Pactar con el diablo en la escena europea: Christopher Marlowe y Lope de Vega

Abstract

Roughly at the same moment, Christopher Marlowe in England and Lope de Vega in Spain each composed a drama which included a pact with the devil: Faust and La gran columna fogosa. Marlowe, fascinated with Doctor Faustus's legend, rendered it as a tragedy, simultaneously opening and closing the scenic path of the motif in England. On the other side, Lope exploited the theatrical power of a hagiographical legend linked to Saint Basil's and composed one of his first comedias de vidas de santos. This paper analyses the deep differences regarding the modeling of the theme, concerning both characterization and structure.