Juan Ruiz de Alarcon

Juan Ruiz de Alarcon

Juan Ruiz de Alarcón (* late 1580 or early 1581 in Taxco ( Guerrero , Mexico ), † August 4, 1639 in Madrid ) was a Spanish playwright .

Life

He studied law at the Real y Pontificia Universidad de la Ciudad de México (Royal and Pontifical University of the City of Mexico).

On April 15, 1600 he traveled to Spain, where he worked for a time as a lawyer in Seville . Some of his works reflect the Spain that he takes up there: For example, “La verdad sospechosa” (The Suspicious Truth) has Don García, who studied in Salamanca , as the protagonist . After a few years he came back to Mexico.

In 1614 he came to Spain again, where he stayed until his death 25 years later and worked as interim rapporteur for the Consejo de Indias . There his devotion to literature intensified; his experience with the theater was expanded between 1615 and 1634. His devotion to the theater brought him on the one hand high fame and prestige, as well as a good income, but on the other hand also many animosities.

Ruiz de Alarcón himself was a relatively physically deformed person, very small, hunchbacked, red-haired, which is why many bad jokes were made about him, including from work colleagues Félix Lope de Vega , Pedro Calderón de la Barca and Francisco de Quevedo , who wrote him Called cripple. The playwright of the golden age of Spanish literature ( Siglo de Oro ) died on August 4th 1639, relatively wealthy, in Madrid.

A picture of the playwright has not survived; all of his pictures were taken afterwards, the most common of which is in the municipality of Santa Prisca, in Taxco .

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Compared to other authors from his era, the Mexican author did not produce many works, but the pieces on hand are characterized by their high quality. Ruiz de Alarcón published a total of twenty comedies in two volumes, of which the first volume (including “Los paredes oyen”) came out in 1628 and the second in 1634 (which contained “La verdad sospechosa”).

Ruiz de Alarcón found inspiration for his themes in various pieces, such as William Shakespeare's “ The Merchant of Venice ”, which resembles “El examen de maridos”, both of which are inspired by a common Italian source.

His “Anticristo” originated partly from “Evangelios apócrifos”. With “El tejedor de Segovia” the romantic drama is anticipated. Ruiz de Alarcón is a moralizing comedy writer, this quality was characteristic of his works. The attack on the social vices and sins of his epoch, the moralizing that could not be found in the works of Lope de Vegas.

His main works are “Las paredes oyen” (Hearing the walls) and “La verdad sospechosa” (The suspicious truth). The latter work inspired the French classicist playwright Pierre Corneille to write his character comedy Le Menteur (The Liar). Both comedies focus on defamation, morbid or manic lying. Ruiz de Alarcón's works always move in an urban environment. He is one of the most polite and psychological Baroque playwrights.

A long-time friend was Tirso de Molina , to whom, it is assumed in literary studies, some pieces (e.g. Cautela contra cautela, Siempre ayuda la verdad etc.) that he wrote and not Alarcón, or at least both in have written a joint project.

Works of the first volume are:

Los favores del mundo o Ganar perdiendo, La industria y la suerte, Las paredes oyen, El semejante a sí mismo, La cueva de Salamanca, Mudarse por mejorarse, Todo es ventura, El desdichado en fingir.

Works of the second volume are:

Los empeños de un engaño, El dueño de las estrellas, La amistad castigada, La manganilla de Melilla, Ganar amigos, La verdad sospechosa, El anticristo, El tejedor de Segovia, La prueba de las promesas, Los pechos privilegiados, La crueldad por el honor, El examen de maridos.

Other works:

Quien mal anda mal acaba, No hay mal que por bien no venga, La culpa busca la pena y el agravio la venganza, Siempre ayuda la verdad, Cautela contra Cautela.

His theatrical works can be divided into four types

1. Moralizing comedies with a heroic accent (e.g. El tejedor de Segovia)
2. Intrigue pieces with a satirical style of Alarcón, which aims at the lies and slander (e.g. Las paredes oyen, La verdad sospechosa)
3. Magical Comedies (e.g. La prueba de las promesas)
4. Pieces of saints (e.g. El Anticristo)

His pieces are characterized by an urban environment, the theme of the capa and espada, sobriety, satire, morality, the everyday but also the special in some subjects and irony. The French theater in particular was influenced by his work.

La verdad sospechosa

“The Suspicious Truth” is perhaps his most typical theatrical work, with which he describes the theater of the golden age (Siglo de Oro). This play alludes to the time and the developments, an atmosphere of reforms, changes in customs, manners and thrift, while society was relatively used to luxury and very frivolous, frivolous.

The story is about the son Don García, who comes from a noble family. After his brother's death, he travels to Madrid, where he meets two young women, Jacinta and Lucrecia. He marveled at the beauty of the first, which fascinated him so much that he tried to conquer it with lies. He, who has just come from Salamanca, says he is a rich Indian from Peru. One circumstance leads him to believe that the beauty is Lucrecia.

A little later he meets a childhood friend, don Juan de Sosa, Jacinta's friend. He gets jealous because the car of his lovers was seen at a party in Sotillo in Madrid. Don García lies one more time and says that he organized the party.

Don Beltrán, the father of Don García, tries to marry Jacinta, but his son tries with a new lie to prevent this marriage, although he does not know that Jacinta is his chosen one and not Lucrecia. He lies and says he secretly married in Salamanca.

At the same time, don Juan feels hurt by his old friend, he doesn't trust him, even if the conversation in a room in San Blas helps to clarify that Jacinta lent her vehicle, which was seen at the celebration. Don Juan is jealous.

Jacinta prepares a conversation with Don García on the balcony of Lucrecia. The new coming together again leads to misunderstandings that make the situation even more difficult. But Don García insists on his conquest, although he still confuses it with Lucrecia. The three, Lucrecia, Jacinta and Don García, meet in the Church of Magdalena, where new misunderstandings arise that lead the two women to suspect each other and to doubt each other's truth about their young friend concerns.

Don Beltrán finally learns the lie of his son's marriage in Salamanca. His son admits he made up this lie because he is in love with Lucrecia and therefore does not want to marry Jacinta (he still confuses the two). Don Beltrán thus accepts Lucrecia as his son's future wife and don Juan is promised to Jacinta. It was only shortly before the end, when the wives were being taken to their future husbands, that Don García noticed his mistake, but that was too late. He must now marry Lucrecia.

The play is on the one hand a character comedy, especially with the protagonist Don García, and on the other hand a moral comedy with a moral appeal and represents the criticism of the society of the Siglo de Oro at the time .

literature

• Microsoft Encarta 2005
• Diccionario de literatura española, Madrid: Revista de Occidente, 1964, 3rd ed.
• Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes: Títulos digitalizados de Juan Ruiz de Alarcón
• Juan Ruiz de Alarcón: La verdad sospechosa. Edición, introducción y notas de José Montero Reguera. Clásicos castilia. Madrid. 1999.

Web links

• Literature by and about Juan Ruiz de Alarcón in the catalog of the German National Library