Tirso de Molina: Theatricism of Life and the Magic Power of Theater

Abstract

Tirso de Molina is a pseudonym of Gabriel Téllez (1573–1648). A great Mannerist playwright, he created a range of images and masks in his works and hid behind the mask in his own life, appearing in different guises. Gabriel Téllez was an outstanding theologian, a major religious figure, an exemplary monk, whereas Tirso de Molina boldly castigated the prevailing mores in comedies where some explicitly erotic scenes were present, took the audience into the worlds of exquisite beauty, and highlighted the ills of reality. This article focuses on the vicissitudes of the intriguing fate of Tirso de Molina, a doctor of theology and rebel, highly appreciated by the Pope and arousing the wrath of the secular authorities, the only outstanding writer of the Spanish Golden Age condemned for his works for the theatre. The author of the article discusses anti‐despotism dramas and comedies in which ingenious games violating taboos allow achieving exceptional freedom.

Keywords

• gabriel téllez— the mask of tirso de molina
• masquerade in life and on stage
• poetics of mannerism
• apology of art and criticism of reality
• reflection and transformation
• play as the realm of freedom