Honor in Hartzenbusch's 'Refundicion' of Calderon's "El Medico de su Honra"

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IN VIEW of the recent interest in analyzing and explaining use of honor,' it seems appropriate to examine Hartzenbusch's refundicidn of El Medico de su honra2 and especially his characterization of Gutierre. Whether one believes that Calder6n presents an accurate picture of the seventeenth century life, expresses contempt for his society's veneration of the pundonor, expresses admiration for the man who adheres to principle, or merely attempts to shed light on the human predicament, one finds Hartzenbusch's version quite variance with the original. Cyril A. Jones in Spanish Honor as Historical Phenomenon, Convention and Artistic Motive states that Calder6n uses honor as a dramatic convention which at once distorts and formalizes the reality from which it springs.3 For the nineteenthcentury audience Hartzenbusch also utilizes honor as a dramatic convention, but feels obligated to heighten the guilt of the persons who contribute to Gutierre's dishonor. In the same article Professor Jones also states that if we treat Calder6n's attitude to honour .. . as representing 'the demands made on the individual by the conventions of the society of which he is a member,' there is no essential inconsistency in seeing Calder6n as the same time disapproving of it when it conflicts with the higherChristian or human-demands, and yet in certain circumstances, and applied with prudence, considering it as something superior to mere (pp. 37-38). The attitude that honor is superior to personal desire will be found missing in Hartzenbusch's refundicidn where one feels that Gutierre's zealousness toward his honor spr gs entirely from self-interest and vanity. In play Gutierre loves his wife Mencia and agonizes over the indications that she has had a part in offending his honor. When he must make a decision between honor and love, he verbally attacks the harshness of the pundonor and threatens to rebel against its oppressiveness. But, since to him honor takes precedence over love, he finally accepts the necessity to kill Mencia. Even so, he pens her a note, once tender and harsh. From this moment, Gutierre does not vacillate in his conception of his duty. His acts are harsh but straightforward. His words are tinged with sorrow but without shame or self-consciousness. He tells the cirujano that he must bleed Mencia until she dies. On posing hypothetical questions to the King, Gutierre's revelation that he found Mencia writing a letter to Enrique justifies Gutierre's actions not only in the opinion of the King but also with Gutierre's fellow citizens. Hence, when the King orders Leonor to marry Gutierre, the latter feels compelled to warn her that her life too must be sacrificed for his honor if the necessity arises. She does not recoil the prospect; on the contrary, she accepts the ro'e that her King and her honor impose and which her love has long desired. The overt action of Hartzenbusch's re-