Be my Guest: The World of Home and the Political Sphere in Lope de Vega's El villano en su rincón

In Lope de Vega’s El villano en su rincón of 1617, the king, disguised as a lost nobleman, enters a humble villager’s home asking for shelter. Juan Labrador —the villager— amiably hosts the mysterious guest, treating him to music, a hearty supper, and a bed to sleep. Through a close reading of Lope’s play, this chapter explores the home [rincón] as a space of resistance to excessive power, bringing to the fore the home’s political dimension, in connection to its ethical connotations as a place of hospitality and negotiation. It suggests that Lope’s portrayal of the monarchy reveals an emerging disciplinary and diffused power that does not kill but controls life, showing how the ravaging forces of politics can eventually come knocking at one’s own door. Incorporating philosophy, critical theory, and a historical approach to hospitality, this chapter looks at our interaction with unfamiliar others, allowing the convergence of theatre and politics to shed new light on the meaning of what we may call home. This combined approach offers novel ways of understanding how this play stages the ethical undercurrents of interactions with the powerful, contributing to reflections on resistance, the self, and the different shades of tyranny.Beatriz Salamanca Be my Guest: The World of Home and the Political Sphere in Lope de Vega’s El villano en su rincónLa comedia entre mundos, 259-276https:/doi.org//10.55422/ppsmp.9.13