Benavente on Shakespearean Characters

BENAVENTE ON SHAKESPEAREAN CHARACTERS BENAVENTE, INFLUENCED by Shakespeare in many of his dramas,l has also written extensively on various Shakespearean problems such as acting, staging, and the like.2 Benavente fancied himself an expert on all matters pertaining to Shakespeare. He quotes constantly and often dogmatically from Shakespearean texts: ''The rest is silence. This does not signify the remainder as many translators of Shakespeare have understood it; the rest means . . . repose which meaning it still has in English and it was so used almost exclusively in the time of Shakespeare.'>S Even numerology interested him. He commented that Shakespeare's birth date, 1564, has digits totaling 16. Twice sixteen equals 1616, the date of Shakespeare's death, which fact impressed Benavente greatly to judge by the number of times he refers to it (O.C., XI, 174; O.C., XI, 70; O.C., XI, 297; O.C., IX, 697). When Benavente visited Stratford on Avon, he found the general atmosphere congenial and full of "the spirit of sweet Shakespeare» (O.C., IX, 700), but he was shocked to discover that most Englishmen knew Shakespeare only superficially and then only the most popular works. He distrusted English admiration for Shakespeare as dogmatic, cold, and insincere and felt that the Shakespearean spirit was neither very English nor very Protestant (O.C., IX, 1028). As a playwright, much of Benavente's interest focused on Shakespearean characters, who, he felt, given their point of view, behaved acceptably and were properly motivated. In The Merchant of Venice the only one right was Shylock. All deceived him, stole from him, or mistreated him. Shylock had to be a villain, but Shakespeare gave him life and so must have pitied him. His works are full of traitors and human perfidy, but even Iago's conduct Shakespeare seems at times to justify. Indeed, the most cogent expressions of free will are made by his villains (O.C., XI, 259). King Lear, the work Benavente's father was reading when he died (O.C., XI, 566-567), was Benavente's favorite play. He was impressed by Lear's great spiritual implications. Dispossessed of his kingdom, deserted by his courtiers and servants, and punished by the ingrati1 . Kessel Schwartz, "Benavente and Shakespearian Drama," S-CMLA Bulletin (Spring, 1961). 2. Kessel Schwartz, "Benavente and Shakespearian Drama," Romance Notes, I, No. 2 (Spring 1960). 3. Jacinto Benavente, ObMs Campletas (Madrid, Aguilar, 1950-1958), XI, p. 488. Citations frOm Benavente are to this edition. 60 1961 BENAVENlE ON SHAKESPEARE 61 tude of his older daughters, Lear pays for his inability to appreciate the rectitude of the youngest, Cordelia, who is truth and kindness personified. We all pity the kind and unfortunate father and do not forgive the daughters when they cast him out. Yet, it is not Shakespeare who is the avenger. Shakespearean justice is impartial. Death and tragedy are the same for all. His characters, good and bad, fall victims to the same brutal destiny, leaving to the spectator the duty of moralizing their position. In the spectator's role, Benavente finds the ingratitude of the older daughters just, because the King unjustly divided his kingdom (G.C., VII, 68). Benavente read Hamlet countless times in the original, in a Moratin Spanish translation and in a French translation by Victor Hugo's son. In addition to stressing constantly the necessity for a young Hamlet and the twisting of dates and facts by Shakespeare to accommodate his friend, Burbage, Benavente attempts to refute the possible homosexuality of Hamlet. It would be easy to maintain that Hamlet was homosexual in his love for his father, hatred of his mother, and in his discussions with his friend, Horatio, and others, but Benavente denies it as well as any potentiality on Hamlet's part of Oedipal love for his mother (G.C., XI, 338). Hamlet's attempt to decipher the meaning of life and reality intrigues Benavente. To test the king, Hamlet will put on the play, for "The play's the thing," and he analyzes the various motivations which cause Hamlet to recast the story. Hamlet, insofar as his speeches are concerned, has a passive role and is a spectator rather than an actor...