Overt Power In The Play Fuenteovejuna

Fuenteovejuna shows that everyone has some sort of power no matter what a person’s social status or gender is. Standing up for yourself and not letting someone with overt power abuse their power is something important that is shown in this play. The commander has the overt power in this play. He has the open or official and visible power given by society and is a respected person. Laurencia and the townsfolk have the covert power in this play. They have hidden unofficial power, and because they are lower class they are not respected people of power like a King or the commander would be. The commander shows his power and abusing it throughout the play. When he first returns from battle he tries to use his overt power by getting two female town folks to stay but when they politely decline this sexual advances he gets angered. He also uses his power when he breaks up Laurencia’s wedding day and arrests her fiancé Frondoso for pointing a crossbow at him when he was trying to protect Laurencia from the commander. He believes that because he is commander
“To support verisimilitude, the Italians recommended that playwrights follow three unities – place, time, and action – in constructing their dramas. In brief, a play should occur in a single setting, its fictitious time should last no more than a single day, and its plot should encompass only one major action” (Zarrilli, 183). Playwright Lope De Vega was however was known for contributing to fix these norms of theatre. His plays were divided into three acts instead of five. He disregarded the unities of time and place, however, kept the unity of action in his performances. Lope also went against the Golden Age’s classical decorum by mixing elements of comic and tragedy. He defied decorum by having peasants appear on stage with nobles and even sometimes