SOURCE: Garay, René Pedro. “The Comédia do Viúvo.” In Gil Vicente and the Development of the Comedia, pp. 173-216. Chapel Hill: North Carolina Studies in the Romance Languages and Literatures, 1988.

In the following excerpt, Garay studies the structure of the Comédia do Viúvo, maintaining that the play functioned as a means of conveying ideology rather than as merely entertainment.

Gil Vicente's Comédia do Viúvo has received the most varied aesthetic opinions from Vicentine scholars. Most of these opinions censure the dramatic piece, but none, to my knowledge, has dealt in any significant depth with the structure of the Comédia itself. This, of course, would be the first logical step in assessing its aesthetic value, both historically (as a genre) and as an artistic example of the Portuguese dramatist's genius.

Among those that believe in the artistic merit of the Comédia...