Ordo Profetarum and Comedy in the Auto de la Sibila Casandra

ORDO PROFETARUM AND COMEDY IN THE AUTO DE LA SIBILA CASANDRA Harry Siebeh, Johns Hopkins University Some recent studies of Gil Vicente's Auto de la Sibila Casandra have tended to concentrate on "extra-literary" aspects of the work (its origins, methods of approach)' at the expense of its literary nature, or as Tzvetan Todorov has written, the "littérarité" of any text.2 Professor Thomas R. Hart, while properly viewing the play as poetry, insisted that its "dramatic unity" could be conceived only through a symbolic or allegorical reading.3 The text means more than what appears on the surface if read in the light of medieval and renaissance definitions of allegory. Professor Leo Spitzer took the opposite point of view in suggesting that the play's unity is to be found on the "literal" level. Vicente's drama deals literally with sibyls, prophets and Christ's birth. The unifying element is the "central" theme of prophecy.4 Spitzer and Hart further disagreed on the interpretation of folk or rustic humor which related primarily to Salomon 's efforts to persuade Casandra to marry him. Are his language and references to his lineage and wealth to be understood only as humor and wit (Spitzer)? Or do they constitute an integral part of an allegory in which Vicente portrays Casandra's pride in her refusal to marry Salomon, a figura Christi (Hart)? Both critics attempted to reconcile the deep division within the play's structure, a division Ticknor described as "the spirit of the ancient mystery and of a modern vaudeville."5 The fact that the play begins as comedy and ends with a scene of adoration of the Christ child is not strange for Spitzer. He answers Ticknor by stating that "there exists ... no "hodgepodge ' of secular and religious motifs, but a natural growth of the latter out of the former (the solemn mystère develops out of an unassuming pastoral comedy ) ."6 Although I agree with Spitzer's analysis in general, I will argue that his parenthetical dismissal of what he calls "pastoral comedy" does not properly reflect its full presence, and more importantly , its implications for the play's structure. Gil Vicente uses ritual aspects associated with comedy as a vehicle to dramatize the serious outcome of pride and false prophecy (discord). The further use of certain structuring elements of comic plot also allows the play to unfold gradually toward a "happy ending"7 on both the "secular" and "religious" levels. The opening scenes of the play reflect a conventional struggle of comic plots. The handsome and witty Salomón is attempting to persuade a young and beautiful shepherdess, Casandra, to marry him. Casandra rejects his offer from the beginning: "¿Quién mete ninguno andar / ni porfiar / en casamientos comigo? / Pues séame Dios testigo / que yo digo / que no me quiero casar" (p. 43; 1-6). Marriage for Casandra (and for all women, she implies) is described in the following terms:¿Qual es la dama polida que su vida juega, pues pierda casando, su libertad cautivando, ortorgando que sea siempre vencida, desterrada en mano agena, siempre en pena, abatida y sujuzgada?¡Y piensan que ser casada que es alguna buena estrena! (pp. 43-44; 13-22). Vicente's audience (the queen Eleanor and her companions) are led to expect Salomon's offer of marriage to be rejected . Salomón, while communicating a message from Casandra's aunts, manages to include his own marriage proposal : Cas. No te entiendo. Sal.Anda, ven que por tu bien te enbían a llamar tus tías, y luego d'aquí a tres días alegrías ternas tú y yo también. Cas. ¿Qué me quieren? Sal.Que me veas y me creas para hecho de casar (p. 44; 33-43). The Sibyls, as well as the Prophets, through line 414 (halfway through the play) are all unified in their efforts to persuade Casandra that marriage is desirable. Moses, who sums up various speeches, says: "Blasfemas, que el casamiento / es sacramento, / y el primero que fue" (p. 54; 339-41). God, creator of Adam and Eve, "los casó / y trató el casamiento, / y por su ordenamiento / es sacramento / que al...