Ornamental and Organic Conceits in Moreto's El lego del Carmen

ORNAMENTAL AND ORGANIC CONCEITS IN MORETO'S EL LEGO DEL CARMEN ROGER MOORE, St. Thomas University Agustín Moreto seems to have received recognition from his contemporaries on account of his «donoso gracejo» and of his «festiva agudeza.»(1) Since his studies at Alcalá were «certainly more likely to develop his sense of order than to stir into flame any latent imaginative fires, »(2) one is entitled to expect within his theater a more structured form of conceit than the «rasgos conceptistas» predicated by Florian Smieja,(3) or the frequently out of place jokes and puns to which Ruth Lee Kennedy alludes.(4) Indeed, Frank P. Casa is of this opinion and he outlines the importance of prophecies which spring from conceits at the same time as he studies the vitality of the Pauline imagery which abounds in El lego del Carmen. (5) The term «conceit» is often used indiscriminately to cover many different forms of wit and it is essential to provide some definitions before proceeding any further. Arthur Terry, following the lines of thought of James Smith(6) and A. A. Parker, (7) has distinguished between ornamental and organic conceits.(8) The former are limited, self-contained pieces of wit, whilst the latter have a continuing, hence organic, function within the work, (9) which often involves the elaboration of a central theme.(10) Both kinds of conceit are present in El lego del Carmen o San Franco de Sena, and I now intend to show how the play is structured around specific types of conceits which can be studied under the two groupings suggested by Terry. In Agustín Moreto's play there are many ornamental conceits which provide a wealth of material. In the first place, there are numerous humorous conceits-mostly puns-which occur throughout the work. Sometimes they seem incongruous, but this is usually when there is a conflict between the two worlds (one ideal, de santos, and one real, de bandoleros )(\[) which are represented. In the second place, some conceits, again usually puns, reveal a sharp social criticism. These are concentrated in Act I (Lucrecia's speech on her impending marriage) and in Act III (Dato's ideas on the necessity of marketable wounds for successful begging). Dato, the gracioso, is a preeminent conceptista and the majority of the play's humor can be associated with him. Dato's witticisms operate at the level of the pun, which is often referred to, at least in English, as the lowest form of wit. Thus, women may be classified as «perdidas» simply because Dato cannot find them.(12) A lawyer is at great risk and may lose much merely because he is involved in a thousand cases and «mira/ si tiene harto que perder» (vv. 737-41). Dato's humor is infectious, and Franco occasionally imitates it: 135 136Bulletin ofthe Comediantes AurelioAl caso vamos: yo he menester esta calle. FrancoPues cargad con sus guijarros. Aurelio¡Buen humor, por vida mía! DatoSe purga todos los años, (vv. 878-81) The above conceits are typically ornamental, being limited to the context in which they occur, and, as there is little religious imagery in Act I, they are by no means lacking in decorum. An entirely different set of circumstances is present in Act II, and although there are innocuous ornamental conceits (for example, vv. 984-86, and v. 1001), there are also conceits which may well be considered indecorous. Thus, in the highly emotional scene of the light and the cross, Franco refers to the dead man's ability to speak in these words:«¿El muerto hablar? Es locura» (v. 1085); to which Dato replies: «Si es el muerto de grosura/ los sábados tendrá lengua» (vv. 1086-87). Almost immediately the arm of the crucified Christ seizes Franco who begs Dato to help him, causing the gracioso to cry out: «Yo soy clèrico, y no puedo,/ que ese el el brazo seglar» (vv. 1095-96). Here we seem to be confronted by a joke that is, in Kennedy's words, «out of place. »(13) At a superficial level this is true; and yet these witticisms reflect, to a certain extent, the differences between those...