Verbal Subtlety in Castro's El amor constante

VERBAL SUBTLETY IN CASTRO'S EL AMOR CONSTANTE Georgia Pappanastos, Marquette University In a recent article investigating the malediction device in Golden Age drama Raymond R. MacCurdy makes the following comment: "By and large, whatever his merits, Castro is not usually thought of as a subtle dramatist."1 Certainly Professor MacCurdy's statement echoes the general sentiments of comedia scholars with regard to the dramatic technique of the Valencian playwright. But such views may have preconditioned critics to disregard the possibility of subtlety in Guillen de Castro and consequently to divert their analytical efforts eleswhere. By discussing two examples of verbal subtlety in the dramatist's first play, El amor constante, I would hope to prove that Castro is perhaps a more complex author than is usually thought and at the same time offer an alternative to previous interpretations of the play's title in relationship with the dramatist's purpose . Since an extensive plot summary of El amor constante is readily available in José María Roca Franquesa's study of this play,2 1 shall only briefly present the situation preceding the passages under consideration. In Act I the King of Hungary has just freed his brother Prince Celauro after 15 years in prison in order to verify his suspicions that Nisida, a dama of the court who has long disdained the ruler's amorous advances , is in love with the prince. In the reunion of the two lovers, Nisida reveals to Celauro that at the time of his imprisonment she was pregnant, that subsequently in the privacy of her chambers she gave birth to their son whom she then entrusted to a servant after first placing around the baby's neck a jeweled cross together with "la sortija . . . / del diamante que me diste, / diciendo, al dármela, que era / menos que tu pecho firme" ( I, 9b) .3 Thereafter Nisida had been unable to ascertain the whereabouts of the child. As the scene progresses, Nisida expresses her fears of the King and has a vision of death which causes her to feel faint. When Celauro tries to comfort her, the King enters and what he sees confirms his suspicions. Overcome with jealousy, the monarch dismisses Celauro from his presence and then attempts to force himself upon Nisida, only to be interrupted by the Queen. Before her arrival, however, during the struggle between pursuer and pursued, the King describes his burning passion and then suddenly the conversation veers in another direction : Rey. Es del infierno mi pena; 1 herido te ha tu sortija. 2 Sangre te pudo sacar; 3 si es diamante, no te espante,4 pues es cierto que un diamante5 con otro se ha de labrar. 6 Nisida. Mi sangre has visto, y el velia7 no me ha sido de provecho;8 más duro tienes el pecho, 9 pues no se ablanda con ella; / 10 mas ¿qué efetos ... 11 Rey.No des voces.12 Nísida. . . . hará en ti, duro homicida,13 pues siendo tan conocida, 14 la ves y no la conoces? 15 (I, 12b)4 17 There are several levels of meaning in this exchange which depend upon the two key words sangre and diamante and their inter-action. On the purely literal level, Nisida, in struggling with the King, has scratched herself with her ring and drawn blood; but even the sight of the blood does not restrain her attacker. In a metaphorical sense, however, sangre is synonymous with parentesco.5 And indeed it is in this latter sense that, upon the arrival of the Queen, Nisida uses the fact of her lineage (sangre) as a weapon in her defense as she pleads for the Queen's support.6 Thus on a metaphorical level Nísida's sangre (lineage) "tan conocida" likewise fails to have a restraining influence upon the King. According to Covarrubias (p. 469), the word diamante is derived from the Latin a domo "por ser indomable, según la opinión de algunos, a razón de ser tan dura que con ningún instrumento se labra, si no es con otro diamante y con la sangre del cabrón caliente." The lexicographer also points out that because of its...