La configuración del personaje masculino en el teatro de Juan del Encina

Abstract

Spanish Renaissance drama is characterised by its location in a sociohistorical tempo of agitation and cultural paradigm shift. The gradual loss of signifiers, which allowed man to define himself, entails a pressing need to pay more attention to the usually tacit postulates of manliness, and to its definition and construction in a new era. This paper is aimed to study this process in several main male characters of the profane dramatic eclogues written by Juan del Encina, a playwright from Salamanca; that is, the double discourse proposed by the presence of the rustic shepherd versus the courtier. The importance of pragmatic conditions, as well as the primitivism of the scenography determine the tools used to analyse these characters: the power of words and the presence or absence of some iconic signs– clothing, hairstyle or gesticulation – that define the identity of the male self. Therefore, it is proven hereby that these characters are not flat entities, but they notably evolve from their most primitive version into their approach to the pseudo-courtier.