Lope de Vega - 1562 - 1635

Cel mai fecund din toata istoria dramaturgiei. A scris 1600 de piese, din care s-au pastrat 800. Are si o piesa despre Mihai Viteazu.
La acestea se adauga 3000 de sonete, 3 romane, 4 nuvele si 9 poeme epice.
Calitatea nu e unitara, dar cel putin 80 dintre piesele lui sunt considerate capodopere.

Félix Lope de Vega y Carpio was born in Madrid  to a family of undistinguished origins, recent arrivals in the capital from Valle de Carriedo in Cantabria, whose breadwinner, Félix de Vega, was an embroiderer.

The first indications of young Lope's genius became apparent in his earliest years. At the age of five he was already reading Spanish and Latin, by his tenth birthday he was translating Latin verse, and he wrote his first play when he was 12.

His fourteenth year found him enrolled in the Colegio Imperial, a Jesuit  school in Madrid, from which he absconded to take part in a military expedition in Portugal. Following that escapade, he had the good fortune of being taken into the protection of the Bishop of Ávila, who recognized the lad's talent and saw him enrolled in the University of Alcalá. Following graduation Lope was planning to follow in his patron's footsteps and join the priesthood, but those plans were dashed by his falling in love and realizing that celibacy was not for him.

In 1583 Lope enlisted in the army, and he saw action with the Spanish Navy in the Azores. Following this he returned to Madrid and began his career as a playwright in earnest. He also began a love affair with Elena Osorio, an actress and the daughter of a leading theater owner. When, after some five years of this torrid affair, Elena spurned Lope in favor of another suitor, his vitriolic attacks on her and her family landed him in jail for libel  and, ultimately, earned him the punishment of eight years' banishment from the court and two years banishment from Castile.

He went into exile undaunted, in the company of the 16-year-old Isabel de Urbina, the daughter of a prominent advisor at the court of Philip II, whom he was subsequently forced to marry. A few weeks after their marriage, however, Lope signed up for another tour of duty with the Spanish navy: this was the summer of 1588, and the Invincible Armada was about to sail against England.

Lope's luck again served him well, and his ship, the San Juan, was one of the few vessels to make it home to Spanish harbors in the aftermath of that failed expedition. Back in Spain, he settled in the city of Valencia to live out the remainder of exile and to recommence, as prolifically as ever, his career as a dramatist.

In 1590 he was appointed to serve as the secretary to the Duke of Alba, which required him to relocate to Toledo.

Nevertheless, Lope's most celebrated plays belong to the class called capa y espada or "cloak and dagger" (capa si spada), where the plots are almost always love intrigues complicated with affairs of honor, most commonly involving the petty nobility of medieval Spain.

Tot ce a scris Lope de Vega e modern, avand un aer de indrazneala, de inventie. 
Costumele obisnuite ptr comediile de capa si spada erau o capa larga si o spada dedesubt. 
Vitejia si indrazneala, in general, era foarte pretuita in Spania.
Comediile sale de capa si spada apara mentalitatea unor tarani mandri care pretuiesc dreptatea.

Calinescu: "Lope este un dramaturg cu mari daruri poetice, dar pretios si gongolic"

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Fuente Ovejuna - Fantana turmelor
Un comandor se indragosteste de o taranca. Soldatii i-o aduc cu forta la castel, unde o tine 3 zile.
Dar ea, Laurentia, avand simtul dreptatii - umple tot satul cu povestea rapirii ei.
O manie taraneasca foarte puternica duce la asasinarea comandorului.
Regele a trimis oameni care sa-i judece pe tarani.
La intrebarea "cine l-a ucis pe comandor" i se raspundea intotdeauna Fuente Ovejuna (adica tot satul). Au fost de neinduplecat. La unison si cersetorii si primarul.
Simtul patriotic, mandria de a fi taran liber sunt frumos reprezentate in aceasta piesa.

Cainele gradinarului
- no summary -

Steaua Seviliei (1617)
Calinescu: "Steaua Seviliei este o piesa antiregala", impotriva unui rege care se comporta cum nu ar trebui.
Mandria unui nobil ca Busto Tavera, care apara onoare surorii sale in fata regelui Sancho, care primise cheia casei de la o servitoare.
Servitoarea e spanzurata.
Regele afla acest lucru, il convoaca pe cel mai bun prieten, care il va ucide pe Busto.
Acest comportament nedemn de un rege starneste indignarea generala.
Tot orasul se revolta impotriva regelui sancho al 4-lea.
"Mai curand imi pierd sufletul si viata, dar nu onoarea".
Intreaga piesa e un protest.
Un taran-judecator: "Porunceste-ne ca unor vasali, dar nu.. " (nu accepta autoritatea lui, in calitate de judecatori)