Tirso de Molina is a firm supporter of the new way of making comedies that began following the theoretical foundations established by the genius dramatist Lope de Vega. His theater is a manifesto of the freedom of the modern playwright and professes the optimism of the perfection of the ancients. He understands theater, in particular comedy, as an imitation of life, where the author must reflect in his works to better portrait the variety of situations that occurs in real life. He perfects the construction of comic worlds and coherently elaborates complex actions. 

To improve the technique of comedy, The author explores multiple dimensions of human reactions,  such as mockery, jealousy, or bravery. Humor is an essential component of the world that surrounds him and he meticulously observes how this plays in the relationships between individuals. He intuitively understands relationships as plots to develop in his plays,  frequently including erotic allusions.

His theater consciously explores the rustic grace and refined frivolity of court life, with a playful atmosphere dominating most of his work. The great variety of comic elements of the plays are complemented by an extreme wealth of linguistic artifacts that create a plethora of feelings and behaviors among the scenic elements in which the characters interact. 

It is by far don Juan, in the play El burlador de Sevilla or El convidado de piedra , the character that has acquired special relevance for posterity. If traditions about the guest from beyond the grave are documented throughout European folklore, and these may have been his source of inspiration, the literary myth of the character of Don Juan that Tirso creates is based on the ability the character has to project secret desires, dominant impulses, and sexual desires into his adventures, an all-powerful desire for power and liberation of repressed instincts.  It is this remarkable psychological insight that the author transmits in his theatrical creations that makes him one of the most outstanding writers of all time. 

El Burlador de Sevilla

El vergonzoso en palacio

Marta, La Piadosa

Don Gil de las calzas verdes

El condenado por desconfiado

It is a play about the amorous exploits of the gentleman womanizer Don Juan Tenorio, who tries to seduce several women on different occasions and ends his life taken to hell by the specter of the man he has murdered in one of his escapades.

Theater play

The Baroque is period characterized by a cultural development unwind due to the Counter-Reformation and the Council of Trent. In many respects, Baroque supposes a  return to the Middle Ages, ceasing the clear Renaissance separation between the natural and the supernatural. The Inquisition watches over any intellectual activity that does not highlight or otherwise avoids the transcendental. Scientific research and rational philosophy practically end in Spain, with Theology taking their place. Superstition supplants religiosity in people's minds and so-called miracles ubiquitously flourish. 

In this context, the Spanish genius, unable to create intellectually in other areas, takes refuge in the aesthetic task, with an impressive list of painters, sculptors, and architects who live in this era. The literature demonstrates the same splendor. When Cervantes was still alive,  other outstanding authors such as Lope de Vega, Góngora, and Quevedo wrote their literary masterpieces. Shortly after this giants of the Spanish literature history died, began his careers the last genius of the Baroque era, Calderón de la Barca and Gracián. Somehow, the limitation in freedom of expression is offset by an increase in artifice and exaggeration in style, subjecting the language of the Renaissance to an intense elaboration that gives rise to the two great movements of the time: the 'culteranismo' and the 'conceptismo'.

Baroque

Publication of the Romancero general

Second part of Guzmán de Alfarche,  by Mateo Alemán

Second parto fo Guzmán de Alfarche,  by Mateo Alemán

Propaplladia, by Bartolomé de Torres Naharro

Retrato de la Lozana andaluza, by Francisco Delicado

Flores de poetas ilustres, compiled by Pedro de Espinosa

Arte nuevo de hacer comedias, and second part of Comedies, by Lope de Vega

The Polifemo, by Luis de Góngora

Novelas ejemplares, by Miguel de Cervantes

Rimas sacras and fourth part of Comedies, by Lope de Vega

Viaje del Parnaso, by Miguel de Cervantes

Fuenteovejuna, by Lope de Vega

The Buscón, by Quevedo

La dama duende, and Casa con dos puertas mala es de guardar, by Calderón

El burlador de Sevilla, by Tirso de Molina

El burlador the Sevilla, by Tirso de Molina

La vida es sueño, by Calderón de la Barca

Soledades, by Góngora

Empresas políticas, by Saavedra Fajardo

Closing of the theaters until 1649

El Parnaso español, by Quevedo

Las Meninas by Velazquez

Giordano Bruno is burned at the stake

King Lear and Macbeth, by William Shakesperare

Spanish Bites

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"El burlador de Sevilla" (1616)

By Tirso Molina

Time Period: Baroque

Genre: Theater play

Spanish Bites

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