y La moza de cántaro.