Abstract

Ignacio Arellano's critical edition of El arból de mejor fruto offers a philologically secure text as well as fundamental contributions concerning the cultural context of the play's production. Moreover, several investigations about diverse topics of the play are included: the popularity of Solomon within the theatre of the Golden Age Period, the consolidation of the legend of the cross-tree and the public interest in the queen of Saba. This edition will be the indispensable starting point of further investigations dealing with El árbol de major fruto or La sibila del Oriente and, moreover, a useful tool of orientation within the texts that have spread the tales of Solomon and the legend of the cross-tree from antiquity to the Golden Age Period.

Abstract

This article analyses the sacramental play El árbol de mejor fruto trying to discover the sources used by Calderón and the structure of the play. The study is organised in three sections. The first one deals with motifs and legends that inspired Calderón to write this play, making an extend reference to authors and sources where the author could have found them. The second part studies the motif of the tree of the Christian cross that is very common in Spanish Golden Age theatre. Arellano examines different works but he especially pays attention to the sacramental plays La humildad coronada de las plantas, La lepra de Constantino, Primero y segundo Isaac, Primer refugio del hombre, La redención de cautivos and El jardín de Falerina. There is also a detailed comparison between El árbol de mejor fruto and the comedia La sibila de oriente. The third section examines the structure of this auto sacramental, attending to the metric form and the argument.