variations of «drama historial» (historical drama) in lope de vega

Starting from the presentation of the principles underlying the current research and that link it to previous studies —principles which deal with the concept and features of drama historial (historic drama) in Lope de Vega—, the essay focuses on the distinction of two fundamental modes of drama historial: the commemoration of famous historical events on the one hand, and moral conflict analysis, almost always of private nature and exploding in specific historical circumstances, on the other hand. These two major strategies of significance, the one being characteristic of a collective memory, associated with the identity of the nascent nation, and the other one exploring private identity, their subjectivity and their conflicts, constitute the two major branches of Lope’s drama historial. In exceptional cases, this diversification of strategies can be seen with precision in variations on the same subject. Such is the case of plays dedicated to the figure of the king of Portugal João II, two of which, the First and the Second part of The Perfect Prince, are a clear commemoration of famous public events, in this case about an exemplary king, while the third, the tragedy of The Duke of Viseo, is a detailed analysis of an ethical-political conflict which stresses the clash of individual subjects, and especially that between the King and the Duke of Viseo. The differences in the dramatic strategies followed in these works determine a completely different image of the historical figure of the king, who appears as a perfect prince in the first and second dramas, and as a man capable of perversion and injustice in the third.