La Gatomaquia

Lope de Vega

Castalia, 1982 - Fiction - 228 pages

Amor, celos y guerra informan el asunto de este poema delicioso y dificilísimo, en el que, traspuesto a los gatos, el autor revive por última vez el gran tema de su vida y de su obra.LA GATOMAQUIA, de carácter narrativo, contiene 2.802 versos y está dividido en 7 silvas. Relata los desdichados amores de Marramaquiz, gato pobre, enamorado de la hermosa Zapaquilda, la cual, atraída por el garbo y los regalos de Micifuf, gato forastero, decide cambiar el objeto de sus desvelos. Marramaquiz, al verse desdeñado, recurre vanamente, para sanar del mal de amor, primero a Merlín, que le sangra la vena del corazón y luego a Garfiñato, un asceta estoico, quien le aconseja que no hay, para olvidar a amor, remedio / como otro nuevo amor o tierra en medio. Pone entonces los ojos en Micilda, gata de un boticario, casta y hermosa. La fementida Zapaquilda, pese a sus desdenes, se siente burlada (que hay mujeres de modo / que aunque no han de querer, lo quieren todo, silva II, v. 373-374). Escena terrible entre ambas gatas. Pero no hay remedio para Marramaquiz que, no pudiendo soportar las evidencias de su derrota, reta a duelo a su contrincante. Sorprendidos por la ronda nocturna, son llevados a la cárcel. Libres por fin, Marramaquiz, al enterarse de que se han concetado las bodas de Zapaquilda y Micifuf, en un arrebato demencial, comete toda clase de desmanes. Irrumpe intempestivamente en la sala de los desposorios y, después de un encendido discurso ante el atónito senado, se arroja contra los circunstantes, sembrando entre ellos el terror y la muerte. Dirigiéndose a la atemorizada Zapaquilda, cuyo esposo aún no ha llegado, tomándola en los brazos, la conduce a su fortaleza y la encierra en una torreLA EDITORA: CELINA SABOR DE CORTÁZARNació en Buenos Aires, en cuya Universidad cursó estudios superiores en la Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, donde ejerció luego la titularidad de la cátedra de Literatura Española de la Edad de Oro. Ha pubicado numerosos ensayos sobre estos temas: Gracilaso, Sánchez de Badajoz, Fray Luis de León, Mateo Alemán, Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Quevedo, son los autores que ha estudiado preferentemente. Ha realizado ediciones anotadas de El casamiento engañoso y Coloquio de los perros (Cervantes), El Lazarillo de Tormes, El alcalde de Zalamea (Calderón) y el Quijote, en colaboración con Isaías Lerner, para la Editorial Universitario de Buenos Aires.

About the author

Lope de Vega was the creator of the national theater in Spain, and his achievements in drama are comparable in many respects to those of Shakespeare in England. Lope embraced all of Spanish life in his drama, combining strands of previous Spanish drama, history, and tradition to produce a drama with both intellectual and popular appeal. A prodigious writer whom Cervantes called the "monster of nature," Lope is attributed by his biographer with nearly 2,000 plays, 400 religious dramas, and hundreds of pieces of poetry and literature in every form. He was also involved throughout his life in numerous amorous and military adventures and was ordained as a priest in 1614. In his didactic poem New York Art of Writing Plays (1609), Lope defined his primary purpose as entertainment of the audience. He recommended a three-act play in which the outcome is withheld until the middle of the third act, when the denouement should be swiftly developed. Maintaining that the possibilities of classical theater had been exhausted, he advocated casting Terence and Plautus aside, that is, abandoning the classical unities. His definition of drama was eclectic, admitting combinations of comedy and tragedy, noble and lower-class characters, a variety of verse forms as demanded by different situations, and a wide panoply of themes---national, foreign, mythological, religious, heroic, pastoral, historical, and contemporary. His major strength was the execution of plot; he created no character of the depth or complexity of Shakespeare's major figures. He captured the essence of Spanish character with his treatment of the themes of honor, Catholic faith, the monarchy, and jealousy. In Peribanez (1610?), a lower-class hero is shown to be more honorable than a nobleman. King Henry the Just, a fictional creation, pardons Peribanez for his revenge killing of the nobleman who contrived to dishonor him by abusing his new bride. In Fuente Ovejuna, a play based on an event narrated in the Spanish chronicles, the people resist a cruel overlord, refusing to join the army he tries to mount against King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel. After the overlord interrupts a village wedding, the townspeople of Fuente Ovejuna collectively murder him and finally receive pardon and gratitude from the Catholic kings. Toward the end of his life Lope lost popularity, but all of Madrid attended his funeral, and his death was mourned throughout Spain. Albert Camus adapted his play, The Knight of Olmedo (1623?), for French-speaking audiences. Lope de Vega was born in Madrid, Spain on November 25, 1562. He was taught Latin and Castilian in 1572-1573 by the poet Vicente Espinel, and the following year he entered the Jesuit Imperial College, where he learned the rudiments of the humanities. He was the author of as many as 1,800 plays and several hundred shorter dramatic pieces. His plays include El Maestro de Danzar, Peribáñez y el Comendador de Ocaña, Fuente Ovejuna, El Caballero de Olmedo, and El Niño inocente de La Guardia. He died on August 27, 1635.

Bibliographic information

• Title: La Gatomaquia; Volume 101 of Biblioteca clásica Ebro; Volume 131 of Clásicos Castalia, ISSN 1695-0445
• Author: Lope de Vega
• Editor: Celina Sabor de Cortazar
• Edition: annotated
• Publisher: Castalia, 1982
• Original from: the University of Michigan
• Digitized: Apr 11, 2008
• ISBN: 8470394096, 9788470394096
• Length: 228 pages
• Subjects: Fiction / General; Fiction / Literary; Poetry / General