The Tower of Babel in Late Medieval theatre: the Mystère du Vieil Testament

• Autor(a) principal: Arioli, Emanuele
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: fra
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: https://doi.org/10.34624/fb.v0i18.30965

This paper analyzes the adaptation of the story of the Tower of Babel in the Mystère du Vieil Testament, a unique case in medieval theatre. This long play of about 50,000 verses is probably a collective and anonymous work that was put together during the 15th century and was printed and performed in its entirety at the beginning of the 16th century. It covers the chronology of the Old Testament, placing the biblical episodes in the perspective of the redemption. The paper studies the structure of the Tower of Babel sequence and its links with other mysteries of the late Middle Ages. It discusses the treatment of the character of Nimrod as well as the tower’s builders. It also examines the comic dimension and the use of invented languages in this sequence. This adaptation of the story of the Tower of Babel is lastly compared to two theatrical works of the Spanish Golden Age: La Torre de Babilonia by Pedro Calderón de la Barca and La Soberbia de Nembrot by Antonio Enríquez Gómez.