El honrado hermano by Lope de Vega: the greatness in defeat

Abstract

This paper examines El honrado hermano, a historical comedy by Lope de Vega set in Ancient Rome, from the construction of its four main characters. Our analysis shows that the protagonist couple, who are part of the victors   –the Romans Horatio and Flavia – do not fulfill the typical features of the gallant and the lady in Lope, but rather it is the rival couple – Curiacio and Flavia – who assume these characteristics as their own. It is concluded that this situation – which is already potentially present in the main source of the play, Titus Livy’s History of Rome – has to do with a political reading of the play: the past of Rome is dramatized from a heroic perspective, but the positive vision is assumed by the losers of the conflict: the people of Alba Longa. The recognition and assumption of the defeated is proposed as a condition for the development of the empire, a reading that can be projected to the creation of a collective Hispanic identity.