Three Major Plays Read Online Free PDF

courageous. On the other hand, Lope constantly fills out the
stereotype with touches which make him a truly interesting character. He
is, despite the attributes outlined above, somewhat unworldly: an
aspect of his character which explains why he employs Fabia, a woman
of the world, to conduct his love-affair, and which also, in a sense,
leads him to ignore the warnings he receives about proceeding on the
journey to Olmedo, for he rather naively believes that Rodrigo will do
him no harm. Again, it seems quite possible that the shadowy figure
who appears to him as he sets out for Olmedo, as well as the Peasant
who later sings the ominous song, are not so much figures of flesh and
blood as projections of his own fearful imagination, already evident
in the dream which he has at the end of Act Two. In this context, his
refusal to listen to the warning could be seen to be an attempt to
still the voice of his own fears, and therefore a pointer to the
complexity of his character.
    Of the other major characters, Fabia is the most memorable. In
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18
J. W. Sage, El caballero de Olmedo , 35-40, 90-105.
    -xxiii-

many ways she is like Fernando de Rojas's Celestina: a go-between
delivering messages for lovers and arranging their meetings; a sharp
and cunning individual, well-known for her activities; an old woman
who, no longer active herself in matters of love, takes delight in the
relationships of others. On the other hand, although there are in the
play various references to Fabia's spells and belief in her magical
powers, she is a far less sinister character than Celestina. She is
'mischievous rather than devilish', and, as the episode involving the
extraction of the tooth from the corpse of a highwayman suggests in
Act One, the episodes involving her are often intended to be more
comic than sinister. 19 Indeed, one of
the most striking aspects of The Knight from Olmedo is the way in
which the tragic tone of its final act are preceded in Acts One and
Two by events which are markedly comic, and which largely derive from
Fabia's scheming.
    Tello, Alonso's servant, is, for the most part the traditional gracioso. Thus, in the incident involving the dead man's tooth he displays the
cowardice associated with such a character and which is calculated
to amuse the audience. He is also, in the same vein, materialistic. He
is, however, like Mengo in Fuente Ovejuna, rather different from the traditional gracioso, for he is able to see things rather more clearly than his master and
often advises him of the risks and hazards which accompany his affair
with Inés -- not so much from a moral point of view, but so that his
master might negotiate those dangers in a more practical way. To this
extent he can be seen as a foil to his less pragmatic master.
    Rodrigo too is in some respects a stereotype: the traditional rejected
lover cast into despair. But in this case his feelings go much deeper
and are transformed in the course of the play's action into
desperation, hatred of Alonso, and a growing resolve to murder him.
This said, it can be argued that Rodrigo is not so much a coldblooded
villain as a man driven by his passions and overwhelmed by events over
which he has no control. He can do nothing to oblige Inés to love
him; he cannot prevent her from falling in love with Alonso; he finds
himself in a situation in which he owes his life to his rival and in
which, as a result of his heroism, Alonso also finds favour with the
King. To this extent, Rodrigo is a victim of circumstance as well as a
prisoner of his passions, and cannot but invite a
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19
Ibid. 53 .
    -xxiv-

certain sympathy. The fact that he murders Alonso in the way he does
-- treacherously, with the assistance of accomplices -- is in one
sense a condemnation of his character, but it illustrates too the
degree of desperation which has transformed a man of nobility into
someone who is out of control.