10 - Sacred Souls and Sinners: Abstinence and Adaptation in Lope's Religious Drama

Summary

El teatro religioso de Lope no ha sido objeto de atento estudio, aunque lo merecía.

[Lope's religious plays have not generated sufficient critical analysis, although deserving of it.]

Lo religioso, the religious component of Lope's twenty-nine comedias de tema religioso, has repeatedly attracted and distracted Golden-Age scholars. However, since the challenge to traditional investigations into the theological aspects of these plays by insightful recent studies on their more complex features, Lope’s religious drama has been gaining status in comedia circles as a corpus of works deserving of increased critical attention. While his hagiographical and biblical texts are naturally set within a religious framework, it is through the intricate fusion of lo sagrado and lo profano, the sacred and profane, that plot development, action, thematic concerns and audience expectations are determined and explored. Furthermore, the conventional characters found in many of Lope's most celebrated secular comedias, including lovers, jealous rivals, graciosos (comic servants) and role-players, are also common types in his religious plays. The aim of this essay is to foreground the complexity at work within Lope's religious drama by focusing on three key representative texts. San Nicolás de Tolentino, El robo de Dina and Lo fingido verdadero exemplify the challenge to textual, character, theatrical and religious boundaries found in Lope's entire corpus of religious plays. As will become evident in due course, the relationship between santo (saint) and gracioso, the exploitation of metatheatrical devices and the process of the re-creation of source texts for the corral are crucial to an understanding of the significance of Lope's religious drama as a whole. These issues are teased out through two principal themes, namely abstinence and adaptation. While Lope's saints often opt for an abstemious lifestyle, they conflict with gluttonous servants who not only relish good food and wine but are also frequently tempted by females in their presence. Sexual appetite may not be a common preoccupation for the more saintly, but that is not to say that human love plays no part in their lives. In La juventud de San Isidro (1622), for example, Isidro experiences the pain of separation from his beloved spouse in order to dedicate himself to God, while Clara, the principal protagonist of La buena guarda (1610), exchanges divine love for human love when she abandons her position as abadesa (abbess) in order to escape with her lover, Félix.