• Spanish Renaissance drama is heavily influenced by:
• Islamic Culture
• Nearly 600 years of Moorish (i.e., Islamic) occupation (711–1276)
• Revealed in attitudes toward women and honor
• Catholicism
• Determined to Christianize Spain, Ferdinand & Isabella institute
The Spanish Inquisition (1478–1834)
• Seen in the emphasis on religious faith and doctrine
• Spain’s sense of its own position as a world power
• Ever hear of Christopher Columbus?
• Dominant force in the New World
• By 1550, the most powerful nation in the western world
• Dominated by a sense of confidence, energy, expansiveness, and
faith in God, church, and state.
• As Muslims are driven out of the peninsula, religious (Christian)
drama begins to spread (the autos sacramentales)
• By 1454, actors are being paid to perform in religious plays
• Spain had close ties with Italy from 1470–1550
• Italy’s interest in classical learning/art is adopted by intellectual elites in Spain
• By 1550, secular drama has emerged (for an aristocratic audience)
• Always written in verse (never developed a Spanish “blank verse”)
• Most popular playwright of his age
• Remarkably prolific (~450 plays survive)
• His plays are notable for:
• Clearly defined actions which arouse
and maintain suspense
• Plots that revolve around conflicting
claims of love and honor *
• Darker side of life always glossed over
with a happy ending
• His female roles are among his best
• Natural dialogue
• Never penetrates deeply into human nature
• Work to know: The Sheep Well (c. 1614)
• * Most succeeding Spanish drama adopts this favorite theme of his
• Ranked above Lope de Vega by many critics
• Wrote primarily for the court theatre
• Lope de Vega wrote mostly for the public theatres
• Became a priest in 1651
• Lope did the same in 1614, after a very
flamboyant life
• Of approx. 200 plays, 100 survive…80 are religious plays
• Considered to have perfected the auto sacramentale (religious play)
• Best secular plays were written 1622–1640
• “Cape and Sword” comedies – happily resolved love intrigues
• Serious plays – explore jealousy and honor
• Most famous secular play is Life Is a Dream (c. 1636)
• Created a kind of musical comedy genre, the zarzuela
• Late 1400s – France begins to feel the effects of the Renaissance
• Italian artists and scholars are soon invited to the French court
• Medieval influences persist throughout the 16th century, as well
• So, Medieval and Renaissance elements exist side by side equally influential
• The usual pattern unfolds…
• Begins with study of Roman plays
• Next come imitations of Classical works, but still written in Latin
• Finally, plays in French (c. 1540)
• Renaissance influence accelerates with King Henri II, around 1550
• He married Catherine de’ Medici (a very wealthy, powerful Florentine family)
• Among other things, the Medicis were very generous patrons of the arts
• The Pléiade were a group of seven French writers of the 16th century
• The group was established by 1550
• Their goal was to elevate the French language as a worthy medium
for literature modeled on classical works
• Their works were aimed primarily at the educated elite
• The first plays in French modeled on classical forms were by a
member of La Pléiade, Etienne Jodelle.
• The last member died in 1605 (the rest had passed by 1590)
• Comparable to the University Wits in England
Founder of French classical tragedy
Known for simple characters in complex plots
Named to Les Cinq Auteurs (“The Five Poets”) in 1634,
a group hand picked by Cardinal Richelieu to write
virtuous drama based on themes and outlines he provided.
Major work to know: Le Cid (“The Lord”), c. 1636
Plot revolves around conflict between love and honor
Observes some, but not all, of the neoclassical unities
The French Academy criticized it for this, calling it dramatically implausible
(strained verisimilitude) and morally defective (violated decorum)
The French Academy (Académie française) was established by Cardinal Richelieu
in 1634 as the official state institution for maintaining standards of literary taste
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Considered to have mastered French classical tragedy
Adhered strictly to the neoclassical ideals (including the unities)
His first two plays were produced by Molière
Works characterized by
simple plots but complex characters
• Drama focuses on characters’
psychological internal conflicts
not so much on external events
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Real name: Jean-Baptiste Poquelin
Actor, Playwright, Producer, Director
Greatest of all writers of French comedy
His farces were heavily influenced by
commedia dell’arte
Greatest achievements are his comedies of
character & manners
His biting satire of contemporary society
stirred controversy
Works to know: Tartuffe, The Misanthrope, The Imaginary Invalid
Brought comedy indoors departing from the classical model
Characters do not learn or change by the end