The "Gracioso:" Toward a Functional Re-Evaluation Author(s): F. William Forbes Source: Hispania, Vol. 61, No. 1 (Mar.

, 1978), pp. 78-83 Published by: American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/339947 . Accessed: 25/05/2013 11:39
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THE "GRACIOSO:" TOWARD A FUNCTIONAL RE-EVALUATION

F. WILLIAM FORBES University of New Hampshire been a veritable "boom" in critical studies of the Spanish Golden Age comedia. Literary histories, critical methodological statements, facsimile editions and "complete works"projects are all providing a new presentation,in English particularly, of the comedia's scope and depth.' Such a new presentation also allows for a concurrent re-evaluation of this genre's component parts.2Since the full flowering of our target genre occurred in the early 17th century, it is perhaps understandable that most in-depth studies have focused on that time frame. But as further analytical scrutiny is generated and appropriate origins and precursorsare again noted, it will be evident that the sixteenth century is especially in need of studies which go beyond the purely historical or chronological. To this adjacent formativeperiod of the comedia which is the late sixteenth century should be applied the critical improvements derived from study of the seventeenth century Spanish theater.The present study seeks to add balance to our awareness of both centuries of the Golden Age by concentrating on one of the comedia's most notably developed characters and, consequently, one of its most significant building-blocks: the gracioso. The sixteenth century is important not so much for the number of plays produced as for the wide experimentationwhich permitted a later blending of the various components in the seventeenth century comedia. One of these components is the gracioso, or pre-gracioso, as he should more properlybe designated. Criticism has defined the gracioso type in terms of his classical background, his humorous disposition and his influence on subsequent

URING the past ten yearsthere has comic stage types. Without denying the

validity of those early definitions, I would suggest that the importance of the pastor, bobo or introiter goes significantly beyond them. The recent work of D. Gustafson regarding the roles of the shepherd in the theater of Diego Sanchez de Badajoz'3 points in this new direction. If the gracioso and galdn later make that "pareja ideal" that Montesinos wrote of in 1925,4it would seem that more attention should have subsequently fallen on the gracioso type as a vital structural component. It is the purpose here to suggest that, in our continuing effort to refine techniques of comedia criticism, the contribution of functional or structural analysis be reaffirmed. Specifically, I wish to comment on the relationship of the gracioso to the medieval "feast of fools" tradition. The a-social or unprincipled nature of the graciosofigure and the dramatist-as-actor are important corollary considerations. The best way to introduce the subject of the influence of the "feast of fools" on the sixteenth century is to remind ourselves that it was a period which witnessed extreme flux in the value structure of that Spanish society. Fernand Braudel's expanded, and recently translatedstudy of the Mediterranean world in the age of Philip II describes the dynamic confrontation between Latin Christendom and Ottoman Islam.5 Elsewhere, in a newly-probed Atlantic Ocean, Spain was becoming used to the concept of Empire in the Americas; relations with the Italic peninsula involved both the sack of Rome (1527) and a continued digestion and assimilationof Italian Renaissance values in the arts and courtly life; in the religious realm, the advent of Protestantism(1517) and the eventual re-

78

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THE "GRACIOSO": TOWARDA FUNCTIONAL RE-EVALUATION action of the Counter-Reformation (Coun-

79

cil of Trent, 1545-63). Such religious considerations distracted the political attentions to Northern Europe (Netherlands and England) where military action was called for, but soon ended in loss of the former territoryand ignominious defeat of the Armada on the stormy English coastline. The Armada'sfailure in 1588 added a final jolt to whatever stability had been sustained to that point. All of the foregoing crises in values must be noted, for the nascent theater of the sixteenth century, beginning with Torres Naharro's work in Rome (1517), had much to do with portraying the accepted values of that society. The theater of Classical Antiquity as well as that of Renaissance Spain tended to portray the value structure of its upper class, its "high society." The Catholic Church in Spain supported this class and possessed the social function of literary censor to public performances of plays. Control was maintained by the fact that theater was still housed primarily in churches or courts. The values of the "high society" were especially secular and noticeable in court circles, whereas in Church affairs -dramatic presentationspredominantly illustrated biblical material. With the challenges to and the re-thinking of the traditional western value structure, it is not surprising that the role of "social commentary"should arise and portray the gap between "lo dicho y lo hecho." Secular thoughts and idioms sought various literary forms to contain them, often in imitation of Greco-Roman classics. The purposes to which art and literature were newly being put through the greater accessibility of the printed word also affected change. Literature in general, and its dramatic expression in the comedia in particular, became increasingly popular and secular. The theme of hypocrisy in the picaresque would have its theatrical counterpart in the satire of the gracioso, and the counterforce represented by these figures

would challenge the hermeticism of the more cultured literary forms. Both the picaro and the gracioso representeda manner of putting society on its ear, of presenting that entire social construct from a radically different perspective.The satirical bent was common to both, but what was to become of this capacity for self-mockery? The plays of Torres Naharro are rife with satire, but they were created and performed in the courts of what might be considered a decadent Rome which differed considerably from the Spanish social consensus of a century later. At the beginning of the sixteenth century, theater in Rome was highly influenced by classical humanistic studies, but as the century progresses,and one deals more with dramatists based on the Iberian peninsula, the stress of dramatic themes changes from Renaissanceheroic to more national figures, as can be seen in the works of Gil Vicente and Juan de la Cueva. Satire remained strongestduring this period in the commedia dell'arte productions which increasingly entered Spain and then moved on to points farther north. Unfortunately for literary history, there are few texts extant of this primitive theater, as its prime ingredient was improvisation. This improvisationalmode, however, was to remain and become formalized in the gracioso. The Italian troupes traveled through Spain, France and England," and communicated their slapstick humor across the gulf between languages. (In passing it should be noted that the very term "slapstick"derives from Harlequin, the stock character of the commedia dell' arte who typically carried a paddle with which to "reinforce" the weight of his words.) This proximity to the people (audience) through unsophisticated, broad humor suited the preparationof a type of theater which would have wide public appeal. In time the voice or choice of the people would become incarnated in jovial, lesser characters who allowed for a more democratic function to be represented on

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80

F.

WILLIAMl

FORBES

Hispania 61 (Mar. 1978)

stage. With contributions from the medieval church ritual celebrations, public theater already possessed some democratic, popular imagination and desire for lively presentations. In fact, certain "over-enthusiasm"for juegos de escarnio seems to have caused their prohibition by Alfonso el Sabio late in the thirteenth century.7 Is it surprising that there should have been such outbursts of "enthusiasm"during the Middle Ages, a period still considered by some to be quite sober and sullen in comparison with the Renaissance? The anwer must be "no"when one considers Otis H. Green's analysis of the Libro de buen amor in terms of "Medieval Laughter."8 The Archpriest of Hita's ability at satire and parody are reminiscent of the goliardic improvisationsin the Carmina burana. In both these cases humor is derived from the confrontation of jovial attitudes with sterner, more dogmatic codes or with straight men. This child-like indulgence in fun is perhaps best explained by Johan Huizinga when he describes man as Homo ludens,9 Man the player. Clearly, the seriousness and rigidity of social and religious norms must be tempered with "play,"a dimension which allows at least a temporary separation from the everyday norm. Perspective is enhanced which then allows the norm to reassertits due weight. Sparring partners need each other, just as God's will is better proclaimed through constant interaction with the Devil. The "Feast of Fools" provides precisely this contrasting dimension to the medieval and early Renaissance church. In Spain it was also called the Feast of the Boy Bishop or obispillo. Julio Caro Baroja points out that "el dia de San Nicolis (dia que cae el 6 de diciembre) entre los estudiantes y el dia de Inocentes (el 28 del mismo mes) cntre los muchachos cantores de algunas catedrales habia la costumbre de elegir un 'obispillo' desde muy antiguo. A veces la duraci6n de su episcopado era el periodo entre las dos fechas.?oDecember 28th was the feast day of the Holy Innocents, those

children of two years and under who were martyred by Herod in an attempt to kill Jesus, who was seen as a future threat to his own power (Math. 2: 1-3, 16-18). The desire to dramatizesuch religiously significant scenes, however, continued to become entangled with minor ecclesiastical and student revelry. Such celebrations as occurred in the days immediately after the anniversary of the birth of Christ kept alive even earlier saturnalian celebrations. Jung, speaking of the Trickster figure in mythology, describes the history of such festivities thus: "The dances were the originally harmless tripudia of the priests, the lower clergy, children, and subdeacons, and they took place in the church. An episcopus puerorum (children's bishop) was elected and dressed in pontifical robes. Amid unroariousrejoicings he paid an official visit to the palace of the archbishop and distributed the episcopal blessing from one of the windows. The same thing happened at the tripudium hypodiaconorum, and at the dances for other priestly grades. By the end of the twelfth century the subdeacon's dance had already degenerated into a festum stultorum (fool's feast)."" Shergold indicates that the church in Spain established edicts against such burlesque; however, because the force of tradition was strong, the edicts met with little success and the feast of fools is widely found in the 16th century.'2 Harvey Cox has written of this ritual in Feast of Fools: A Theological Essay on Festivity and Fantasy (1969). He describes the import of this ritual, and the significance of its loss in the following manner:
The Feast of Fools had demonstrated that a culture could periodically make sport of its most sacred royal and religious practices. It could imagine, at least once in a while, a wholly different kind of world-one where the last was first, accepted values were inverted, fools became kings and choirboys prelates. The loss of this custom signified an enfeeblement of our civilization's capacity for festivity and fantasy. Its demise showed that people were beginning to see their social roles and sacred conventions through

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A FUNCTIONAL TOWARD RE-EVALUATION THE"GRACIOSO": that they no longerhad the time or the heart socialparody.'3 for suchtrenchant The Feast of Fools exposed the arbitrary quality of social rank and enabled people to see that things need not always be as they are. Beyond the humor inherent in the interplay of stock charactersof a rigid social makeup, the ritual permitted the social system of sixteenth-century Spain to weather its challenges by increasing its resiliency. If there was to be growth, it had to come from within the existing structure of society, for cultural patterns do not emerge out of nothing. Philip Slater speaks of the "jester as keeping alive a wide variety of behavior patterns amid the stilted and restrictive formality of royal courts.""4 This is precisely the dramatic function of the graciosoin the sixteenth-centurytheater and of the commedia dell'artestage figures. Jung states: "These mediaeval customs demonstrate the role of the trickster to perfection, and, when they vanished from the precincts of the Church, they appeared again on the profane level of Italian theatricals, as those comic types who, often adorned with enormous ithyphallic emblems, entertained the far from prudish public with ribaldries in true Rabelaisian style."'5 The rise of the comedia, and within this, that of the gracioso role, undoubtedly sustained the faculty of the people to celebrate, to gain that temporary separation and relief from the more transcendent religious concerns of their society. The contrapuntal nature of dialogue provided a more quickened tempo when spiced with decided intent to challenge and satirize. The humor was often slapstick.Experimentation with dramatic techniques increased also, and led to the incorporationof the most successful devices. This evolution of viable dramatic form is especially evident with the pastores. Their prime function was to attract the audience's attention with an introyto which often foreshadowed the plot and, more importantly,the significance
eyes that could not permit such strident satire,

81

of the play's action. In addition they presented themselves as natural elements of the stage setting, portraying perhaps honest farmersor trouble-struck parents. Often sayagues was spoken, as it not only reinforced their verisimilitude but also provided a source of comic value. Establishing verisimilitude for the shepherd allowed linking the stage-life with the spectator's world, and in this manner achieved the attracting quality of the gracioso type as a functionally central stage figure. On the road to this more complex stage figure, however, one notices that the effect of early comedia critics was to limit the function of the graciososalmost entirely to their comic roles.16 Since thematic import was to be representedby socially-significant characters, the graciosos, as lesser companions, were relegated to imitating verbal or pantomimic tomfoolery. But this socially insignificant figure, this asocial figure, was to become, from the point of view of dramatic function, most significant. Duncan Moir goes so far as to consider the gracioso type a part of the very characteristicnature of the comedia: "But the basic characteristics of the Spanish comedia form (three acts and a well-developed polymetric system) and the custom of the play's having, whether it be comedy, tragedy or tragi-comedy, at least one fully-fledged gracioso character in it, and very often a comic or serious sub-plot relevant to the comedia's main theme, were fixed and established as norms because they became the practice of one prodigiously successful dramatist, Lope de Vega Carpio."l7 Thematic studies of the comedia indicate that the dramatic concerns are invariably social, and main characters are truly for their fate can personify "value-bearers," that of their political state, society and culture. The social-didactic dimension is celebrated through these "mirrors,"these shining lights of high society. However, the effectiveness of their dance, the grace of their step, and the discretion of their words and actions do not necessarily flow

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82

F. WILLIAM

FORBES

Hispaniia

(,

(Mar. 1978)

directly from their social elevation. Such heights are attained at the expense of, or (better) by the balance of, forces which insure their rise, and effectively control(and maintain) their dominant position. The gracioso, that un-principled, unruly type is the great "facilitator."A simple technique which may alert the critic to the specific functional import of a given gracioso is to ask the question "Can we do without him?" What would happen to the plot, the quality of characterization and the rate at which both are prepared?How would the dramatisthave to compensate in order to complete the original conception of "presentation, development and resolution" of a given stage incident? The dramatist has a certain number of stage conventions open to him: how are these re-structured? These questions lead to a structural and then a functional awareness: polarities and intensities of internal tensions are laid bare. These questions also lead us directly to a final consideration, that of the incidence of the dramatist-as-actor. Facilitating and encouraging effective himself theater requires that the -dramatist have an un-principled point of view, and thus the author/actor relationship is more significant than has so far been mentioned by critics. It should be noted that the word "principle"is here being used in two distinct frames of reference, namely dramatic and moral. An amoral point of view allows for an unembarrassed openness to "gut reactions,"and such perhaps involuntary human responses evince the extent to which a dramatisthas drawn his audience into the web of fictive life on stage. Gil Vicente, Juan del Encina, and Lope de Rueda are all prime examples. Especially memorable is Cervantes' remark about the last mentioned and his plays: "Las comedias eran unos coloquios como dglogas, entre dos o tres pastores y alguna pastora; aderezibalas y dilataibanlascon dos o tres entremeses,ya de negra, ya de rufiin, ya de bobo y ya de vizcaino: que todas estas cuatro figuras y otras muchas hacia el tal

Lope con la mayor excelencia y propiedad Each of these que pudiera imaginarse."18 three particular roles is highly significant for the subsequent structural development of the seventeenth century comedia. Ruiz Ram6n, in a recent dramatic history of Spain (1967) summarizesour point thus: "Lope de Rueda no escribe para la posteridad, . . . sino para el presente . . . Para ese pfiblico, con el que esti en continuo contacto. . . . En efecto, el dramaturgo Lope de Rueda escribe para el actor Lope de Rueda. Y escribe teniendo en cuenta los papeles que mejor representa, escribe teniendo en cuenta los gestos y la entonaci6n que mejor le cuadran. Su teatro esti escrito desde el interior del teatro, buscando la maxima eficacia c6mica de la palabra teatral."'9
FIGURE as alter ego for the creative playwright is a concept deserving of such further study, because for all the characters placed on stage by the playwright, he himself must provide the unifying keys. The dramatistand the gracioso share this concern and need to orchestrate the entire dramatic effect of a given play. The more passive approach which the critic employs in a thorough reading of a play (one which nevertheless requires an active act of dramaticimagination) contains an important benefit: the critic, while studying a play, is developing a personal attitude, mood or atmosphere which will approximate the concentration originally required of the dramatist as he composed the comedia being studied. To retrace, line by line, an entire play allows the critic to witness the unfolding artistic difficulties and resolutions which the creative artist originally experienced. To paraphrase Montesinos, this "pareja ideal" of dramaturgo-gracioso (rather than is that undifferentiated pergahln-gracioso) sonality, that undefined quantity which can assume any shape in order to make an environment or contrasting force stand out more clearly. One is reminded of a remark

T HE GRACIOSO

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THE "GRACIOSO": ToWARD A FUNCTIONAL RE-EVALUATION

83

attributed to Picasso, that art is a lie which makes us realize the truth. This pareja provides resistance, complete freedom, and unpredictability to a theater which otherwise would have become an intellectual construct without the revivifying attraction of enjoyment, fun, or "play"as explained by Johan Huizinga. We need but consider how far the comedia would have developed if Tirso's later dictum were changed to "aprovechar sin deleytar." The comedia never would have achieved its later popularity, its wide-based democratic appeal, had it not been for such a structural foil as the gracioso which, similar to the "feast of fools" celebrations, or the presence of a jester at court, is a structural entity or device which allows for an openness to change, an expansion of alternative modes of behavior. Such resiliency in theater aided both the message of the value-bearers (the galanes) as well as recognition of a more down-to-earthreality exemplified by the gracioso.
NOTES the most recent literary histories are 1Among

sociation meeting, December 28, 1973. 3DonnaGustafson,"The Role of the Shepherd in the Pre-LopeanDrama of Diego Sinchez de
Badajoz," Bulletin of the Comediantes, 25, 1

(Spring 1973), 5-13. 4Jos6 Fernindez Montesinos, "Algunas observaciones sobre la figura de donaire en el teatro
de Lope de Vega," Homenaje a Menendez Pidal, I, (Madrid 1925), 469-504. A recent reprint apMontesinos, Estudios sobre Lope de Vega (Sala-

pears in the collection of articles by Jose F. manca;Anaya, 1967), pp. 21-64.

11, trans. Sian Reynolds, 2 vols. (New York: Harper and Row, 1972-73 and 1975 respectively).
6Pierre Louis Duchartre, The Italian Comedy: The Improvisation, Scenarios, Lives, Attributes, Portraits and Masks of the Illustrious Characters of the Commedia dell'Arte (New York: Dover,

5Fernand Braudel, The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip

1966), and Winifred Smith, The Commedia dell'arte (New York: Benjamin Bloom, 1964). 'John E. Keller, Alfonso el Sabio (New York: Twayne, 1967), pp. 124-26.
sOtis H. Green, Spain and The Western Tradition: The Castilian Mind in Literature from "El Cid" to Calderdn (Madison, Milwaukee, and

London: University of Wisconsin 'Press, 1968).

I, 27-71.

Francisco Ruiz Ram6n, Historia del teatro espaiiol desde sus origenes hasta 1900 (Madrid: and Duncan Moir, The Golden Age: Drama York: Pergamon

9Johan Huizinga, Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play Element ii: Culture (Boston: Beacon,

1960), originallypublishedin 1944.

Alianza Editorial, 1967); Edward M. Wilson 1492-1700 (New York: Barnes and Noble, 1971); and Margaret Wilson, Spanish Drama
of the Golden

Trickster Figure" in Paul Radin, The Trickster:

A Study in America 2 Indian Mythology (New

lOJulio Caro Baroja, El Carnaval: Andlisis hist6rico-cultural (Madrid: Taurus, 1965), p. 297. "1Carl G. Jung, "On the Psychology of the

Press, 1969). Critical methods are stressed in la comedia (Madrid: Castalia, 1968); Bruce W. Wardropper,"The Implicit Craft of the Spanish " in R. O. Jones, ed., Studies in Span'comedia' pp. 339-56; and James A. Parr, "An Essay on Critical Method Applied to the Comedia,"Hispania, 57 (September 1974), 434-44. For facsimile editions and "complete works" projects, see the Calder6n facsimile collection which has been ably edited by D. W. Cruickshankand J. E. Varey: Pedro Calder6nde la Barca,Comedias (London: Gregg InternationalPublications Ltd. and Tamesis Books Ltd., 1973). Also, Professors Vern Williamsen and Richard Tyler are preparingthe collected works for Antonio Mira de Amescua. 2This paper is based upon one given at the Spanish 3 section of the Modern Language Asish Literature of the Golden Age Presented to Edward M. Wilson (London: Tamesis, 1973), Everett W. Hesse, Andlisis e interpretaci6n de

Age

(New

York: Schocken, 1972), pp. 196-97. See also Oxford University Press, 1903), chapters 13-15.
r3Harvey Cox, The Feast of Fools: A Theological Essay on Festivity and Fantasy (New E. K. Chambers, The Medieval Stage (Oxford: 12N. D. Shergold, A History of the Spanish

Stage (Oxford: ClarendonPress, 1967), p. 21.

4"Philip Slater, The Pursuit of Loneliness: American Culture at the Breaking Point (Boston: Beacon Press, 1970), pp. 110-11.

York: Harperand Row, 1969), p. 2.

15jung, op. cit., p. 199.

16See, for example, R. L. Grismer's The Influence of Plautus in Spain before Lope de Vega (New York: Hispanic Institute, 1944).

Angel Valbuena Prat (Madrid: Aguilar, 1965), p. 179. Alianza Editorial, 1967), pp. 105-06.
19Francisco Ruiz Ram6n, Historia del teatro espaiol desde sus origenes hasta 1900 (Madrid:

1sMiguel de Cervantes, Obras completas, ed.

'"Wilson and Moir, op. cit., p. 43.

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