“ABOUT FOOLS AND MADMEN…”: SATIRE AND METATHEATRICAL CRITICISM IN THE ENTREMÉS “EL HOSPITAL DE LOS PODRIDOS”

Abstract

In the last years, the international hispanism has focused his interest on the brief Spanish theatre, label under was included a variety of short pieces (“entremeses”, “mojigangas”, “loas”…) whose main objective was to entertain. “The hospital of the rotten men” is an anonymous “entremés” that has been attributed to Cervantes, among other possibilities, because of the complexity of its meaning and stylistic features, but that has not incited the attention of the critique from the perspective of the metatheatre, conceptual field that comprises a variety of reflexive procedures. Generally, critics puts on the emphasis in the satirical aspect of the text, visible in the playful presentation of the “rotten men”, who parade before a court that decides his internment, after considering every case. Nevertheless, to the label nobody escapes since to all the prominent figures -judges and judged- bothers some defect or action of other one. The hypothesis of the present work is that the self-referentiality (escritural and scenic) and the metatheatrical metaphors (hospital / game of playing cards) constitute the constructive principles of the text. The utilization of the above mentioned procedures is functional to the erosive intention of the strong satirical component that exhibits the work. Across the description and interpretation of the different metatheatrical components -as the parade opposite to internal spectators- there is demonstrated that in the “entremés” the metatheatre and the satire conjugate to expose the deep disagreement of the author towards a society riddled with impostures and envy and to conceal, under the cloak of laugh, the baroque distress to a world seen absolutely “upside-down”.