«The Burlesque Comedy of the Spanish Golden Age: Parody, Nonsense, and Carnival», Hipogrifo. Revista de literatura y cultura del Siglo de Oro, Volumen extraordinario, 1, 2018, pp. 79-95

Abstract

This paper offers an approach to the main features and conventions of the burlesque comedy of the Spanish Golden Age, a corpus formed by about fifty parodic plays that were performed during Carnival and on St. John’s Day as part of the court festivals celebrated in the Royal Palace or in the Buen Retiro palace complex. These two features (theatre of Carnival and courtier theatre) are the main key when analyzing these plays. The primary function of these pieces is to provoke laughter within the aulic audience —the king and his noblemen. To achieve this goal, authors of burlesque comedies use all of the resources at hand, including both scenic and verbal humor. The plays are marked by an absurd wit, and they bring on stage a carnivalesque world turned upside-down in which everything (including characters, plots, literary motifs, and dramatic conventions) is grotesquely parodied, brutally degraded, and made comical.

Full text

HIPOGRIFO, Volumen extraordinario, 1, 2018 (pp. 79-95)
The Burlesque Comedy of the
Spanish Golden Age: Parody,
Nonsense, and Carnival1
La comedia burlesca del Siglo de Oro:
parodia, disparate y Carnaval
Carlos Mata Induráin
Universidad de Navarra, GRISO
ESPAÑA
cmatain@unav.es
[Hipogrifo, (issn: 2328-1308), Volumen extraordinario, 1, 2018, pp. 79-95]
Recibido: 18-09-2017 / Aceptado: 17-10-2017
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.13035/H.2018.extra01.07
Abstract. This paper offers an approach to the main features and conventions
of the burlesque comedy of the Spanish Golden Age, a corpus
parodic plays that were performed during Carnival and on St. John’s Day as part
of the court festivals celebrated in the Royal Palace or in the Buen Retiro palace
complex. These two features (theatre of Carnival and courtier theatre) are the main
key when analyzing these plays. The primary function of these pieces is to provoke
laughter within the aulic audience —the king and his noblemen. To achieve this
goal, authors of burlesque comedies use all of the resources at hand, including both
scenic and verbal humor. The plays are marked by an absurd wit, and they bring
on stage a carnivalesque world turned upside-down in which everything (including
characters, plots, literary motifs, and dramatic conventions) is grotesquely paro-
died, brutally degraded, and made comical.
Keywords. Theater; Burlesque Comedy; Golden Age; Parody; Nonsense; Carni-
val; Humour; Laugher.
Resumen. En este trabajo se ofrece un resumen de las principales característi-
cas y convenciones genéricas de las denominadas comedias burlescas del teatro
1. This work is part of project FFI2014-52007-P, «Authority and Power in the Theatre of the Golden



E. Schmelzer.

80 
HIPOGRIFO, Volumen extraordinario, 1, 2018 (pp. 79-95)
español del Siglo de Oro. Se trata de un corpus formado por unas cincuenta piezas
dramáticas paródicas que se representaban por Carnaval, y también por San Juan,

Estas dos características (teatro carnavalesco y teatro cortesano) constituyen una
clave esencial a la hora de abordar el estudio de estas obras. Su función primor-
dial es conseguir la risa de ese espectador cortesano (el rey y sus nobles) y para
ello los autores utilizan todos los recursos a su alcance, en el doble plano de la
comicidad escénica y la comicidad verbal. Estas piezas de jocosidad disparatada
muestran sobre el tablado un carnavalesco «mundo al revés donde absoluta-
mente todo (personajes, temas, motivos literarios y convenciones dramáticas…)
queda grotescamente parodiado y degradado.
Palabras clave. Teatro; comedia burlesca; Siglo de Oro; parodia; disparate; Car-
naval; comicidad; risa.
Burlesque comedies (comedias burlescas; during the Golden Age they were
also called comedias de disparates [nonsense comedies], comedias en chanza
[pleasantry comedies], or comedias de chistes [funny comedies]) are parodic plays
that were performed during Carnival, on Shrove Tuesday, and on St. John’s Day
as part of the court festivals celebrated in the Royal Palace or in the Buen Retiro
palace complex. We do not know if these performances later moved to the co-
rral (the courtyard theatre). The genre is thus characterized in two ways, as
theatre of Carnival and as courtier theatre. The primary function of the burlesque
comedy is to provoke laughter within the aulic audience —the king and his noble-
men. To achieve this goal, authors of burlesque comedies use all of the resour-
ces at hand, including both scenic and verbal humor. The plays are marked by an
absurd wit, and they bring on stage a carnivalesque world turned upside-down in
which everything (including characters, plots, literary motifs, and dramatic con-
ventions) is grotesquely parodied, brutally degraded, and made comical.
The characteristics of the burlesque comedy of the Golden Age have been under-
studied, but since the 1980s the genre has attracted the attention of a growing num-
   
luated by a number of scholars, including Arellano2, Borrego Gutiérrez3, Casado San-
tos4   5, Di Pinto6, García Lorenzo7, García Valdés8, Holgueras Pecha-
2. Arellano, 1995, 2002, 2003a, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2013.
3. Borrego Gutiérrez and Bermúdez Gómez, 1998; Borrego Gutiérrez, 2013 and 2014.
4. Casado Santos, 2010, 2012 and 2013.

6. Di Pinto, 2002, 2005 and 2009.
7. García Lorenzo, 1977, 1982, 1987, 1994a and 1994b.
8. García Valdés, 1987, 1991, 1994 and 2001.

 81
HIPOGRIFO, Volumen extraordinario, 1, 2018 (pp. 79-95)
rromán9, Huerta Calvo10 11, Profeti12, Serralta13, and Taravacci14, among
other authors. Recently, GRISO (Grupo de Investigación Siglo de Oro), a group of re-
searchers at the University of Navarra directed by Ignacio Arellano, began a project
whose goal is to publish the complete corpus of the burlesque comedies that are
known to date. We have begun work on nearly thirty modern, critical, and annotated
editions of these curious dramatic works15.
Burlesque comedies are of great interest because they are the opposite of the

-
terior analysis by the critics of the plots, structures, devices, and applications of the
comical, in short, a systematic study of all the burlesque comedy’s characteristics.
An-
gélica y Medoro [Angelica and Medoro] and Don Quijote de la Mancha resucitado
en Italia [Don Quixote of La Mancha Resuscitated in Italy], both by unknown au-
thors; El rey Perico y la dama tuerta [King Perico and the One-Eyed Lady], by Diego
Velázquez del Puerco; and El muerto resucitado [The Deceased Resuscitated], by
9. Holgueras Pecharromán, 1989 and 1999.
10. Huerta Calvo, 1986, 1998, 2001, 2006 and 2007.

and 2015, among other works.
12. Profeti, 2013.
13. Serralta, 1976, 1980a, 1980b, 1991 and 2004.
14. Taravacci, 2001.
15. The following titles have already been published: Comedias burlescas del Siglo de Oro. El Hamete
de Toledo. El caballero de Olmedo. Darlo todo y no dar nada. Céfalo y Pocris, ed. Ignacio Arellano,
            
Comedias burlescas del Siglo de Oro, tomo I, Anónimo, El rey don Alfonso, el de la mano horadada,
    Comedias burlescas del
Siglo de Oro, tomo II, Los amantes de Teruel. Amor, ingenio y mujer. La ventura sin buscarla. Angélica
y Medoro        
2001); Comedias burlescas del Siglo de Oro, tomo III, El cerco de Tagarete. Durandarte y Belerma. La
renegada de Valladolid. Castigar por defender
Iberoamericana/Vervuert, 2002); Comedias burlescas del Siglo de Oro, tomo IV, Las mocedades del Cid.
El castigo en la arrogancia. El desdén, con el desdén. El premio de la hermosura, ed. Alberto Rodríguez
Comedias burlescas del Siglo de Oro, tomo V, Los
Condes de Carrión. Peligrar en los remedios. Darlo todo y no dar nada. El premio de la virtud, ed. GRISO
     Comedias burlescas
del Siglo de Oro, tomo VI, El rey Perico y la dama tuerta. Escanderbey. Antíoco y Seleuco. La venida del
Duque de Guisa y su armada a Castelamar
Iberoamericana/Vervuert, 2007); Comedias burlescas del Siglo de Oro, tomo VII, El Mariscal de Virón.
No hay vida como la honra. El robo de Elena. El muerto resucitado
Dos comedias burlescas del Siglo de Oro:
«El Comendador de Ocaña». «El hermano de su hermana»
Céfalo y Pocris, introd. Enrica Cancelliere,

of a great number of the comedies and an updated bibliography. With regard to a provisional catalogue
of titles and authors, see Serralta, 1980a.

82 
HIPOGRIFO, Volumen extraordinario, 1, 2018 (pp. 79-95)

of the success of this dramatic subgenre.
Burlesque comedy coincided with the peak of courtier theatre, achieving
its greatest splendor during the reign of Philip IV. We know that Jerónimo de
Cáncer and Juan Vélez de Guevara’s Los siete infantes de Lara [The Seven Infants
of Lara] El caballero de Olmedo [The Gentleman
from Olmedo] La renegada de Valladolid [The
Apostate Woman from Valladolid] in 1655; Calderón’s Céfalo y Pocris [Cephalus and
Procris] in 1660 (probably); Don Domingo de don Blas [Don Domingo de Don Blas],
   
Guevara’s El hidalgo de la Mancha [The Nobleman from La Mancha] in 1673; Las
bodas de Orlando [Orlando’s Weddings], by an anonymous author, in 1685; El rey
don Alfonso, el de la mano horadada [King Alfonso, the Prodigal], by an anonymous
author also, in 1686; and so forth.
The growth of the genre must be interpreted in the context of the success of
other modalities of the comical since the beginning of the seventeenth century, in-
cluding burlesque romances; jocular dialogues; dramatic genres such as entrem-
eses, mojigangas, vejámenes, and pullas; and madmen’s festivities. Recent an-
        entremés (short
farces), especially the entremés burlesco (Entremés de los romances [Interlude
of the Folk Ballads], La infanta Palancona [The Princess Palancona], and Melisen-
dra [Melisendra] are some examples)16. Some of the burlesque comedies were pro-
bably improvisational (Escarramán [Escarraman] and La creación del mundo [The
World Creation], a lost co-production of Luis Vélez de Guevara and Calderón, are two
examples), but some of the more elaborate and complex works cannot be the re-
sult of improvisational techniques (for example, Céfalo y Pocris [Cephalus and Pro-
cris] or Darlo todo y no dar nada [Give it All, and Give Nothing]). Arellano, who has
studied spontaneous burlesque, emphasizes that some burlesque comedies were
integrated into a literary academy (El hermano de su hermana [The Brother of his
Own Sister], part of the Obras [Works] of Francisco Bernardo de Quirós, is an exam-
ple)17
exception of Calderón, the author of Céfalo y Pocris [Cephalus and Procris]. Jeró-

de Deza. Other authors of burlesque comedies are Juan Vélez de Guevara, Francisco

The Burlesque Comedy and Carnival
The burlesque comedy is essentially carnivalesque. The plot is riddled with
 
   comedia nueva
16. See Gómez, 2001. With respect to the origins and literary modalities of the burlesque that characte-
rize the comedia de disparates, see García Valdés, 1991, pp. 33-40 and Huerta Calvo, 2001.
17. Arellano, 2002, pp. 113-117.

 83
HIPOGRIFO, Volumen extraordinario, 1, 2018 (pp. 79-95)
(the Spanish theatre of the seventeenth century) are inverted. García Lorenzo has
characterized these plays as «works directly related to the Carnival […] the comedy
of illusion, gallant and heroic, the ‘world upside down’ of burlesque comedy. These
comedies provide a little revenge for a public weary of beauty, perfection, heroic
18. Arellano emphasizes how carnivalesque techniques are used
in such comedies:
A main feature shared by all these degradations: their closeness to models
inserted into the comic grotesque Carnival. […] The burlesque tone is marked by

food, physiological functions, parasites. […] They are low-style references (similar
to the concept of burlesque as turpitudo et deformitas, in the words of Cicero)
that collide with the decorum attributed to characters of serious comedies (kings,
princesses, admirals)19.
The technique of the world turned upside-down that is so characteristic of the
carnivalesque shapes these works. Not only do the playwrights use typical car-
nivalesque forms and motifs such as excessive eating and drinking; grotesque
feasts and banquets20; giants and bullies; the use of cowbells, castanets, and kites;
wooden horses, syringes, and grotesque accessories, these plays also contain
many references to the fact that they were performed during Carnival. The beginning
of the second act of Diego Velázquez del Puerco’s El rey Perico y la dama tuerta
[King Perico and the One-Eyed Lady] contains the following lines:
Salgan los galanes
juntos con sus damas,
que en Carnestolendas
ya todos son mazas.
[Come lovers
together with their ladies,
in Carnival
all are maces21.]
These lines refer to the practice during Carnival of tying maces to dogs’ tails,
which served the purpose of having fun.
Parody
Burlesque comedies are comprised of jokes, nonsense, and all kinds of ab-
surdities. The parody of a serious model constitutes the basis of these plays. They
18. García Lorenzo, 1977, pp. 145-146. Quotes in Spanish have been translated into English, here and in
the rest of the article.
19. Arellano, 1995, pp. 644-645.
20. See Arellano, 2011.
21. Diego Velázquez del Puerco, El rey Perico y la dama tuerta [King Perico and the One-Eyed Lady], ll.
722-725.

84 
HIPOGRIFO, Volumen extraordinario, 1, 2018 (pp. 79-95)
may parody mythological or classical topics (Calderón’s Céfalo y Pocris [Cephalus
and Procris] and Lanini Sagredo’s Darlo todo y no dar nada [Give it All, and Give
Nothing]), popular subjects of folk ballads (the anonymous Los siete infantes de
Lara [The Seven Infants of Lara] and Las mocedades del Cid [The Youthful Deeds
of the Cid] La renegada de Va-
lladolid [The Apostate Woman from Valladolid]). Some burlesque comedies parody
serious comedies: the anonymously written plays La ventura sin buscarla [The Not
Searched Happiness] and El desdén con el desdén [Disdain with Disdain], Lanini’s
Darlo todo y no dar nada [Give it All, and Give Nothing], and Suárez de Deza’s Los
amantes de Teruel [The Lovers of Teruel] are parodies of the plays with the same
 El caballero
de Olmedo [The Gentleman from Olmedo] could be a parody of Lope’s tragicomedy,
although it might as well be a parody of the historical tradition.
       
(i.e., El desdén con el desdén [Disdain with Disdain]) are very close to the original,
while others refer to the plot of the original play only generally or only to some
scenes (Darlo todo y no dar nada [Give it All, and Give Nothing] is an example).
Furthermore, some burlesque comedies parody generic conventions of the serious
comedy without referring to a concrete work: for example, Suárez de Deza’s Amor,
ingenio y mujer [Love, Wit, and Woman] is a parody of popular motifs of the comedia
de enredo and Calderón’s Céfalo y Pocris [Cephalus and Procris] takes up motifs of
mythological and chivalric comedies.
All the characters of the burlesque comedy, even the most noble ones (empe-

which only have one character of this kind, the gracioso. In burlesque comedy, all of
the characters adhere to the same codes of ludicrous and absurd humor, including
low style, the use of vulgar and colloquial expressions, and grotesque degradation.
Arellano has described how burlesque comedy reduces the number of lines,
the variety of strophic forms, the number of characters and scenes, and so forth22.
A conventional comedy has approximately 3,000 lines, while a burlesque one has
about 1,800 lines.
The degraded universe: sCeniC and verBal dimensions of The ComiCal
Burlesque comedy inverts all the schemes that are valid in the comedia nueva
in order to present a completely degraded universe. This degradation affects the
burlesque comedy’s dramatic conventions, the poetic motifs, and the construction
of characters. The rupture of decorum is absolute, and serious values are inverted.
Love, honor, nobility, the nobleman’s bravery and courage, the beauty of the ladies
—everything is transformed into ridiculousness. The protagonists of these works
are animalized or even converted into things —dummies or grotesque puppets, for
example. They are particularly focused on rustic food and excessive drinking and
22. Arellano, 1995, p. 643.

 85
HIPOGRIFO, Volumen extraordinario, 1, 2018 (pp. 79-95)
are governed by a very primitive sexuality. There is no doubt that the material world
predominates over the spiritual world in these plays.
All the elements of the descriptio puellae (description of the lady) are absurdly
       La
mayor hazaña de Carlos VI [The Main Deed of Carlos VI]) or with beards or mous-
taches (in La ventura sin buscarla [The Not Searched Happiness], El desdén con el
desdén [Disdain with Disdain], Angélica y Medoro [Angelica and Medoro], El Hamete
de Toledo [The Hamete from Toledo]). In Angélica y Medoro [Angelica and Medoro],

than a piece of bacon:
 De Angélica la plata del cabello
y la arrugada calva de la frente,
los dos ojos que pueden ser de puente,
de su nariz pestífera el resuello,
el labio royo, el erizado cuello,
 
la jarifa cintura de rodezno,
la panza de furioso torbellino,
los halagos de hermoso viborezno,
aquella suavidad de tronco espino,
todo lo dejaré por un torrezno23.
[Angélica’s silver hair,
her bald and wrinkled forehead,
her eyes, like portholes,
the pestiferous breath from her nose,
her red lips, her wrinkled neck,
and her rustic hands, beautiful waist as a millstone,
womb of violent storm,
her courtesies like that of a poisonous snake,
her smoothness like that of a spiky bush…
I’ll exchange all of that for a piece of bacon.]
Here nothing is left of the motifs of Petrarchan poetry in the Neoplatonic tra-
dition, just as nothing is left of idealized mythological comparisons. In burlesque
comedy, amorous dialogue, one of the most frequently parodied literary motifs, of-
ten refers to pimping and prostitution.
The mutual insults of lovers is a frequent modality. Arellano describes this kind
apodos24. Lines
753 to 758 of La ventura sin buscarla [The Not Searched Happiness] are a good
example:
 ¡Oh, mi rey!
 ¡Oh, mi lucero!
23. Angélica y Medoro [Angelica and Medoro], ll. 716-726.
24. Arellano, 1995, p. 652.

86 
HIPOGRIFO, Volumen extraordinario, 1, 2018 (pp. 79-95)
 ¡Oh, mi corito!
 ¡Oh, gallega!
 ¡Oh, tinaja de bodega!
 ¡Oh, caraza de mortero!
 ¡Oh, bergantón!
 ¡Oh, picaña!
 ¡Oh, putonazo!
 ¡Oh, putona!
[The characters Infanta and Carlos begin their dialogue with positive mentions
-


Other frequently parodied motifs are love letters, portrayals of the beloved, and
the exchange of pledges and favors. The burlesque gallants (who are bullies or
braggarts rather than noblemen) bet the ladies playing cards or leave them to their
rivals. One common scene is the amorous dialogue between a gallant and a lady at
the window; in burlesque comedies, this scene always breaks down in a way that
parodies the concept of honor, for example when the gallant has to hide because
he and the lady are surprised in loving conversation. For example, in El caballero de
Olmedo [The Gentleman from Olmedo], the dialogue between don Alonso and doña
Elvira is interrupted by the arrival of don Rodrigo. When don Alonso refuses to go
into hiding, the lady exclaims: «Pues alguien se ha de esconder, / que mi honor es lo
25 [Someone has to hide; it is necessary to protect my honor.] Scenes that
describe a lady fainting (in El desdén con el desdén [Disdain with Disdain], Céfalo
y Pocris [Cephalus and Procris], and El caballero de Olmedo [The Gentleman from
Olmedo]
scenes in which a character speaks in a dream are also typical motifs of the bur-
lesque comedy.
Other topical motifs that are parodied are the bolting horse (which is parodied
as a bolting donkey in Céfalo y Pocris [Cephalus and Procris], ll. 40-55); giving pre-
sents to the servants; the concession of political posts; and ambassadorship and
the relations of war. Courtier ceremonies include ridiculous hand-kissing scenes
and grotesque eulogies on the king’s long life:
 Vivas, señor, más que un ciervo,
y se te cuenten los años
como a él26.
El caballero de Olmedo [The Gentleman from Olmedo], ll. 319-320.
26. Darlo todo y no dar nada [Give it All, and Give Nothing], ll. 381-383. We have to take into account that
the age of bucks is determined by the size of the horns, a symbol of cuckoldry.

 87
HIPOGRIFO, Volumen extraordinario, 1, 2018 (pp. 79-95)
[Sir, may your life be as long as that of a deer,
and may you count the years like him.]
In Los amantes de Teruel [The Lovers of Teruel], the father does not want his
daughter to marry her lover and prefers that they engage only in illicit relations:
 Gócela pues, que a fe que es buena moza,
y llévela después a Zaragoza,
que yo estaré contento
con que su amor no pare en casamiento27.
 
I feel good when her boyfriend enjoys her
and then takes her to Zaragoza.
I’ll be happy
if they do not marry.]
Nothing is left of the courteousness and seriousness of the royal court: in these

pointed out28. Huerta Calvo also stresses that the role of the king was sometimes
interpreted by a jester or a buffoon such as Juan Rana29. Arellano notes that La ven-
tura sin buscarla [The Not Searched Happiness] ends with a grotesque coronation
30.
There are also many satirical aspects in these plays, including mockeries of
        
and folkloric characters. Serralta notes that the comical is sometimes created with

habits (and vice versa), words that invoke burlesque saints, the pairing of curses
and vows, and allusions to offensive habits of nuns and monks31.
The comedy of this genre is especially verbal32
discourses: foolish remarks, perqués (repetitions of questions that include the

ding ambiguous meanings, puns, derivations, and humorous neologisms. It is not
possible to translate many of these jokes. For example, in La ventura sin buscarla
[The Not Searched Happiness]
 Vos, Duque, sois mi privado
y aun mi privada también33.
27. Los amantes de Teruel [The Lovers of Teruel], ll. 408-411.

29. Huerta Calvo, 2001, p. 174.
30. Arellano, 1995, p. 647.
31. Serralta, 1980b.
32. Concerning verbal modalities of nonsensical humor, the following works are fundamental: Periñán,
1979; Chevalier, 1992, and Arellano, 2003b.
33. La ventura sin buscarla [The Not Searched Happiness], ll. 3-4.

88 
HIPOGRIFO, Volumen extraordinario, 1, 2018 (pp. 79-95)
   
in Spanish, the word privado (favorite) sounds like the term privada, which means
toilet.
The accumulation of verbal forms also works to create one of the effects of
burlesque comedy. Examples include the repetition and accumulation of refrains,
invective, nicknames, insults, colloquial words (in the sense of Bakhtin’s «language
  
Los amantes
de Teruel [The Lovers of Teruel]; Camarón, Sapo, and Inflamado Pejerrey (Shrimp,
     El cerco de Tagarete [The Siege of Tagarete] are
examples of the latter rhetorical strategy. In a similar manner, the genre plays with
rhymes; tail rhymes, proparoxytonic rhymes, and interior rhymes are common fea-
tures.
-
La ventura sin buscarla [The Not Searched Happiness], for example), the gro-
tesque banquet (in La ventura sin buscarla [The Not Searched Happiness], El her-
mano de su hermana [The Brother of his Own Sister], and El rey don Alfonso [King
Alfonso, the Prodigal]), the will (in El hermano de su hermana [The Brother of his
Own Sister] and Los Condes de Carrión [The Counts of Carrion]), burlesque auguries
and prognostications (in Céfalo y Pocris [Cephalus and Procris], Los siete Infan-
tes de Lara [The Seven Infants of Lara], and Las mocedades del Cid [The Youthful
Deeds of the Cid]), the ridiculous challenge (in Los siete Infantes de Lara [The Seven
Infants of Lara], El cerco de Tagarete [The Siege of Tagarete], and El hermano de
su hermana [The Brother of his Own Sister]), the enumeration of impossibilia (in El
rey don Alfonso [King Alfonso, the Prodigal]), and the dialogue of misunderstanding
(in El hermano de su hermana [The Brother of his Own Sister] and La ventura sin
buscarla [The Not Searched Happiness]). Two understudied aspects of burlesque
comedy are how music is often used in a ludic way and the frequent use of inter-
textuality (such as references to famous romances, jácaras, and popular ballads).
Burlesque comedy also employs scenic comedy34. The ridiculous wardrobe is a
striking element of such plays. The princess’s dress in Castigar por defender [Pu-
nishment instead of Support] and the costumes of the king and the infant in La ven-
tura sin buscarla [The Not Searched Happiness] are two examples. Stage directions
often include the words «vestido ridículamente 
-
randal as if it was his heart in El amor más verdadero [The Most Truthful Love], the
bladder Vellido Dolfos uses to kill Don Sancho in El hermano de su hermana [The
Brother of his Own Sister], the giant shoe of Filis shown on the stage by Rosicler in
Céfalo y Pocris [Cephalus and Procris]35. Burlesque comedies tend toward exagge-
rated and grotesque gestures (beatings, running, crashes, fusses, indecent dan-
ces). In general, the stage instructions are not very explicit, so one has to deduce
the character’s wardrobe and gestures from his or her own words.
34. See especially Arellano, 2011.
35. Arellano, 1995, pp. 647-648.

 89
HIPOGRIFO, Volumen extraordinario, 1, 2018 (pp. 79-95)

of the world of games (jackstones, playing cards, etc.) is very present. The carni-
valesque environment is completed by inflated bladders, wooden horses, cowbells,
kites, mazas (the maces tied to the tails of the dogs during Carnival), masques,
monsters, bullies, giants, midgets, and savages. There are also women dressed as
men or men wearing women’s clothes, even pregnant men. Finally, resurrections
of deceased people (in El Comendador de Ocaña [The Knight Commander of Oca-
ña], El caballero de Olmedo [The Gentleman from Olmedo], and El hermano de su
hermana [The Brother of his Own Sister], for example) make clear that even death
is carnivalized. Everything is possible in the world turned upside-down of the bur-
lesque comedy.
The inTenTion of Burlesque Comedy: moCkery or soCial CriTiCism?
Given the fact that the plays represented a ridiculous version of royal life di-
rectly in front of the king, the critical potential of the burlesque comedy must be
discussed. Serralta regards the genre as mainly comical, as mockery with the aim
of provoking laughter within the spectator that does not transcend the humorous
dimension36. García Lorenzo, on the other hand, adds to the evident ludic func-
tion the role of social satire37. The two positions are not necessarily contradictory.
Arellano opts for an intermediate position:
If the ridiculous presentation of the values of baroque society —the mockery
of kings, honor, or jokes with religious references imply an attitude against them—
this does not seem very important. The staging circumstances are relevant to in-
terpreting burlesque comedy; the Carnival environment gives them the ambiguous

nal. In my estimation, instead of true social, political or ideological criticism, we see
the mockery of literary and theatrical devices38.
It must not be forgotten that these plays were performed in the royal palace, and
only during Carnival and on St. John’s Day. Their potential to offer a social critique
or a critique of authorities is thus very limited.
In short, burlesque comedy unveils the other side of the comedia nueva —the
carnivalesque and the ridiculous. Even though the corpus does not always repre-
sent literature at its highest level, these works have to be taken into account if we
want to understand the theatre of the Spanish Golden Age in all its variety.
BiBliograPhy
     Historia del teatro español del siglo
XVII
36. Serralta, 1980a, p. 106.
37. García Lorenzo, 1982.
38. Arellano, 1995, p. 646.

90 
HIPOGRIFO, Volumen extraordinario, 1, 2018 (pp. 79-95)
Arellano, Ignacio, «Literatura sin libro: literatura de repente y oralidad en el Siglo de
Pulchre, bene, recte. Estudios en homenaje al Prof. Fernando González
Ollé-
sa/Gobierno de Navarra, 2002, pp. 101-119.
Arellano, Ignacio, «Comedia y comida: el banquete grotesco en la comedia burles-
En gustos se comen géneros. Congreso Internacional
Comida y literatura     

Arellano, Ignacio, Poesía satírico burlesca de Quevedo-
ricana/Vervuert, 2003b.
Escenografía y es-
cenicación en el teatro español del Siglo de Oro. Actas del II Curso sobre
teoría y práctica del teatro, organizado por el Aula Biblioteca Mira de Amescua
y el Centro de Formación Continua, celebrado en Granada (10-13 noviembre,
2004)-
sidad de Granada, 2005, pp. 7-56.
Arellano, Ignacio, «Los héroes caballerescos en los espejos del callejón del gato de
La comedia de caballerías. Actas de las XXVIII Jor-
nadas de Teatro Clásico de Almagro. Almagro, 12, 13 y 14 de julio de 2005, ed.
-
  
177.
Guerra y paz en la co-
media española. Actas de las XXIX Jornadas de Teatro Clásico de Almagro.
Almagro, 4-6 de julio de 2006, ed. Felipe B. Pedraza Jiménez, Rafael González
-
val de Almagro, 2007, pp. 199-221.

Bulletin of the Comediantes, 65, 2, 2013, pp. 1-19.
Borrego Gutiérrez, Esther, «Convenciones escénicas y tópicos burlados: el éxito de
Bulletin of the Comediantes, 65, 2, 2013, pp. 21-41.
Borrego Gutiérrez, Esther, «La parodia del personaje cómico en la comedia burlesca
Hispania Felix, 5, 2014, pp. 55-90.
Borrego Gutiérrez, Esther and Javier Bermúdez Gómez, «La comedia burlesca o el
La comedia de enredo. Actas de las XX Jornadas de Teatro
Clásico (1997), Almagro, 8, 9 y 10 de julio, ed. Felipe B. Pedraza Jiménez y Ra-

Almagro, 1998, pp. 285-304.
Calderón de la Barca, Pedro, Céfalo y Pocris, introd. Enrica Cancelliere, ed. Ignacio


 91
HIPOGRIFO, Volumen extraordinario, 1, 2018 (pp. 79-95)
Arte nuevo de hacer comedias “a través del espejo”:
Hispania Felix, 1, 2010, pp. 151-168.
           
La Biblia en el teatro español
        
331-346.
Co-
media burlesca y teatro breve del Siglo de Oro
Induráin y Pietro Taravacci, Pamplona, Eunsa, 2013, pp. 87-102.
Quevedo y su tiempo: la agudeza verbal, Barcelona, Crítica, 1992.
Comedias burlescas del Siglo de Oro. El Hamete de Toledo. El caballero de Olmedo.
Darlo todo y no dar nada. Céfalo y Pocris, ed. Ignacio Arellano, Celsa Carmen

Comedias burlescas del Siglo de Oro, tomo I, Anónimo, El rey don Alfonso, el de la
mano horadada
Vervuert, 1998.
Comedias burlescas del Siglo de Oro, tomo II, Los amantes de Teruel. Amor, ingenio
y mujer. La ventura sin buscarla. Angélica y Medoro, ed. del GRISO dirigida por

Comedias burlescas del Siglo de Oro, tomo III, El cerco de Tagarete. Durandarte y
Belerma. La renegada de Valladolid. Castigar por defender, ed. del GRISO di-

Comedias burlescas del Siglo de Oro, tomo IV, Las mocedades del Cid. El castigo
en la arrogancia. El desdén, con el desdén. El premio de la hermosura, ed. de

Comedias burlescas del Siglo de Oro, tomo V, Los Condes de Carrión. Peligrar en los
remedios. Darlo todo y no dar nada. El premio de la virtud, ed. del GRISO diri-

Comedias burlescas del Siglo de Oro, tomo VI, El rey Perico y la dama tuerta. Es-
canderbey. Antíoco y Seleuco. La venida del Duque de Guisa y su armada a
Castelamar-
roamericana/Vervuert, 2007.
Comedias burlescas del Siglo de Oro, tomo VII, El Mariscal de Virón. No hay vida
como la honra. El robo de Elena. El muerto resucitado, volumen dirigido por


El Siglo de Oro antes y después de el «Arte nuevo»,
coord. Oana Andreia Sâmbrian-Toma, Craiova, Sitech, 2009, pp. 81-90.

92 
HIPOGRIFO, Volumen extraordinario, 1, 2018 (pp. 79-95)
Di Pinto, Elena, «Los mecanismos de la risa: de Auristela y Lisidante y Celos, aun el
aire matan a Céfalo y PocrisCalderón 2000. Homenaje a Kurt Reichen-
berger en su 80 cumpleaños (Actas del Congreso Internacional, IV Centenario
del nacimiento de Calderón, Universidad de Navarra, septiembre, 2000), ed.

       Actas
del Congreso «El Siglo de Oro en el nuevo milenio»
Zugasti, Pamplona, Eunsa, 2005, tomo I, pp. 547-559.
-
Literatura, política y esta en el Madrid de los Siglos de Oro, dir.
-

Dos comedias burlescas del Siglo de Oro: «El Comendador de Ocaña». «El hermano
de su hermana»-
berger, 2000.
García Lorenzo, Luciano, «La comedia burlesca en el siglo XVII. Las moceda des del
CidSegismundo, 25-26, 1977, pp. 131-146.
García Lorenzo, Luciano, «El hermano de su hermana de Bernardo de Quirós, y la
Revista de Literatura, 44, 87, 1982, pp. 5-23.
García Lorenzo, Luciano, «De la tragedia a la parodia: El caballero de Olmedo
El castigo sin venganza y el teatro de Lope de Vega, ed. Ricardo Doménech,

         
Del horror a la risa. Los géneros dra má ti cos clásicos. Homenaje a Christiane
Faliu-Lacourt        
Reichenberger, 1994a, pp. 89-113.
García Lorenzo, Luciano, Images de la fem-
me en Espagne aux XVIe et XVIIe siècles. Des traditions aux renouvellements et
à l’émergence d’images nouvelles, París, Publications de la Sorbonne-Presses
de la Sorbonne Nouvelle, 1994b, pp. 251-259.
García Valdés, Celsa Carmen, «El cerco de Tagarete, una comedia burlesca de F.
Criticón, 37, 1987, pp. 77-115.
 De la tragicomedia a la comedia
burlesca: «El caballero de Olmedo», Pamplona, Eunsa, 1991, pp. 9-56.
García Valdés, Celsa Carmen, «El caballero de OlmedoDel
horror a la risa. Los géneros dra máticos clásicos. Homenaje a Christiane
Faliu-Lacourt        
Reichenberger, 1994, pp. 137-160.
García Valdés, Celsa Carmen, «Técnicas escénicas y verbales en Céfalo y Pocris
Calderón: sistema dramático y técnicas escénicas. Actas de las XXIII Jorna-

 93
HIPOGRIFO, Volumen extraordinario, 1, 2018 (pp. 79-95)
das de Teatro Clásico (Almagro, 11, 12 y 13 de julio de 2000), ed. Felipe B. Pe-


Gómez, Jesús, «El entremés de Melisendra atribuido a Lope de Vega y los orígenes
de la comedia burlescaBoletín de la Real Academia Española, 81, 283, 2001,
pp. 205-221.
Teatro y
Carnaval-
sico, 1999 (Cuadernos de Teatro Clásico, 12), pp. 131-144.
Holgueras Pecharromán, Dolores, «La comedia burlesca: estado actual de la inves-
El teatro español a nes del siglo XVII. Historia, cultura y teatro en
la España de Carlos II, Amsterdam/Atlanta, Rodopi, 1989 (Diálogos Hispáni-
cos de Amsterdam, 8/2, 1989), pp. 467-480.

Teatro y esta en el Barroco. España e Iberoamérica, ed.

Huerta Calvo, Javier, «Reyes de Carnaval (sobre el personaje del rey en la comedia
 Teatro cortesano en la España de los Austrias
Cuadernos
de Teatro Clásico, 10), pp. 269-295.

Tiempo de burlas. En torno a la literatura burlesca del Siglo de Oro, ed. Javier
        
2001, pp. 161-176.
  El
teatro clásico español a través de sus monarcas, ed. Luciano García Lorenzo,

La pasión de los celos en
el teatro del Siglo de Oro. Actas del III Curso sobre teoría y práctica del tea-
tro, organizado por el Aula-Biblioteca Mira de Amescua y el Centro de Forma-
ción Continua, celebrado en Granada, 8-11 de noviembre, 2006, ed. Remedios

2007, pp. 211-228.
          
burlesca del Siglo de Oro: Los siete infantes de LaraActas del V Congre-
so Internacional de Hispanistas
Santa Fe/Diputación Provincial de Granada, 1999, pp. 491-512.
    
Oro: El Hamete de ToledoActas del V Congreso de la Asociación Interna-
cional Siglo de Oro, Münster 1999
Iberoamericana/Vervuert, 2001, pp. 881-891.

94 
HIPOGRIFO, Volumen extraordinario, 1, 2018 (pp. 79-95)
Historia del teatro espa-
ñol, vol. I, De la Edad Media a los Siglos de Oro
Gredos, 2003a, pp. 1069-1096.
      -
dia del amor y del honor en la comedia burlesca anónima de El Comendador
de OcañaLope de Vega en la Compañía Nacional de Teatro Clásico, Año
2002    
Clásico, 2003b (Cuadernos de Teatro Clásico, 17), pp. 189-209.
-
Literatura. Teoría, Historia, Crítica, 6, 2004, pp.
149-182.

Actas del Congreso «El Siglo de Oro en el nuevo milenio», ed.


El teatro clásico español a través de sus monarcas, ed. Luciano García Loren-

Da-
mas en el tablado. XXXI Jornadas de Teatro Clásico. Almagro, 1, 2 y 3 de julio
de 2008, ed. Felipe B. Pedraza Jiménez, Rafael González Cañal y Almudena

299.

Literatura, política y esta en el Madrid de los Siglos de Oro, dir.
-

    
Bulletin of the Comediantes, 65, 2, 2013a, pp. 115-128.
-
Ínsula, 802, 2013b, pp. 25-27.

Judaísmo y criptoju-
daísmo en la comedia española. XXXV Jornadas de Teatro Clásico. Almagro,
5, 6 y 7 de julio de 2012, ed. Felipe B. Pedraza Jiménez, Rafael González Ca-
 
105-124.

El patrimonio del teatro clásico español: actualidad y perspec-
tivas. Homenaje a Francisco Ruiz Ramón. Actas selectas del Congreso del
TC/12, Olmedo, 22 al 25 de julio de 2013, ed. Germán Vega García-Luengos,

 95
HIPOGRIFO, Volumen extraordinario, 1, 2018 (pp. 79-95)
Héctor Urzáiz Tortajada y Pedro Conde Parrado, Valladolid/Olmedo, Universi-
dad de Valladolid/Ayuntamiento de Olmedo, 2015, pp. 501-509.
Periñán, Blanca, Poeta ludens: disparate, perqué y chiste en los siglos XVI y XVII,
Pisa, Giardini, 1979.
        Comedia bur-
lesca y teatro breve del Siglo de Oro
Pietro Taravacci, Pamplona, Eunsa, 2013, pp. 219-228.
   Cuadernos Hispanoamericanos, 311,
1976, pp. 450-461.
Risa y sociedad
en el teatro español del Siglo de Oro, Toulouse, CNRS, 1980a, pp. 99-129.
 Criticón, 12,
1980b, pp. 55-75.
TIGRE
(Travaux des hispanistes de l’Université Stendhal), 6, 1991, pp. 83-92.
Criti-
cón, 92, 2004, pp. 171-184.
Taravacci, Pietro, «Sobre El Comendador de Ocaña  Actas
del V Congreso de la Asociación Internacional Siglo de Oro, Münster 1999, ed.
     
1254-1265.