JOHN J. ALLEN

THE DIVISION INTO ACTS OF CERVANTES'LOS BANOS DE ARGEL

Curiosidad,~ que me quieres?

Informarmecomo has reducido a treslos cinco actos que sabesque un tiempo te componlan

- Los tiempos mudan las cosasy perfeccionan las artes,y afiadir a 10 inventadono es dificultad notable.

Miguel de Cervantes, EI ruftan dicbosa,Act II, Scene I

As YET NO chronologist has been able to substantiate a picture ofCervantes' literary production which reflects coherent artistic evolution.The plays of the "second epoch" constitute a major obstacle to theestablishment of such a process of maturation in Cervantes' art. Werethe plays which comprise the volume of Ocho comediasy ocbo entremeses,published in 161 5, found to date from an earlier period in his produc­tion, much of the mystery surrounding Cervantes' creative evolutionwould be dispelled, for a comparison between these plays and DonQuixote reveals more than a distinction between a bad playwright anda good novelist; it indicates the gulf that separates maturity fromimmaturity in a creative writer. In addition, it may well be that some,at least, of the plays appear worse than they are in fact, as a result ofan arbitrary deformation of old four-or five-act plays to adhere to the"new" doctrine of three acts.

La casa de los celos offers a most striking example. Two-thirds of theway through the second act, "Amor" says:

JOHN J. ALLEN

Y, esto dicho, el fin se llegade dar fin a esta jornada.!

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The end of the original Act II would have come Hlines later, followinga closing song in praise of Love, with the exclamation of "Todos":"j Norabuena sea, sea norabuenal" (p. 191). The chaotic nature ofothers of the eight plays included in the same volume would seem tosupport the assumption that Cervantes engaged in a superficial,possibly hasty revision of the contents. Las baiio.r de Argel providesan excellent case for examination, because of its relatively simple plotdevelopment, and because it seems to have been subjected to only themost superficial retouching.

This play has been variously dated by critics as from 1582,2 1606,31607/' and even, as a hasty revision of EJ trato de Argel, from 1614.5It represents a combination of the main plot of EI trato de Argel, asa secondary plot, and the captive's tale from the Quixote, as the mainplot. Some critics consider the Baiio.r to be the culmination of Cervantes'treatment of the captive theme, but Schevill and Bonilla contend,offering more concrete support for their assertion," that the versionin the Banos antedates the captive's tale. Their claim, althoughcontested, has yet to be effectively refuted." This deduction, togetherwith other evidence derived from the investigation of versification andof the influence of the drama of Juan de la Cueva, and from indicationsthat the Banos probably antedates Cervantes' EI amante liberal, leadsSchevill and Bonilla to the following appraisal: "Razones hay bastantepoderosas para creer que Los banos de Argel pueden conesponder a laprimera epoca de Cervantes."8

Yet another piece of circumstantial evidence exists which suggestsan early date of composition. The part of Ambrosio ("garz6n") in theBanoswas to be taken by "La senora Catalina", as indicated by Cervantesin the stage directions. The respect accorded this actress and singer(Ambrosio enters to sing a song), leads Cotarelo y Valledor to identifyher with Catalina Hernandez, wife of the "autor' Gaspar de Pones. II

The logical conclusions of the identification of "la senora Catalina",however, if the references are to Catalina Hernandez, have yet to bededuced. The only contract which Cervantes is known to have madewith her husband, Gaspar de Pones, dates from 1585.10In this contractCervantes obligates himself to deliver La con/usa and EI trato deConstantinopiay muerte de Selin to Pones. Catalina's age at this time isnot known, but Gaspar de Pones was then 35, and their son Juan dePorres was working as an actor by 1601, indicating that Catalina couldscarcely have been a young woman at the tum of the century. It doesnot seem likely that a woman of some 40 years of age,with threechildren, should have been selected for the part of "garz6n", yet this

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would be the case if any of the dates after 1600 which have beensuggested were to be accepted. Would it not be more logical to ascribethe play to the period during which Cervantes is known to have haddealings with Porres, at a time when Catalina would appear to havebeen more suited for the part, i.e., in the '80'S?

Schevill and Bonilla have noted that the division into acts of theBanos is entirely arbitrary.P More than arbitrary, the division into actsin the present version reveals upon close examination to be quitepossibly a revision of a more coherent, more dramatically effectiveoriginal in four acts.

A breakdown of the units of action, corresponding roughly toscenes, is reproduced below, following the order of succession in theplay:

Att I:

I. Yzuf and Cauralf attack the Spanish coast, capturing Costanza,the satristdn, the Old Man, and his sons Juanico and Francisquito,Fernando jumps into the sea to accompany Costanza, and is takenaboard. (plot II)

2. Scene of Moorish cruelty, followed by the appearance of Lopeand Vivanco in the prison compound at Algiers. First lowering ofthe cane pole with money. (plot I)

3. The renegade Hazen requests the signatures of Lope and Vivancoas testimony to his good treatment of them, so that he may returnto Spain and Christianity. Hazen informs Lope of the identity of theoccupants of the house from which the cane pole was lowered.

4. Second lowering of the cane pole with money and note from Zahara,which remains for the moment unread because of:

5. The appearance of a brave Spaniard caught at his third attempt toescape.

6. Lope reads Zahara's note identifying herself as a Christian convertand offering more money so that he may ransom himself and carryher to Spain. (Plot I)

7. Hazen returns, determined to kill Yzuf for his treachery. The sceneends with Lope and Vivanco preparing to answer Zahara's letter.(plot 1)

8. Cauralf and Yzuf return victoriously.9. Hazen kills Yzuf and is condemned to death by the CadI.

Att II:

I. Costanza has been made a slave of Halima (Cauralf's wife), Fernando,a slave of CauralI, who uses him as go-between with Costanza,with whom CauralI has fallen in love. Zahara enters their home,

JOHN J. ALLEN 45

as a friend of Halima, and relates Hazen's crucifixion. Halima fallsin love with Fernando. (plot II)

2.. Moorish children taunt the sacristan with "don Juan no venir; I aca.rnorir 1." An anti -semitic scene follows.

3. The Christian captives have a party. The Old Man sees his twoboys in Moorish dress, but is reassured by them that they haveremained Christians.

4. Juanico and Francisquito insult the Cadi, who has adopted them.5. Lope and Vivanco, having ransomed themselves, seek Zahara at a

preappointed rendezvous. She appears in the company of Halimaand Costanza and, on the pretext of a bee-sting, lets her veil dropso as to be recognized by Lope. He manages to inform her that he isunmarried, and as the girls leave he praises her beauty. (plot I)

6. Anti-semitic scene with the s,uristan.7. Fernando and Costanza declare mutual fidelity, and are caught

embracing by their respective masters. Each asserts to his masterthat the embrace was in furtherance of the suit which the masters are

. respectively pursuing. (plot II)8. Juanico and Francisquito, threatened with death if they refuse to

convert, hold firm.

Act III:

I. The Christian captives hold mass, interrupted by a false report of thearrival of an enemy fleet, caused by a mirage of cloud formations.The crucifixion of Francisquito is related.

2.. The impending forced marriage of Zahara to a Moorish prince,Muley, is revealed. Zahara in desperation tells Costanza that she isa Christian. (plot I)

3. A series of brave recaptured Spaniards is brought to the MoorishKing, one by one, exemplifying Spanish tenacity, bravery, andperseverance.

4. The Old Man watches Francisquito die on the cross.5. A wedding procession crosses the scene, in which Halima is seen,

disguised as Zahara, in an attempt to help the latter avoid marriage.Zahara, hidden at a window, calls Lope and Vivanco aside,arranges the escape. (Plot I)

6. The wedding is postponed by the groom, before Zahara's deceptionis discovered, thus removing danger from this quarter.

7. Anti-semitic scene.8. Halima declares herself to Fernando, who, now in on the escape

plans, puts her off temporarily.9. The Old Man enters with the bones of Francisquito.10. All escape.

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The reader will have noticed that neither of the interior act endingsrelates either toPlot I or to PlotIl, The end of Act I is the end of Hazen,and consequently of the reader-spectator's interest in him. The endof Act H is an inconclusive scene involving two equally minor char­acters. In neither case is the audience referred even in passing to eitherof the primary plots. In addition, both act endings foreshadowexecutions, which are related in the succeeding acts. The dramaticeffect achieved by this sort of structure, not at all comparable toCervantes' handling of similar situations in the "early" plays, is negli­gible.

If the play is considered as having been originally composed in fouracts, the interior act endings fall in every case at significant juncturesin the action of Plot I. In addition, the scenes which then becomeopening scenes of the following acts serve quite satisfactorily in thisfunction, coinciding with Cervantes' predilection in the early Tratode Argel for mob scenes and comic relief as act-openers. No violenceto any phase of the action results; rather the play presents more cohesionand coherence than before. The hypothetical divisions between actsare indicated in the outline by spaces.

Throughout the following discussion comparisons in technique anddramatic development relative to act endings and beginnings will bedrawn with Cervantes' two early four-act plays, Numanna andEI trato de Argel, the latter being of particular interest because of thesimilarity of plot. It is necessary then, before beginning, to clear upone textual difficulty connected with the Trato. Act III of the Tratobegins, in all extant versions, with a dialogue between Aurelio andYzuf, a scene which ends with Aurelio's soliloquy expressing hisconsternation upon discovering that his sweetheart Sylvia has beentaken prisoner by Yzuf. This scene was quite clearly intended to closeAct I, rather than open Act II.12 Aside from the dramatic absurdity ofits present position, the stage directions by Cervantes which precedethe final scene of Act I call for the appearance of "Saavedra, soldadocautivo; Leonardo, cautivo; Yzuf, amo de Aurelio; Aurelio; Sebastian,muchacho cautivo. "13 All of these characters appear except Y zuf andAurelio, whose dialogue has become the opening scene of the next act.Act I of the extant version ends with the following words of Leonardo:

Mas un mora viene aca;no estemos juntos aquI:Sayauedra, par alli;tu, Sebastian, par alla,a

The approaching Moor is of course Yzuf, whose speech follows,obviously without the intervention of an entr'acte. The opening ofAct H, then, is the diversionary scene with the mercader and Maw.

JOHN J. ALLEN 47

This digression, incidentally, may serve as an introduction to theinstability of Cervantes' act divisions.

Act I of the hypothetical four of the Banosends with the establishmentof the terms of Plot I. Zahara has offered to ransom Lope, and hassought his help to effect her escape. Hazen has resolved to killYzuf, thereby sacrificing his future, and the audience is left wonderingwhether he will execute his intentions, and at the same time curiousas to the outcome of the Zahara-Lope intrigue. Similarly, the closingscene of Act I of the Troia, just discussed, portrays the revelation toAurelio of Silvia's capture, thus establishing the terms of Plot I,and piquing the spectator's curiosity as to further developments. Thevictorious return of Caurali and Yzuf provides an excellent opening forthe second act. Act II ends with the recognition scene between Lopeand Zahara, the principals of Plot I, and Lope's final speech praisingher beauty and expressing his determination to rescue her at all costsprovides the finishing touches:

Lope: Yo te llevare a do seasto do aquello que deseasaunque mil vidas me cueste.

Vivanco: Vamos, que el dolor es este;No por ahi, que rodeas.P

The impressions of the audience at this crucial point may be com­pared with those retained by the spectator at the close of Act II ofthe Trato de ArgeJ. In the latter play the lovers, Aurelio and Silvia,protagonists of the main plot, have also just met for the first timewithin the play, and the act closes with a Moorish servant's conjurationof the devil to incite in Aurelio a passion for her Moorish mistress.Thus in each case, attention is fixed upon the fresh developmentsinvolving the protagonists. Act III of the hypothetical four begins witha diversionary anti-semitic scene involving the sacrislan-a wise thirdact beginning and comparable to the first scene of Act III of the Trato,which presents Moorish children taunting anonymous Christiancaptives.

The end of the third act in a four-act play is most significant, andoften raises unforeseen complications in the relationship previouslyestablished between the principals. The two closing scenes of Nu­manda's third act represent successively the rash decision of Marandroto cross the Roman lines in search of bread for his starving sweetheartLira (plot II), and the then completely hopeless situation of theNumantians (plot I). In the Trato, the third act closes with the surprisediscovery by the Moorish masters of their respective Christian slavesembracing (plot I; Plot II of BaRos), the successful deception of the

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former by the latter, and the Moorish masters' decision to deceive theking. Similarly, Act III of the Banos would logically end upon the noteof consternation aroused by the revelation of the impending weddingof Zahara and Muley, with Zahara's consequent desperation. In bothcases the final scenes reveal important decisions involving the protag­onists, the consequences of which develop in the succeeding act.The beginning of Act IV is again a diversionary scene which holdsthe audience in suspense as to the solution of the problem raised by theclosing scene just described.

With the establishment of this four-act structure come other lesseradvantages in dramatic effect. First, the Moorish attack with whichthe play opens is separated by an entr'acte from the victorious returnof the attackers to Algiers. Second, Hazen's decision to kill Yzuf andthe consummation of the deed are separated. Third, the two scenesof the steadfastness of Juanico and Francisquito in the face of Moorishthreats are separated. Fourth, the two anti-semitic comic relief scenesare separated, and finally, the revelation of Zahara's impending forcedmarriage to Muley is separated from the solution of the problem.

The relative extension of the acts postulated above is comparableto that of Cervantes' other four-act plays, and the total length of theBanos, 3080 lines, is greater than either Numancia (z448 lines), or theTrato (ZB4 lines). It should be noted that these considerations of theBanos as a four-act play have not involved the alteration of a single lineof text. All the scenes suggested as interior act endings are cases whereall the characters exit, involving an empty stage and a highly probablechange of scene. As to the versification, Act I of the three-act versionends with the ,apiarealababa: ccddc. Act II begins and ends with thissame pattern. Act ill begins with unrhymed hendecasyllables. In thehypothetical four-act version, Act I ends with the ,apia real, aabba:cdcdc, while Act II begins and ends ababa: ccddc, Act TIl beginswith this pattern and ends with redondillas. Act IV begins with unrhymedhendecasyllables. The versification as it stands presents no obstacle tothe hypothetical division which I have proposed.

Thus it is evident that the process of converting earlier four-actplays to three acts need not even have constituted revision, since inthe Banos no changes are called for but the shifting of act headings,and in La casa delosalas even that simple operation was not thoroughlycarried out. "Aiiadir a 10 inventado/no es dificultad notable."

It scarcely appears likely that the thesis here propounded is suscep­tible to definitive substantiation through textual analysis. The admissionof its plausibility, however, coupled with doubts raised as to the latedate of composition ascribed to the Persiles,l6 may contribute to a moreskeptical and penetrating view of Cervantine chronology, and thus tothe eventual establishment of a coherent evolutionary process in

JOHN J. ALLEN 49

Cervantes' art. The fact that the same man who wrote Spain's greatestliterary masterpiece was at the same time responsible for some of theworst plays extant from the Golden Age is inexplicable without sucha process.

Un;vers;ry of Florida

I. R. Schevill and A. Bonilla, Obras completas de Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra:Comediasy entremeses (Madrid, 1915-22), 1,190. Page references to the texts of thevarious plays cited in this paper are to the Schevill and Bonilla edition in sixvolumes.

2.. Schevill and Bonilla, VI, 8I.

3. M. Buchanan, Transactions of the R~al Society of Canada, 3rd series, Vol.XXXII (1938), Section II, p. 38.

4. L. Astrana Marin, Vida ejemplar y heroiea de Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra(Madrid, 1958), VII, app, XXXII, 778.

5. A. Cotarelo y Valledor, El teatro de Cervantes (Madrid, 1915), p. 2.38.6. VI, 79.7. See, for example, Astrana Marin, op. cit., VI, 2.38, note I, whose words are

considerably stronger than the substance of his refutation of Schevill and Bonillaon this point.

8. VI, p. 73.9. Cotarelo y Valledor, p. 88.10. Perez Pastor, Memorias de la Real Academia Espanola (Madrid, I9II), p. 101.I I. VI, 73.12.. I am indebted for the astute observation of this error in the text of the

Trato to my colleague, Mr. Arthur Beringer.13. Schevill and Bonilla, V, p. 19. The unacceptability of the act ending as it

now stands is indicated by the fact that in the MS. which Schevill and Bonilla havechosen as a base, the words "Segunda ]ornada," were entered at this point andthen struck out. Although this particular juncture in the action (Aurelio's longsoliloquy on the theme "~Do estas, Silvia ?"), would be dramatically much moreacceptable than the present form, it would cut the first act far out of proportionto the others.

14· Ibid., p. p.15. I, 2.99.16. V. gr., "The 'Persiles' Mystery," Cervantes Across the Centuries, ed. A. Flores

(New York, 1947), pp. 2.2.7 ff. and ]. ]. Allen, "The Evolution of puesto que inCervantes Prose," Hispania, XLV (1962), 90-93.