The Tragedy of Don Pedro: Old and New Christian Conflict in El valiente Campuzano

It has generally been assumed that a positive representation of a converso in an honor situation was impossible in the Golden Age theater. And while it may be true that there are no obvious New Christian heroes, this article examines El valiente Campuzano by the converso author Antonio Enríquez Gómez to show how a morisco, Don Pedro, was intended to be interpreted as the tragic hero of the drama. The play ostensibly exalts the Old Christian values of the apparent protagonist, the valentón Pedro de Campuzano, but by a variety of subtle techniques, Enríquez Gómez in reality achieves an indictment of the Old Christian notion of honor and exposes the bigotry and injustice of contemporary society. (GFD)