"Um Auto de Gil Vicente" and the Tradition of Comedy

Abstract

Almeida Garrett (1799-1854) is Portugal's best-known Romantic writer. His 'Um Auto de Gil Vicente' (1838) was his first play for the newly founded Teatro Nacional in Lisbon. However, critics have had very little to say about this historical drama. There are Romantic elements in the play, but plot and characterization derive very clearly from the patterns established by the Roman dramatist Terence. Garrett uses these patterns to point to the difference between his work and that of two major writers of the sixteenth century, who both figure prominently in the play, Gil Vicente and Bernardim Ribeiro. Garrett's drama, though, subverts some of the conventions of neo-classical comedy. He avoids Terence's happy endings, and the clever servant who solves all the problems is a woman, Paula Vicente.