The Serious Nature of Comedy: The Comedia de Sepulveda

control, moderation, and sweet reason should accompany, and would tend to justify, the hierarchical system one associates with the word 'nobility'," (p. 176). 8 Noted by Riley, p. 233. Riley discusses the aspect of youth as an element of Don García's character, but he does not pursue the question of García's youth as a key character quality and as a central motif of the play. See his pp. 232-33. 9 Riley, pp. 230-34 takes up the problem of the meaning of "condición" versus "costumbre " as they explain Don García's behavior and relate to the likelihood that he will change his ways. My point here is simply that Alarc ón is stressing the youth motif in the passage quoted. 10This line of Don Garcia is the logical conclusion of an extended love metaphor in which Jacinta is his "cielo" (see, for example, Act I, scenes iii, iv, and v). The metaphor leads into a delightful pun in Act I, scene iv; Jacinta stumbles, Garcia saves her from falling and says: Con mi propia mano así el cielo; mas ? qué importó, si ha sido porque él cayó, y no porque yo subí? But to read deeply and find that by analogy Don Garcia has worked his own perdition by his moral error—reading the heaven metaphor on two levels—is not necessary. This is comedy and not serious drama. The dramatic figures do not have a life-or-death involvement in the events. " Riley notes that critics have seen this line as the signal that Don Garcia "puts an end to his foolishness . . ." (p. 225). 12Louise Fothergill-Payne explains convincingly and in considerable detail how Alarc ón elaborates this very attractive and important character. Alarcón certainly meant that she be understood to be a fine and lucky catch for Don Garcia. See Fothergill-Payne, pp. 592-93. 13There are two brief incidents in the drama which are obvious enactments of the loss of reason motif. The first occurs in the expository scene when the father, Don Beltrán, cynically corrects the letrados naive comment about "escuelas del honor" in the Court, and then, regaining his composure, applies to himself the commonplace metaphor of the bull, which when injured in the ring, attacks what is nearest at hand (Act I, scene ii). A second and more humorous instance is when Don Juan is blinded by his inner rage of jealousy upon hearing Don García's description of the party on the Manzanares. He overlooks the fact—which is pointed out to him—that the description of the party in no way fits that of the dinner which he suspects Jacinta of having attended. His engaño (Act I, scene vii) leads to further comedy when he scolds Jacinta for what she has not done. Then, in Act II, scene i, he delivers a challenge to Don Garcia because of an incident which never happened. 14Riley concludes that "There is enough discretion in [Don García's] character to suggest the likelihood of reform" (p. 235). THE SERIOUS NATURE OF COMEDY: THE COMEDIA DE SEPÚLVEDA Robert L. Hathaway, Colgate University An unusual example of the SevilHan theatre in the sixteenth century is the Comedia de Sepúlveda presumably written by the ballad collector Lorenzo de Sepúlveda.1 The plot is a free version of Girolamo Parabosco's II Viluppo (Venice, 1547); in its compHcations it rivals anything produced by Lope de Rueda, Alonso de la Vega or Miguel de Sánchez. The play also shows more of a dramatist's pride in his learning and craftsmanship; the servant Parrado says at play's end that "aunque micer Antonio [Tebaldeo] quisiera inventar alguna comedia no pudiera fingir lo que aquí se ha visto" (359a).2 The play merits a close inspection not by virtue of its entanglements and masquerades , however, but for its deHberations on the nature of love, honor, and beauty, and its considerations of the practical problems which arise in the 57 conflicts engendered amongst these ideals. Discourse on such topics is unusual in this period when the broader aspects of neo-Roman comedy receive the bulk of dramatic attention...