Reviews for Minna Von Barnhelm

The average rating for Minna Von Barnhelm based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-02-06 00:00:00 Alana Grayson Morir, o dar muerte a los tiranos, pues somos muchos, y ellos poca gente. Fuenteovejuna is the most famous of the roughly 500 plays that Lope de Vega wrote throughout his lifetime. The man could produce plays faster than the most seasoned potboil scribbler, it seems, and write well enough to make many of them classics. He was an enviable man, and fully earned Cervantes' envious appellation for him: the Monster of Nature. Indeed, though not much widely read in the Anglophone world, in Spain his reputation is second only to that of Cervantes himself. The contemporaneous pair can be roughly compared to Shakespeare and Ben Johnson'if the latter were somewhat more famous'since they had a prolonged rivalry in life, from which the prolific Lope de Vega normally came out the winner. I was lucky enough to see this work performed last year at the Teatro de la Comedia in Madrid. From the acting to the set design it was an excellent show; and seeing the action on stage allowed me to follow the story, even though I could hardly understand the dialogue. I probably would not have been able to read the play at all if not for this experience. For Lope de Vega's Spanish is exactly contemporary with Shakespeare's English'and thus full of antiquated words. Not only that, but the Spanish playwright also writes in poetic verse, doubling the challenge. So there were many parts that, even with the aide of a dictionary, proved too much for me. But the central plot is easy enough to follow, and still compelling. If anything the play has only grown more relevant, since it treats of the male abuse of power and democratic revolt. The final rebellion has proven so iconic that "Fuenteovejuna" has entered everyday Spanish as a synonym for a popular uprising. Given the anonymous nature of the rebellion, it is sensible that Lope de Vega didn't draw strongly memorable characters in the play. They are differentiated just enough to keep track of them, but no more. This is one reason why the play benefits from being performed, since different actors will naturally individualize these roles. What's more, the commander's disdainful abuse of power, and the fear, hopelessness, and anger of the villagers, becomes really electric when you see it live. It seems that Lope de Vega, an ardent monarchist, intended the play's message to be monarchical in addition to democratic. The villagers rebel against a tyrannous noble and the king pardons them. But he perhaps unwittingly created a genuinely democratic play. The shouted hails to the king sound like pure irony in the peasant's mouths, especially since they are later tortured under the orders of the same king. And the final royal pardon is given by force of circumstance, not kingly tolerance, since nobody confesses to the deed. The king thus comes off as rather callous'which may not be what Lope de Vega intended, but which definitely helps to remove it from the orthodoxies of former ages.

Review # 2 was written on 2009-05-06 00:00:00 Tom Audio Me gustó mucho este libro. Al principio no entendí lo que estaba pasando pero después de leerlo un poco más, podría seguir la trama mejor. Contiene unos argumentos muy interesantes por la época, incluyendo críticas de lo establecido en cuanto al gobierno. I really liked this book a lot. At first I didn't understand what was going on, but after reading a little more, I was able to follow the plot. It contains interesting arguments about the time, including some very interesting critiques of the government.