Stoicism, Seneca, and Seventeenth- Century Spanish Tragedy

This exciting study is essential reading for students and scholars of theater. It challenges the premise of most critical interpretations of the comedia, which are based on the notion of the originality of Lope de Vega's dramatic theory and practice and his repudiation of Classical models and the Senecan style, which formed the nucleus of sixteenth-century tragedy, a popular but short-lived form. These structural elements did not significantly influence Lope; he and other seventeenth-century Spanish playwrights took not the structure, but themes, character-types, and a certain sensibility--the use of horror and foreboding, murder and suicide, the revelation of corpses, some set-phrases and imagery-- and, importantly, a sense of ethical purpose, from the Roman dramatist. The book identifies thirty-one plays from the period 1596 to 1653 as a body of Golden Age tragedy with shared roots in Senecan tragedy and Stoic moral philosophy. The works, by Lope de Vega, Tirso de Molina, Calderón de la Barca, Mira de Amescua, Ruiz de Alarcón and others, are not homogenous, but they do have common origins, themes, sensibilities and motives. In addition to its grounding in Christian dogma and Aristotelian theory, Spanish tragedy was backed by a rich Stoic ethical heritage and steeped in Senecan dramatic practice.

This exciting study is essential reading for students and scholars of theater. It challenges the premise of most critical interpretations of the comedia, which are based on the notion of the originality of Lope de Vega's dramatic theory and practice and his repudiation of Classical models and the Senecan style, which formed the nucleus of sixteenth-century tragedy, a popular but short-lived form.