Contextuality and Intertextuality in Lope's Virtud, pobreza y mujer

Lope de Vega was first and foremost a dramatist interested in providing entertainment for the corral public. While it can be stated that he supported the status quo of Spanish politics, he really did not intend to write propaganda. During the reign of Philip III, he was an active participant in court circles and enjoyed poking fun at the foibles and failures of the Lerma court. He did this indirectly by showing the inadequacies of the noble class. In Virtud, pobreza y mujer, Lope contrasts an extremely self-sacrificing poor wife with her disreputable noble husband. This comedy of reversals takes us from the noble circles of Toledo, where Don Carlos murders another noble in a brothel, to the enslavement of Spaniards in North Africa. Besides the contextuality of the court and its failures in 1615, Lope also creates intertextuality with other plays of his which deal with slavery in North Africa and with the plays of Cervantes, most notably El gallardo español. (TEC)