“On Fools and Madmen…”: Satire and Metatheatrical Critique in the Entremés “El hospital de los podridos”

Abstract

In recent years, international Hispanism has focused its interest on Spanish short theater, a label under which a variety of short pieces were included—entremeses, mojigangas, loas, among others—whose main objective was to entertain. “El hospital de los podridos” is an anonymous entremés that has been attributed to Cervantes, among other possibilities, because of the complexity of its conception and stylistic features. However, it has not attracted critical attention from the perspective of metatheater, a conceptual field that encompasses a variety of reflexive procedures.

Generally, emphasis has been placed on the satirical aspect of the text, visible in the playful presentation of the podridos, who parade before a tribunal that decides on their internment after considering each case. Nevertheless, no one escapes the label, since all the characters—judges and judged alike—are “sickened” by some defect or action of another.

The hypothesis of this paper is that self-referentiality, both written and scenic, and metatheatrical metaphors—hospital/card game—constitute the structuring principles of the text. The use of these procedures is functional to the erosive purpose of the strong satirical component displayed by the work.

Through the description and interpretation of the different metatheatrical components—such as the parade before internal spectators—it is shown that in this entremés metatheater and satire are combined to expose the author’s deep dissent toward a society riddled with duplicity and envy and to conceal, beneath the cloak of laughter, the Baroque anguish before a world seen as absolutely “upside down”.