The bandit of the Comedia of the Spanish golden age theatre

The purpose of this thesis is to make available to those interested in the Cornedia of the Spanish Golden Age an introduction to the Bandit plays. The list of plays makes no claim at being exhaustive. I have incorporated in the text well-known plays and some unknown plays. The method used in identifying bandit plays was to examine collections of the works of famous playwrights such as Calderon, Tirso and Lope. Those plays which, in the dramatis personnae, called for bandoleros, salteadores or facinerosos were read for the purpose of establishing whether they could be used for this study. Bandit plays, and banditry, have received minimal attention from scholars, studies of the theme limited to a few articles. This neglect is unfortunate because the bandit play forms an entire sub-genre of the Cornedia of the Golden Age and a study of this sub-genre will provide a further insight into the function of the many-faceted Cornedia. The plays discussed in this thesis follow a definite pattern. Within the limits of an M.A. thesis my intention is to illustrate and analyze on a basic level the salient literary conventions common to the bandit plays. This I attempt to do by giving a systematic, but brief, plot analysis of each play, drawing conclusions from the common elements which emerge. In order that this study be placed in a proper context, I have included a brief discussion of historical and possible literary sources for the figure of the bandolero and bandolera. It is my strong conviction that this modus operandi is of considerable value in enabling us to arrive at an interpretation of the figure of the bandit within the Cornedia. Once the bandit is seen within his historical context -- and it is evident that this topic requires more attention and research by historians -- any changes that the playwright makes to the figure of the historical bandit will be significant in reaching an interpretation of the Cornedia Bandolera.Arts, Faculty ofFrench, Hispanic, and Italian Studies, Department ofGraduat