«Lope de Vega’s La hermosa Ester», a Tentative Reconstruction of Space in the Play

• Main Author: Marc Vitse
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Instituto de Estudios Auriseculares (IDEA) 2017-05-01
• Series: Hipogrifo: Revista de Literatura y Cultura del Siglo de Oro
• Online Access: http://revistahipogrifo.com/index.php/hipogrifo/article/view/184

This article aims to describe and characterize space in Lope de Vega’s biblical play La hermosa Ester (1610). With the exception of two comic interludes found respectively in cuadros E and H and set in a hamlet near to the Persian capital, the remaining 11 cuadros are set in the city of Susa. The city is represented by a palace with a garden, a throne room and the king’s chambers) as well as an urban space (Jewish quarter, the favorite minister’s residence, and streets), both of which are linked by a square that is situated in front of the palace, a square that is of prime importance in the dramatic action. In contrast to Danielle Crivellari’s recent study on space in the work, this new proposed reconstruction, fashioned according to implicit stage directions, brings to light the dubious fragility of spacial elements when considering the play’s system of segmentation, that can find firmer bases in the metrics