Consideration of Public-oriented Plays of Lope de Vega

로뻬 데 베가의 대중 지향적 연극에 대한 고찰

The purpose of this study is to look into the support activities of the 17th century spanish plays which had been taken in various paths in terms of responses of the then-public who had been enthusiastic about great plays and artworks. Such a phenomenon clearly appeared in the open-air theater 'corral' where 'Teatro nacional' was performed at that time. Therefore, this study tries to investigate the functional relation between the public's responses and the prosperity of then-plays from the concrete standpoint of Lope's public-oriented plays. Although Lope's plays basically include system-protection ideology, they are thoroughly based on the public's support and popularity. In short, at that time, Lope's dramatic reform and entailing remarkable hit and success were made possible through thorough compliance with the public's preference and thereby the public's absolute support and affection. The tendency of his public-oriented plays appears in two aspects. One is the common people persecuted and punishment of a wicked man of power. The typical plays in point are Lope's Perib??ez y el comendador de Oca?a and El mejor alcalde, el rey. Through the plays, the playwright Lope not only implemented praise of absolute monarch very effectively, but soothed the wounded heart of the common people who had suffered pains due to their unfair and lowly social status. In this way, his plays might give senses of reliefs and satisfaction to most viewers who identified with the common people in the plays. The other one is the decisive raise of status of an exemplary commoner, the subject matter which had been used by Lope as one of useful means to show the public-oriented tendency of his plays. The cases in point are Los Tellos de Meneses and its succeeding work Valor, fortuna y lealtad. The two-part work of Lope is about the hard journey, ups and downs, and ascent to the nobility of Tello, an exemplary and rich farmer, and hits young son Tello. Through the two-part play, Lope demonstrated how an exemplary and good-mannered commoner rose to the nobility and thereby gave vicarious satisfaction to the then-public and received a lot of praise from them. As mentioned earlier, through his public-oriented plays, Lope not only satisfied the public's desires and achieved his realistic goal of big success. Not all Lope's plays are public-oriented. Nevertheless, the popular success of 'Teatro nacional' made by Lope and his followers is based on the public's preference and the plays' dramatic responses to their desires, and the strategic elaboration to comfort the public suffering lot of pains in daily life.