Puesta en escena y proxémica en Dido y Eneas de Cristóbal de Morales Guerrero

Abstract

This article offers a proxemic interpretation of Dido y Eneas, a Spanish Golden Age play written by Cristóbal de Morales Guerrero. It is a mythological work of which the plot is based on the protagonist’s psychological confrontation between desire, staying in Carthage with queen Dido, and duty, heading to Italy to begin the Roman lineage. Such forces are represented by two supernatural characters, goddess Venus and Creusa, Aeneas’ murdered wife transformed into a hellish spirit, respectively, who enter and exit the stage by spectacular means and employing special machinery. The use of these devices creates a strongly semanticised opposition according to which the top of the stage acquires a positive meaning and the bottom a negative one. In this context, it is perceived that Creusa tends to move upwards, whereas Venus does so downwards. These dynamics can be understood from both an axiological and dramatic view in the sense that the duty of sailing to Italy is the only reliable force since it is decreed by gods and, because of this, it will end up prevailing over desire, for Aeneas will indeed abandon Dido.