ABSTRACT
Lope de Vega and Pedro Calderon de la Barca are deservedly the two most widely - known, as well as the two most representative and typical dramatists of their country, but several others are entitled to rank very near to them. If authors are to be judged by single works, neither Lope nor even Calderon is the greatest Spanish playwright. With the exception of the Mocedades del Cid, there is little in Guillen de Castro’s work to distinguish him from the general body of the dramatists of Lope de Vega’s school. The argument brings into play in the strongest manner the two ruling passions of the Spanish theatre—the sense of personal honour and the obligation of unswerving and exaggerated loyalty to the king. The dramatists who wrote to secure court favour produced some of the best of Spanish plays, but with the accession of Felipe V., French taste was introduced in high places.
