Not So "Happily Ever After": Equivocal Ideology in Plays by Calderon, Hurtado de Mendoza, And Rojas Zorrilla‪.‬

MANY of us have certain expectations when reading or viewing a seventeenth-century Spanish play. We expect a handsome nobleman and a breathtaking damsel; we expect a comical sidekick in the way of a gracioso; we expect complications arising from parents or from rival suitors; and we expect a "happily ever after" ending. These predictions derive, in part, from the fact that by the early seventeenth century, Spanish playwrights often followed a formula for their comedias, one that Lope de Vega aptly described in his "Arte nuevo de hacer comedias en este tiempo." The mere titles of the three plays under consideration -- Hombre pobre todo es trazas by Calderon, Los empenos del mentir by Hurtado de Mendoza, and Abre el ojo by Rojas Zorrilla--hint at plots replete with duplicity. While skillful deception is certainly another expectation of a seventeenth-century comedia de enredo, these three plays deviate from the anticipated formula in a number of ways: they employ con artists instead of gallant heroes; they frequently subvert traditional values and make them the subject of satire; they ridicule or omit the customary authority figure, who so often restores order; and they conclude with a not so "happily ever after" ending. Between the years of 1587 and 1648 a flurry of protests against secular theatre barraged the Spanish monarchy (see Cotarelo y Mori's Bibliografia de las controversias sobre la licitud del teatro en Espana). Critics such as Juan de Mariana attacked plays and commercial playhouses on moral grounds, complaining that the rosy endings were tacked on solely to appease the censors, and that plays were filled with sinful material that would have a pernicious effect on the populace (qtd. in Cotarelo y Mori 430). Others defended the theatre, arguing that the plays promoted positive social mores, such as honor and virtue. The transmission of ideology in early modern Spanish plays has continued to be the subject of debate among present day critics. A. A. Parker and Bruce Wardropper present the comedia in terms of resolving conflicts and restoring order. Jose Antonio Maravall and Jose Maria Diez Borque both affirm "baroque" theatre's conservative nature and view it as an instrument of state propaganda that subjected society to a dominant discourse. Like Maravall and Diez Borque, Charlotte Stern uses a sociological approach in her analysis of Lope de Vega, but she opens her interpretation to allow for the contradictions between art and life that spring from the theatre. Other critics, such as William Blue and Margaret Greer, pinpoint these contradictions and expand upon them to reveal dormant, potentially subversive messages encoded within early modern Spanish plays. I intend to contribute to this re-evaluation of theatre by discussing the equivocal ideology presented in Hombre pobre todo es trazas, Los empenos del mentir, and Abre el ojo. While these plays cannot be said to advocate deception as a new virtue, their characters, themes, and endings suggest an ironic view of traditional values and a dissolution of the hierarchical social order.