‘I’m dead!’: action, homicide and denied catharsis in early modern Spanish drama

In early modern Spanish drama the expression ‘¡Muerto soy!’ (‘I’m dead!’) is commonly used to indicate a literal death or to figuratively express a character’s extreme fear or passion. Recent studies, even one collection published under the title of ¡Muerto soy!, have paid scant attention to the phrase in context, a serious omission when one considers the large proportion of comedia studies dedicated to the combined themes of violence, catharsis and audience reaction. Using a corpus-based analysis of over 300 plays by Lope de Vega as a starting point, this paper will trace the use of ‘muerto soy’ to indicate physical injury and incipient death on the stage and off. These incidents will also be related to dramatic catharsis in early modern Spanish theory and practice. By digging deep into the data and looking carefully at some representative examples, this study will also reveal that moments of seemingly shock-filled catharsis for the audience, when characters declare their own annihilation, are actually relatively perfunctory prompts in a predictably entertaining string of events on stage.