Recepción e influencia del Teatro de Plauto en la literatura española

Résumé

This doctoral dissertation is framed within the Classical Tradition and it objective is to study the presence and influence of the Roman theatre of Plautus (255-184 BC) in Spanish theatre. In chronological order, this thesis analyses works written from the late 15th century, when the Plautinian comedies are rediscovered, until the 17th century in which Spanish theatre becomes a model. The dissertation is divided into four chapters. The first chapter examines the transmission and valuation of the comedies of Plautus from Antiquity to the Middle Ages. The second chapter focuses on cult theatre, written in Latin and Spanish by university professors and teachers of Jesuit schools. These works which are pedagogical show a major influence of the Plautinian comedies and apply to a minority audience. The third chapter analyses works from the populist theatre, the authors of which sought to take advantage of the values of Latin and Spanish sources in order to create and accesssible theatre for a wide audience and thus to mark the path to the great theatre of the 17th century. The last chapter of the dissertation provides a non-exhaustive view of the plays from the 17th century until today in which, despite the requirement of Lope de Vega to move away from Latin roots in order to create a new theatre, one can still find reminiscences of Plautinian themes and characters. In Spain, Plautus's values made him an appreciated source: his style and language were regarded as an unbeatable model to learn Latin correctly. Furthermore, the Plautine themes and characters were a never-ending source for Spanish playwrights. These authors based themselves either on the original Latin works or on the Italian adaptations, and also took elements from de Spanish literature, above all from La Celestina. The comedies of Plautus that were most imitated were Amphitruo, Menaechmi and Miles gloriosus, and the topics of the double and of the confusion of identities were the most present in the Spanish theatre landscape.