SOURCE: Parker, Jack Horace. “The Farces and the Comedies.” In Gil Vicente, pp. 73-98. New York: Twayne, 1967.

In the following excerpt, Parker provides an overview of Vicente's major farces and comedies.

When in the 1508-1509 period Gil Vicente turned back with vigor from his goldsmith's activities to theater, and entered the realm of farce and comedy in general, he was entering a genre in which he would be very prolific and very successful. From the first of his farces, Who Has Bran? (Quem Tem Farelos?) and The Play of India (Auto da India), of a realistic nature, to the final Vicentine play, The Forest of Deceits (Floresta de Enganos) of 1536, which is “comedy” of a fantastic nature, this type of play would constitute a major contribution to Court entertainment and to the enrichment of the theatrical tradition.

Certainly Gil Vicente did not simply draw farce and comedy from...