The Anonymous La reina penitente

Abstract

other hand, if less than three plays in every 100 analyzed contain animal motifs, the very limitation is significant for comparative purposes . Again, the need for expanding P "Society " is very real if the comedia as a whole reflects the same general pattern as Lope's production—namely that relatively few of the themes and motifs belonging to this category correspond to folk tradition. This is made more evident by the following table, showing the percentages of the total of classifications predominant in the 105 plays of Lope, and in a few of the prose collections.0 ? w e H. Tests 11.5 2.9 5.4 2.6 4.7 J. Wise and Foolish7.921.7 K. Deceptions35.112.2 P. Society6.22.4 T. Sex7.95.6 53.113.825.7 11.76.025.9 2.047.42.4 6.18.69.3 Total68.6 44.8 78.3 78.4 68.0 So far as folklore is concerned social motifs are the least predominant of those occuring with any frequency in Lope, and since he is known to deal with many aspects of society it would be necessary to expand considerably Thompson's chapter P, to accommodate Lope alone. It is entirely possible , however, that another dramatist will be more like Cervantes in this respect, reflecting a higher percentage of social motifs common to folk tradition, in which case any new system would have to overlap the old to a considerable degree. In short, I agree with Reichenberger that in making an Index for the comedia formulations of existing systems should be used freely whenever they fit, but should like to add that it seems to me that the standardization of a system on the basis of Stith Thompson 's Index would be the simplest and most satisfactory approach to a classification. One of the principal reasons for believing a complete classification necessary is, in Reichenberger's own words, that there is "bound to be a great difference in the distribution of motifs in tales springing from and told for a relatively primitive society and plays springing from and produced for members of a complex social organization resting on rigidly upheld religious beliefs and codes of social behavior." This is precisely one of the most fundamental distinctions I would make between Lope—and perhaps Tirso—and Alarcón and Calderón. Lope was a popular playwright, and drew heavily on popular lore and literature; he wrote for the more "primitive" element of society. Alarcón and Calderón wrote for a more limited group. In order to ascertain the extent of difference—or prove that none exists—the coverage must be complete. 1.Charles L. Adams, "Traditional and Novelesque Elements in the Development of Plot in the Dated Plays of Lope de Vega" unpublished PhD Thesis, Stanford University (1954). 2.Ibid., Conclusions, Table X. 3.¡bid., Chapter II. 4.The total number of plays, not the total of the column. 5."Traditional and Novelesque Elements," Conclusions , Table XII. 6.John E. Keller, Motif-Index of Mediaeval Spanish Exempla (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1949). 7.J. Wesley Childers, Motif-Index of the 'Cuentos' of Juan Timoneda, "Indiana University Publications Folklore Series," No. 5 (Bloomington ; 1948). 8.Terrence L. Hansen, "A Motif-Index of the 'Novelas ejemplares* of Cervantes," unpublished MA Thesis, Stanford University (1948). 9.D. P. Rotunda, Motif-Index of the Italian 'Novella * in Prose, "Indiana University Publications Folklore Series," No. 2 (Bloomington: 1942). The Anonymous La reina penitente Gerald E. Wade, University of Tennessee The manuscript of La reina penitente is described in Paz y Melia's catalogue of drama manuscripts in the Biblioteca Nacional: "de 45 hoj., 4o, 1. del s. xvii. Censura fechada en Sevilla a 25 de mayo de 1601. La letra de algunas hojas de la primera jornada, y de gran parte de la tercera, de mano de Juan Bautista Villegas. La de otras hojas es bastante parecida a la de Tirso." It was Paz y Melia's assertion that the manuscript might be partly in Tirso's hand that aroused my initial interest in it. Photostats , now in the University of Tennessee library, were procured from the Biblioteca Nacional; Miss...