ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the Gothic underpinnings of Las manos de Dios: Auto en tres actos, one of his most commercially successful works. According to Helene Meyers, one especially interesting aspect of Gothic literature is that "villains and protectors are often at least temporarily indistinguishable one from another". David Garcia Perez argues that Carlos Solorzano builds on the ideas of Albert Camus, who distinguished the rebel from the revolutionary by exalting the rebellious attitude of the townspeople. Solorzano equates El Amo with an oppressive land owner, an autocratic government, and even God; interestingly, El Cura uses religion to validate El Amo's political power. Unlike the Anglo Gothic, where readers and texts teetered back and forth in their treatment of the aristocracy, Solorzano's play unequivocally dissociates itself from El Amo. Solorzano takes advantage of the critical potential that this site-specific production creates to emphasize the Church's complicity with those who abuse their power.
