Spanish Golden Age Theater and Literature

Lope de Vega's Theater

From its early development, Lope de Vega's theater catered to popular tastes, achieving immense success. His works can be classified as follows:

• Plays on Spanish History and Legends: Examples include Fuenteovejuna and El Caballero de Olmedo.
• Comedies of Manners: Often called "entanglements," these plays focus on love, typically divided between urban (Madrid) and rural settings.
• Religious Comedies: Including mystery plays and comedies of saints.
• Mythological Comedies: Such as The Labyrinth of Crete.
• Comedies of Foreign Stories and Legends: Like The Punishment Without Vengeance.

Fuenteovejuna

This play explores popular rebellion and two conceptions of honor: an inherent quality and one acquired through virtuous acts. Love is portrayed as both sensual and pure. The Commander is a proud, arrogant tyrant who manipulates the Master. The Kings represent justice. Laurencia is an independent woman. Frondoso is in love with her. Mengo is a charming character.

The play follows a chronological order, using real places. The style is characterized by poetic decorum, with characters speaking according to their social status. Literary language includes anaphora, comparisons, and metaphors. Lyrical fragments are interspersed throughout. Asides and monologues are present. The meter is predominantly octosyllabic, with romances and quatrains. Dialogue is varied, including digressive and narrative elements.

Style

Colloquial language abounds with sayings and phrases. More complex language, figures of speech, and the theme of money are also present. The protagonist develops irony. The blind man is Lazarus's master.

Expository Texts

Expository texts aim to impart knowledge. They must be clear, precise, organized, and objective. Types include:

• Informative Texts: Addressed to a general audience, using clear language.
• Specialized Texts: Aimed at experts, employing technical terms.

Structure

Expository texts typically follow this structure:

• Introduction: Presents the topic and its key aspects.
• Development: The core of the text, organized in various ways:
  • Causal structure
  • List structure
  • Problem-solution structure
  • Comparative structure
  • Chronological structure
• Ways of organizing information:
  • Analytical structure
  • Synthesizing structure
  • Framed structure
  • Parallel structure

Picaresque Novel Features

• Autobiographical: The rogue narrates his life, often retrospectively.
• Anti-hero: Born to dishonorable parents, the rogue serves various masters and relies on cunning.
• Wandering: The rogue travels to survive.
• Social Climbing: The rogue aims to improve his social standing.
• Exotic Settings: Unlike realistic novels of the time.

Lazarillo de Tormes

This anonymous novel, narrated retrospectively as a letter, features Lázaro. It includes a prologue and seven unequal treatises. Key themes include social advancement and moral decline, with a critique of the ecclesiastical estate.