Dancing in the Theaters of Seventeenth Century Spain 77
death. Once he dies, Colatino exhorts Tarquin to marry Lucretia in the afterlife,
to repair her honor.
Interlude-like Dance o f King Rodrigo and La Cava, although the shortest of
the three dances, is probably the most interesting. According to the Spanish
legend, the invasion of Spain by Muslims in 711 was caused by a sin committed
by the King Rodrigo. La Cava was a young lady who was sent to the Royal
Palace of King Rodrigo by her father Don Julian, governor of Ceuta, a Spanish
city on the north coast of Africa. The King raped La Cava, and Don Julian, in
revenge, convinced the Moors to invade Spain. Therefore, the legend depicted
the invasion as a divine punishment for the moral degeneration of a king and his
nation. The legend appeared in many historical accounts, plays, and popular
ballads, some of which had a comic tone. Others focused on the most
sensationalist parts, like the punishment of the King, who, after his crime, was
trapped in a cave with a giant snake, which constantly bit him in the part of his
body he had used to commit the rape. The legendary story of La Cava was a
tragic one, and it was originally portrayed as such, but it also became the source
of humorous pieces. But by the second half of the seventeenth century the
Moors had been out of Spain for almost two centuries and religious unification
under Catholicism had been achieved. It was possible to make fun of the event
in a public theater because the Muslims were not a danger anymore.
In Moreto’s version of the story, the King Rodrigo is madly in love with La
Cava, to the point of placing his crown and scepter at her feet. He does not rape
her, but, as it happens in the Dance o f Lucretia and Tarquin, just kisses her
hand. After suffering such a “horrible” offense, she wonders what future books
and stories will tell about the rape, to which the King answers that probably they
will justify him by imagining that the event took place on a warm St. John’s
Eve. The King immediately gets tired of his new “lover” and she feels hurt. Don
Julian finds his daughter very sad and asks her the reason. She explains that the
King has taken advantage of her and then not given her any money. The father
sides with the King. Thereafter, for no apparent reason, Moors appear on the
stage and start dancing. The invasion of Spain is thus substituted by a happy
dance of the all the characters and the Moors.
During the analysis of the transformation of the plots it has already been
pointed out that the dances also showed a shift in the portrayal of morality and
values in relation to the long plays. The characters of the dances react differently
from their counterparts in the ballads when they get dishonored. Honor was
probably the number one theme of the long serious plays. Honor concerned both
morality and social relations. Characters were expected to act honorably, which
meant accordingly with their place in society and with the moral codes.
Although there are countless variations of the topic of honor, several situations
appear repeatedly. For example, many plays present situations in which
characters have to choose between personal interest and honor. Many of them
deal with the protection of the virginity of a lady and many others talk about the
consequences of a rape and how to reestablish honor. Other texts deal with the