El Viejo, el Amor y la Hermosa as a Spectacular Text

Abstract

Inspired by Rodrigo Cota’s Dialogue between Love and an Old man, Interlocutores senex et amor mulierque pulcra forma is a very interesting work conceived for the stage; however, it does not have any stage direction, implying that the “spectacular text” should be drawn from the semantic-formal construction of discursive verbal signs in the voices of the characters. From these signs, I will analyze several aspects contained in the structure, which I determined is tripartite (beginning, middle and end); for example, the actio (gestus, motus and vultus), the pronuntiatio, the representation of the fictional spaces and the required elements of characterization. I will also discuss the space for the staging; I shall examine the cultural elements of characterization, regarding the kinds of gestures to be performed on stage (through the use of rhetorical books and iconographic works). Finally, I will analyze the semantic aspects associated with all those elements.