The Role of the Shepherd in the Pre-Lopean Drama of Diego Sanchez de Badajoz

conclusion would seem to disregard the many parallels pointed out by FuciUa between Leonarda and Angela. The existence of these paraUels can be explained, however, if we trace the sources of both comedias one step further . According to Frank W. Chandler, the above mentioned passage in El soldado Pindaro is based on Masuccio's twenty-sixth novellaJ According to T. Gwynfor Griffith, Bandello's twentyfifth navetta in the fourth part of his novelle, which FucUla presents as the source of La viuda valenciana, is also derived from Masuccio's twenty-sixth novella.™ It can then be concluded that the similarities between La viuda valenciana and La dama duende are traceable to a single point of origin, Masuccio 's novella. While Lope de Vega borrowed from Bandello's reworking of the original Italian tale, Calderón de la Barca borrowed from a Spanish imitation of the same novella. The exigencies of the comedia de capa y espada together with this common source can explain the similarities between the plays. In conclusion, I beHeve that (1) Leonarda's amorous actions in La viuda valenciana are not derived from the carpe diem temptation but, paraUeling the BandelHan source, are directly attributable to the machinations of the god Love; and (2) the paraUels that exist between La viuda valenciana and La dama duende axe not necessarily evidence of Calderón's borrowings from Lope, but can be attributed to their common source, Masuccio's twentysixth novella. FOOTNOTES 1 Joseph G. Fucilla, "Lope's Viuda Valenciana and its Bandellian Source." Bulletin of the Comediantes, 10 (1958), 3-6. 2 Joseph G. Fucilla, "La Dama Duende and La Viuda Valenciana" Bulletin of the Comediantes , 22 (1970), 29-32. 3 Fucilla, "Lope's Viuda Valenciana," p. 4. 4 AU references to La Viuda valenciana are to the B.A.E. edition, Vol. XXIV. 5 Tutte le opere di Matteo Bandello ( Milano , 1935) Voi. 2, p. 787. 6 Ibid., p. 789. 7 Fucilla, "La Dama Duende," p. 31. 8 The author's "Céspedes y Meneses and Calderón's La dama duende." Romance Notes, 11 (1970), 599-603. 9 Frank W. Chandler, Romances of Roguery (New York, 1899), p. 375. '0T. Gwynfor Griffith, Bandello's Fiction (Oxford, 1955), p. 121. Ai?^iA THE ROLE OF THE SHEPHERD IN THE PRE-LOPEAN DRAMA OF DIEGO SANCHEZ DE BADAJOZ Donna Gustafson, California The need for relief from the didactic tone of the early reHgious theatre gave rise to the character of the shepherd as bearer of levity and laughter, one who could make supportable the weighty ethical and theological themes of the dramatist. The shepherd evolved in the early Spanish theatre as prologuist and stereotyped rustic; he is the forerunner of the gracioso of the Golden Age drama. Although his wit, tricks State University at San José and dramatic functions are not so sophisticated as those of his Golden Age successors, his role is similar: to provide a change of pace to the serious themes of the play and to humour his audience into a receptive mood for the action to follow. It is in the sixteenth century work of Diego Sánchez de Badajoz' that we find the most evolved shepherd-comic of the pre-Lopean theatre: he is not only prologuist, but also enters the main body of the farsas and his functions extend to those of foil and trickster and, most important, exegete. His task as prologuist is to attract the interest of the spectators and to hold it while he expounds on some moral or theological topic frequently related to the theme of the farsa to follow. Often he is chorus to the action and at times takes a principal role in the action. He is in all the farsas the catalyst who either by his rhetoric or his dramatic function gives thematic and dramatic unity to the plays. The Shepherd as Prologuist The pastoral prologue was already a tradition by the time of Diego Sánchez. As early as the fourth century Donatus had argued that the author of a comedy should use the opening of his play to inform the audience about the origin and the nature of his plot, and the prologuist...