Bravery for The New World: Criticism of Spanish Conquest and the Native American

Voice in The Plays of Lope de Vega and Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz

April 20 2014

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Bravery for The New World: Criticism of Spanish Conquest and the Native American

Voice in The Plays of Lope de Vega and Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz

Spain’s Golden Age, initiated by Spanish exploration and colonization of the New

World, brought the country a surge of prosperity in which the arts thrived. Of all the arts

to reap the benefits of Spain’s Golden Age, theatre saw, by far, the most growth. This

flourishing artistic scene facilitated New World exploration of an entirely new kind to

begin on the stages of Spanish theaters. The Spanish playwrights of the Golden Age, like

ambitious explorers, boldly delved into the mysterious New World, creating for Spanish

audiences a glimpse of the strange land across the sea, its inhabitants, and its conquest.

The New World plays, the product of this exploration, are of crucial importance when

one ventures to understand the way in which the issues of conquest and colonization were

treated by the Spanish playwrights of the Golden Age. They grant the modern reader a

look at how these playwrights and their audience understood their relationship to the New

World and its inhabitants. What the modern reader may glean from these plays, however,

is perplexing. The majority of Spanish New World plays create a stark contrast between

the Spanish and the native people of the Americas, placing the Spanish on a moral

pedestal and characterizing the Native people as unintelligent and base, if characterizing

them at all. This representation of Spain’s conquest of the New World has nationalistic

and even propagandistic tones. Upon delving further into this collection of plays,

however, one will find that there is more to the genre of New World plays than the

elevation of Spanish culture. Lope de Vega’s The Discovery of the New World by

Christopher Columbus and Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz’s Loa to Divine Narcissus offer to

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the genre an uncommonly critical view of Spanish conquest by dignifying Native

American characters and granting them an intelligent voice. The characterization of the

Native American people in the plays of Lope de Vega and Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz

challenges the Spanish theatre’s widely held support of Spanish conquest by humanizing

and dignifying its victims. By examining the context of the New World plays, how that

context informed the representation of the Native American in these plays, and how “The

Discovery of the New World…” and Loa to Divine Narcissus depart from the usual

representation of the Native American, one will find that Sor Juana De la Cruz and Lope

de Vega go beyond simple patriotic entertainment and present unique perspective and

even controversy to the theatre of Spain’s Golden Age.

The New World plays were a product of a newly prosperous and vastly popular

theatre. As Spain was ushered into a glorious Golden Age by its conquest of the

Americas, the Spanish theatre experienced a golden age all its own. Public theatres began

to appear in every major city, granting citizens of all walks of life access to this

increasingly popular entertainment. The theatre in Spain was, by no means, exclusive.

Audiences for all plays produced during this time were unlike any other found in Europe,

as no plays were reserved specifically for any particular class, but royalty and peasants

alike were able to enjoy its performances. In order to meet the growing audience of

Spain’s theatres, the output of plays during this period shot into the thousands, creating a

body of works unmatched by any other European country1. Spain’s massive collection of

1 Jonathan Thacker, in his introduction to his book, A Companion to Golden Age Theatre, estimates that the

number of plays produced in this period nears 10,000. (xiii)

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plays during this period also offered an incredibly wide variety of genres to its audience.

Spain even created and developed its own signature genres and types of theatre which

include but are not limited to autos sacramentales, religious plays pertaining to the

Catholic sacrament of the Eucharist; capa y espada (cape and sword) plays, which dealt

mostly with themes of honor, love, and nobility; and comedias, three-act plays which

appropriated both the comedic and the dramatic in its material. The wide variety of

material produced by the theatre of Spain’s Golden Age treats nearly all facets of Golden

Age Spanish society. From brash, gaudy courtiers to rebellious peasants, all members of

Spanish society found representation within the crowded corrales (an open, courtyard

theatre, typically found in urban Spain). The most fascinating and important theme to be

broached on the corral stage was one which was, at the time in which these plays were

written, the most recent addition to Spanish society. The New World and its inhabitants,

though obscure and mysterious to the typical Spanish audience, was taken on by Spanish

playwrights in yet another, entirely Spanish genre of play; the New World drama.

The New World plays, like many other plays of the Golden Age, were met with

what Henry Ziomek, author of A History of Spanish Golden Age Drama, argues to have

been theatre’s role as a “channel for information and a means of arousing patriotism”

(64)2. With an entirely new world to control and evangelize, it became increasingly

important that Spain’s Catholic faith and sense of superiority as a civilized society was

shared by all Spanish citizens. Ilia Mariel Cuesta, author of Dramatizing the Indian:

Representations of the "Other" in Lope de Vega's El Nuevo Mundo Descubierto por 2 Ziomek supports this claim by citing several works of Lope de Vega’s which were targeted at patriotic

and historical themes. (63-64)

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Cristobal Colon and Shakespeare's The Tempest, argues, “Spain…could only establish an

overseas empire if these ideas were fully recognized and embraced by its subjects, for

they would spread these ideas to conquered cultures” (14). Cuesta also argues that, in

order to achieve these aims, theatre acted as an important social tool:

The plays both entertained and helped to relay important contemporary themes

and ideas. By imitating human relationships and conflicts on stage, the theatrical

representations in many ways reaffirmed established notions of “civility” and

“civilization. (30)

The notions of civility and civilization were vitally important when it came to conquest in

the New World. A sense of superiority over the natives of the Americas was integral to

the Spanish cause in the Americas. This sense of superiority and the justification of the

Spanish conquest can be found at their highest concentration in the New World drama. In

New World plays, the affirmation of Spanish social ideas through theatre is exemplified

The full cannon of Spanish New World plays is an immense one which continues

to grow as plays continue to be unearthed. However, one need only study a handful of

these plays to see the Spanish theatre’s strong promotion of Spanish conquest and its

view of the conquest as one made over an inferior people. A. Robert Lauer, author of The

Iberian Encounter of America in the Spanish Theater of the Golden Age, in which he

closely examines the depiction of the New World in several works of Golden Age drama,

describes the collection of New World plays as being nationalistic and condescending to

the point of being offensive to the contemporary audience:

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Most of them appear to be blatantly nationalistic and perhaps offensive to

culturally sensitive audiences. Most of them, likewise, seem self- righteous in

their justification of the Conquest…Finally, some if not all…appear to be simply

politically incorrect for this generation and perhaps for all times (33)

The nationalistic and culturally offensive nature of these plays manifests itself most

strongly when it comes to the representation of the native inhabitants of the New World.

Highly fanaticized aspects of Native American culture, such as cannibalism, are

highlighted by these Spanish playwrights. Fernando Zarate’s La Conquista de Mexico

(The Conquest of México), for instance, includes a description of human sacrifice and

cannibalism given to the audience by Aguilar, a Spaniard. In Aguilar’s account, a Native

American chief sacrifices a Spanish captain, Valdivia, roasts and eats him, while serving

others in “a treat he gave to his wife” (40)3. Lauer explains that the depiction and

discussion of such grizzly practices were used to demonstrate Spain’s superiority over the

conquered peoples:

Of the fourteen plays studied, twelve mention cannibalism, human sacrifices, and

the drinking of blood. Cannibalism, of course, was a detestable custom …which

in effect justified…the Spanish conquest and dominion of the barbarous nations.

(34)4

Placing focus on the aspects of Native American culture which were perceived as

barbaric appealed to the to the imagination of a European audience, casting in their sight

an image of the Native Americans as an inherently uncivilized people. This image,

placing the Native American culture at a largely inferior position when compared to that

3 I have translated this quotation from its original Spanish into English.The original text reads thus: “…un

convito que hizo a su esposa…” ( Zarate 40) 4According to Lauer, of the thousands of plays which were produced during the Golden Age, that only

“…about sixteen deal exclusively with the actual conquest of America, and from this group, only fourteen

seem to be extant” (32).

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of Spain, offered confirmation of Spain’s superiority and justification for the furthering

of conquest.

The religious differences between the Spanish and Native American people were

also called upon by Spanish playwrights when asserting Spain’s preeminence over its

conquered cultures. The Catholic faith upheld by Spanish conquistadores is repeatedly

placed in comparison to the Native American religions. Even supernatural entities from

both Catholicism and the Native American religions are used to demonstrate Spain’s

religious authority:

If the heavenly forces guide the Spaniards to victory in the form of Saint

James…the Virgin Mary…God…and Heaven, the opposite forces are perhaps

more numerous, albeit less effective: these constitute idols…and former chieftains

or "magos"… (Lauer 37)

The Catholic ‘heavenly forces’ depicted in the New World plays are powerful and

extremely faithful while the forces called upon by the Native Americans often appear to

have abandoned their devotees. In Tirso de Molina’s La Lealtad contra la Envidia

(Loyalty against Envy), the Spanish win a victory over the Native Americans with the aid

of the Virgin Mary. In response to this victory, a Native American leader, El Inca,

laments the lack of aid given to him by his gods: “Ah, cruel Sun! This is the good

payment which your child receives?” (75)5 . Between the Catholic and Native American

religions there is no relationship depicted beyond that between a conqueror and the

conquered. Rather than there being discourse between the two religions, evangelization is

reduced to a question of victory and defeat. The New World plays present a nationalistic

5 This is also my translation from Spanish. The original text reads thus: “¡Ah, Sol cruel! ¿Este pago es bien

que to hijo reciba?” ( de Molina 75)

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and unquestioning view of the Spanish conquerors by constantly demonstrating their

authority over the Native American people in terms of civilization and religion. In

Lauer’s descriptions of New World plays, as well as the works of Tirso de Molina, there

is rarely any connection made or parallel drawn between the two cultures, as one is held

constantly above the other, claiming its superiority as the basis for its dominion.

While many of the New World plays uphold a nationalistic view of Spanish

Conquest, The Discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus by Lope de Vega

and Loa to Divine Narcissus by Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz offer evidence that the

nationalistic mentality did not completely pervade the way in which the New World was

presented by Spanish playwrights. Two of Spain’s most brilliant and well-known writers,

Lope de Vega and Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, present another side to the story of Spanish

conquest by humanizing and dignifying their Native American characters and allowing

parallels to exist between them and their Spanish conquerors. Lope De Vega and Sor

Juana Ines de la Cruz, in their respective works, The Discovery of the New World by

Christopher Columbus and Loa to Divine Narcissus, give the Native American as

depicted on the Spanish stage a logical, dignified voice and in doing so challenge the

justification of Spanish conquest.

Born in Madrid in 1562, Lope de Vega led a dynamic and diverse career as a

soldier, priest, and, most famously, as a playwright. Lope de Vega, during his time,

would become Spain’s most prolific and celebrated playwright, with around 1,800 plays

credited to his name, spanning every genre and style. Lope’s works are known for their

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beautiful rhetoric and critical insight into the human condition, a quality which was not

spared when the young playwright set to compose The Discovery of the New World by

Christopher Columbus. Published in 1614, “The Discovery of the New World…” was one

of Lope’s first productions and is also speculated to be one of the first New World plays

to be produced. As such, it contains some of the first and only murmurs of the native

voice to be heard on the Spanish stage.

Lope begins his representation of the Native American by drawing a curious

parallel between the Native American people and their Spanish conquerors. This parallel

is seen in the second scene of Act 2, in a conversation between Dulcan, a chief of

Guanahami, and his captured bride, Tacuana:

Dulcan. Do not let yourself be sad if it seems to you I have stolen you from your

own country, for in this just war unjust blood was shed… I am a husband whom

you would prize if you knew me well…Who outside the sun in its sphere is as

powerful as I am?..

Tacuana. By the sun which you worship, Dulcan, accord me a delay so that I

might learn to love you that we might be happy with a mutual love… to satisfy

your caprice do not lose the infinite happiness to be found in love that is shared

equally…

Dulcan. … so that you will not consider me a complete barbarian, Tacuana, I

promise to treat you according to your desires. I shall wait a month, a year, longer

if necessary, for this conquest… (De Vega 25-27)

In this small scene, Dulcan is granted the position of a conquistador as he seeks to justify

his conquest with his authority and power.6 Dulcan is given the usually Spanish role of

the authoritative but understanding and benevolent conqueror. This subtle reversal of

6 Robert M. Shannon, author of Visions of the New World in the Drama of Lope de Vega, argues that

Dulcan is, by no means, meant to be compared to the Spanish characters of the New World drama and that,

in fact, the opposite is true. (73-76)

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roles, the changing of the conquered into the conqueror, humanizes Dulcan and places

him on the same plane as his Spanish foes. When given a voice by Lope de Vega, Dulcan

speaks using the rhetoric of a Spanish conquistador and allows the audience to view him

as more of an equal than an inferior.

Beyond raising the Native American people to the level of their conquerors in the

eyes of the Spanish audience, Lope de Vega also takes on a sympathetic view of their

forced conversion to Christianity. Dulcan, when confronted with the idea of abandoning

his original faith for the sake of Christianity, asks the Spanish explorers and the audience

to consider the difficulty of such a conversion in the face of longstanding tradition:

… I respect your God and your reasons. However, you must realize that this law

and faith we profess, we practice as we received it. Our fathers who here taught it

to us, earned it from our ancestors, and they from their elders, so that its

originators are innumerable. (De Vega 53)

Through Dulcan, Lope rationalizes the reluctance of the Native American people to

convert to the Christian faith and shows that reluctance to be a product of their own

intellect and logic, rather than just a demonic influence. Lope even goes as far as to use

the Native American voice to question the Spanish methods of conversion, as Dulcan

argues that a forced conversion is not conducive to true faith:

“Should I leave Ongol for this foreign Christ, God-Man and Spanish God? ... But

I must not fail the Spaniards, for if I do not comply with their pleasure I fear they

will kill me. But why look for God through fear if He is to be found through love?

(De Vega 56)

Lope appeals to the religious sensibilities of his audience by gently asking them, through

Dulcan, whether or not a conversion made in response to a physical threat is a true

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conversion and thereby mildly questions the methods of Spanish evangelization as a

whole.7 By placing Dulcan, a Native American character in a role comparable to that of a

Spanish conquistador, grants the Native American a more dignified position in the New

World play. From this position, Lope, by granting Dulcan a logical and emotionally

appealing voice, calls into question the ethics and effectiveness of the evangelization of

the New World8. In granting the Native American a voice in The New World Discovered

by Christopher Columbus, Lope de Vega takes the rhetoric of the New World play

beyond mere propaganda and smoothly introduces a challenging argument to the stage of

the New World drama.

As the years passed after the publication of “The Discovery of the New World…”

very few other plays posed the same challenges as Lope de Vega posed in his New World

play. As evidenced by the number of extant New World plays, very few more were

produced, most of which maintained a staunchly Spanish view of the conquest in the

Americas. It would not be until nearly 80 years after its publication that Lope’s The

Discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus would meet its match in Sor Juana

Ines de la Cruz’s Loa to Divine Narcissus. Sor Juana9, unlike Lope de Vega, held a

unique advantage with regards to her representation of the native people in her plays.

Though she, like Lope, is considered a writer of the Spanish Golden Age, her perspective

7 Ilia Mariel Cuesta, author of Dramatizing the Indian: Representations of the "Other" in Lope de Vega's El

Nuevo Mundo descubierto por Cristobal Colon and Shakespeare's The Tempest, proposes that Lope’s

humanization of the Native people actually supports an argument for conquest, rather than poses a

challenge. (63)

9 Sor Juana de la Cruz is not listed among Lauer’s authors of New World playwrights (33), but, for the

purpose of this essay focus will be put on the fact that she was considered to be a writer of Spain’s Golden

age and that Loa to Divine Narcissus was intended to be performed for a Spanish audience.

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as a woman born and raised in Mexico provided her with an extremely rare angle from

which she could approach Spanish issues like conquest. According to Pamela Kirk, the

author of Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz: Religion, Art, and Feminism, Sor Juana, though she

was very much a Spanish writer, was still considered to be Mexican by her readers and

represented an appropriation of the cultures of both Old and New Spain:

“Part of the fascination that Sor Juana exercised over her Spanish readers was due

to the fact that they regarded her as ‘Mexican, from the ‘New World’, even as

‘Indian’. The engraving of her portrait in the volume of her posthumous works

configures her as a bridge between a Spanish conquistador and an Indian

warrior.” (27)

Half Spanish, half Creole, proficient in the Aztec language of Nahuatl, a Carmelite nun,

and a brilliant mind10

, Sor Juan Ines de la Cruz entered onto the stage of New World

drama from a completely unique position, making her Loa to Divine Narcissus one of the

most fascinating theatrical works to ever treat the subject of colonization. From her

perspective, Sor Juana, in Loa to Divine Narcissus gives a voice to the native people of

America by presenting them as highly dignified characters. Sor Juana takes the challenge

posed by Lope de Vega a few steps further and goes so far as to dignify Native American

religious beliefs by emphasizing the compatibility of the Christian and Aztec religions.

As a playwright from the New World itself, Sor Juana provides a representation of the

Native American people which could not be achieved by purely Spanish playwrights like

Lope de Vega and gives a new, louder voice to the Native American of the New World

play.

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In the prologue to his Sor Juana, Octavio Paz compares the poetic, theological, and dramatic works of

Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz to those of modern writers. He claims her to be a poet beyond her own time. He

also commends the complexity and variety of her work. (1-3)

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Loa to Divine Narcissus, a short prelude (loa) to a larger work, offers an

allegorical rendition of the tale of Spanish conquest. Its main characters, symbolic figures

under the names of America, Occident, Religion, and Zeal, hold a debate over the

conversion of America and Occident to the Christian religion. In this debate, Sor Juana

provides the audience with a highly dignified representation of the Native American

people. Upon their entrance, Occident and America, depicted as a “handsome Indian

man, with a crown” and a “gorgeously attired Indian woman” (Cruz 69), already possess

a regality and sophistication uncommon to the usual depiction of Native American

peoples. This dignity is maintained in the face of an attack by the brash Zeal, as America

asserts that she cannot, like a common animal, be conquered with brute force:

If your request for my life

And display of compassion,

Is because you expect

to conquer me, proud one,

as once with physical,

now with intellectual arms,

you deceive yourself.

As a captive, I mourn

My lost freedom, yet my free will

With still greater liberty

Will adore my gods! (Cruz 78)

The native people of America, as depicted by this single character, are here shown to be a

dignified, strong-willed people who hold their intellect and integrity at high value.

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America asserts that she cannot be defeated with ‘physical’ or ‘intellectual arms’, and

that her integrity, though tried by captivity, will not be compromised as her will

experiences ‘still greater liberty’. America, in Loa to Divine Narcissus, is presented to the

audience as a force to be reckoned with, not a sheep to be guided. Through this, Sor

Juana gives a voice to the intellect of the Native American people, their sense of pride

and integrity. This voice makes it very clear that, unlike any other conquistadores of the

Spanish New World Drama, Religion and Zeal are dealing with equals who must be

convinced, not forced, to consider another religion.

The acknowledgment of equality between the conquerors and the conquered, in

the case of Loa to Divine Narcissus, leads the play into a fascinating discourse in which

the similarities of the Aztec and Christian religions are highlighted 11

. This comparison

between the two religions, something entirely out of the question for the typical New

World play, vastly broadens the discussion of conquest for the Spanish theatre by

granting a degree of legitimacy to the Aztec religion. Loa to Divine Narcissus, as a loa to

an auto sacramental (a Spanish brand of morality play written to celebrate the Catholic

feast of Corpus Christi, usually pertaining to the sacrament of the Eucharist), uses the

sacrament of the Eucharist as a focal point from which members of both religions draw

meaning. When asked to describe his god, Occident tells Religion of a god who “cleanses

our sins, to then/become the food he offers us” (Cruz 79) Cruz draws a direct correlation

between this god, who offers himself as food to his people, and the God believed to be

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Viviana Dia Balsera, author of Cleansing Mexican Antiquity:Sor Juana Ins de la Cruz and the loa to the

Divine Narcissus, suggests that this connection springs from a popularly held Jesuit belief that the Aztec

religion had deeply ingrained Catholic roots. ( 292-296)

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present under the appearance of bread and wine in the Catholic Mass. Cruz then goes on

to bring to light a series of parallels between the Aztec and Christian religions. Reverence

toward the priesthood and the basic notion of baptism are both values which are revealed

to be shared by the two religions. It is only through the realization of the similarities

between the Aztec religion and Christianity that Religion and Zeal are able to bring about

Occident and America’s conversion. Loa to Divine Narcissus approaches Native

American culture and religion with understanding and respect. The legitimacy and

reverence with which the Aztec religion is viewed in Sor Juana’s play sets this loa

entirely apart from other depictions of the New World in Spanish theatre.

The style in which Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz represents the Native American

people and equates them to their Spanish opponents is, when compared to Lope de

Vega’s work, far from subtle. Unlike Lope’s Dulcan, Sor Juana’s Occident and America

are far more demanding than gently questioning. The similarities between the Spanish

and Native American cultures and religions have a much more prominent place in the

work of Sor Juana than in that of Lope. This may account for the different fates the two

plays met upon their being published. While Sor Juana’s loa was intended for a Spanish

audience12

, it is speculated that the play was never performed. Pamela Kirk, in her Christ

as Divine Narcissus: A Theological Analysis of "El Divino Narciso" by Sor Juana Ines de

la Cruz, offers an explanation as to why:

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According to Pamela Kirk’s essay, Christ as Divine Narcissus: A Theological Analysis of "El Divino

Narciso" by Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz,“Sor Juana wrote El Divino Narciso at the request of her friend and

patron, the Countess of Paredes, wife of the Viceroy of Mexico. The countess, who was returning to Spain,

intended the play to be performed at the court of the Spanish King, Charles II…” (151)

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Though the play was published in both Spain and Mexico… it was apparently

never performed for its designated audience. Considering the climate of the times,

it is hard not to speculate that it might have been considered offensive…It was…a

time of a general decline of the empire, a time in which the exploits of the

conquistadors were glorified. (151-152)

It is obvious that Sor Juana’s work, by loudly pointing out parallels between the Native

American and Spanish cultures and dignifying its Native American characters, presented

a view which stood in stark contrast with that of the more nationalistic, supportive New

World plays and made it too controversial for the Spanish stage. Conversely, there exists

no record of Lope de Vega’s play having been censored or in any way inhibited by any

authority13

. The subtlety of Lope’s representation of the Native American evidently did

not pose a clear threat to the staunch public opinion as Sor Juana’s did. The critiques of

Spanish conquest found in “The Discovery of the New World…” and Loa to Divine

Narcissus, though differing in intensity, are unified in their representation of the Native

Americans as a dignified, intelligent people. Of all the New World play written during

Spain’s Golden Age, the works of these two playwrights provide a rare perspective and

set of questions to the treatment of the New World in Spanish Golden Age Theatre.

The New World plays of Lope de Vega and Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz are crucial

to an understanding of Spanish Golden Age theatre. Through The Discovery of the New

World and Loa to Divine Narcissus one can fully grasp the scope with which the topic of

the New World was treated in the Spanish Golden Age. New World plays, though mostly

propagandistic in their support of the Spanish conquest, are challenged by the presence of

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While the play may not have been censored or banned, it was critiqued. Lauer provides stylistic critiques

of Lope’s play from his contemporaries. (33)

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Lope de Vega and Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz in the genre. Lope de Vega’s introduction of

a dignified, humanized Native American character and subtle questioning of Spanish

tactics of evangelization present a new angle from which Spanish conquest can be

examined and questioned. Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz expands that perspective to include a

view of Native American religion as being parallel to Christianity, strengthening the

presence of the Native American voice in Spanish Golden Age theatre. Thanks to The

Discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus and Loa to Divine Narcissus, the

modern reader can see the conversation concerning the New World in Spanish Golden

Age theatre as a diverse one in which both the conqueror and the conquered are

represented. The New World plays of Lope de Vega and Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz take

the genre of New World plays and all of Spanish Golden Age theatre beyond patriotic

entertainment and transform it into a mode of exploration in which significant cultural

values can be examined, questioned, and redefined.

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