Lope's La dama boba and the Seduction of the Academy

Abstract

Scholarship on Lope de Vega's entertaining comedy La dama boba (1613) has long identified Neoplatonism as central to an understanding of the play, proposing it is either a sincere or ironic philosophical foundation of the work. Scrutiny of the sources used to make such arguments, however, challenges both, suggesting that Neoplatonism in La dama boba and in the dominant reading of it do not hold up to close examination. Disengaging the play from Neoplatonism opens a space for close inspection of Laurencio, revealing the critical fashion in which Lope represents this seductive character.