Summary - Loa to divine narcissus PDF

Preview

Summary

Loa to Divine Narcissus...

Description

Loa to Divine Narcissus – allegorical play written by Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, 1689 – loa: short theatrical piece related to the longer auto sacramental, commentary on historical events involving indigenous Aztec inhabitants and Spanish colonists – Sor Juana’s work shows parallelism between her life and struggle of the individual for creative fulfillment and self-expression – equality of women is emphasized, portrays feminine resistance to male domination—i.e. freedom of choice for native inhabitants in opposition of Spanish conquistadors – Juana was an illegitimate child born to a couple out of wedlock, went to school at 3 and learned Latin, joined the Convento de San Jeronimo and became a bookkeeper, amassed a great personal library – became a nun due to religious beliefs and because she wanted to continue to pursue her education, wanted to study divine knowledge so that she wouldn’t become a slave to human writing – wrote villancicos (brief compositions based on sacred writings) and published them, some written in Nahuatl – wrote The Zeal of the House and Love is a Great Labyrinth, similar to Spanish plays – Mexico was beseeched by war and disease, Juana sold her library and musical instruments and other things to care for the poor, died malnourished and overworked – acknowledgement that disease and loss of cultural identity were by-products of Spanish conquering – Juana accepts reality of conquest but laments the loss of culture – Luis Valdez and Teatro Campesino, Chicano theater movement evolves, Teatro Campesino perform The Dance of the Giants —> depicts defeat of the Aztecs (soul of ‘’la raza’') – Scene 1: celebration by the local inhabitants of the God of Seeds, 2000 people offer sacrifices and believe that this will cause the harvest to be bountiful, Occident (represents dream of fulfillment) and America (represents riches, abundance, and native pride) are characters and both have a conversation about religious views – the character Music (presents pleasure and expression of emotions in a positive manner) is featured in the first scene singing about the noble Mexican origins at a celebration of the God of Seeds, provides info about the native inhabitants and urges everyone in the first scene to participate in the celebration o/ God of Seeds – Occident and America are worshipping Huiztlopochtli (war God), hymns contain references to ancient traditions (human sacrifice) – Sor Juana reflects on this…respects passion of indigenous peoples but because of her Christian background, also considers it a cruel sacrifice of humanity – Scene 2: Religion is a Spanish woman (who represents Catholic practice in Spain), she attacks the local inhabitant’s idol worship as a disgrace, complains to God to display more righteous anger, demands that Occident and American abandon idol worship and follow true doctrine, Occident and America view Religion as crazy and confused, Zeal (Spanish captain who represents European invaders) stands up to Occident/America and tells them God won’t let them commit any crimes and that he is going to punish them on God’s behalf – Religion condemns Zeal, but Zeal is portrayed as an accomplice in the forced conversion of America, Zeal conquers with arrogant blindness and violence – Scene 3: Occident surrenders to Religion due to force and Zeal wants America to die, Religion wants to keep America alive, American and Occident refuse to abandon worship to the God of Seeds, so Zeal and Religion doubt native’s explanation, want to follow in one true God – Scene 4: Religion asks Occident/America about the God that they adore, Occident explains impact of God on crops, Religion disregards this and America says there is only one God, Religion refuses to believe how they all worship the same God – Scene 5: offers play, Divine Narcissus to inform audience that idolatry is the devil’s workshop, and so Religion wants to perform the play in Madrid (royal city of the Catholic kings)...