The Farmer with the Most Air
It is the main dramatic piece in verse by the poet from Orihuela, of clear social intention, as it shows Miguel Hernandez's concern for the problems of the time he lived in, in the middle of the Spanish Civil War.
[2] Previously, in 1935, he had written Los hijos de la piedra (The sons of the stone), another play in which he denounced and criticized the situation of the people of his time, their conditions and their rights.
[3] In the same year he wrote The Farmer with the Most Air, Hernández enlisted in the Popular Army of the Republic and he was appointed as Commissary of Culture.
He participated in several battles, acting as soldier and poet, and was writing works of social protest such as his play Theater in War Time (Teatro en la guerra).
The author from Orihuela exposes in his dramatic play a love theme with a critical character, describing social problems related to the time he was living at that moment, such as the desire for power of an authoritarian leader and the poverty of innocent citizens.
[5] Influenced by Lope de Vega, Miguel Hernández composed this theatrical work written in verse, easy to understand, entertaining, with themes that were popular at the time, such as the peasant love, and with a critic intentionality.
In this last act, the events that lead to the dramatic end of the play take place, resulting in the unusual victory of the villain.
Popular songs and verses appear together with other cultured ones: décimas, quintillas, quatrains, hexasyllabic and octosyllabic romances, seguidillas and pie quebrado couplets.
Encarnación leaves and Antonina, Blasa's friend, appears to announce that Don Augusto, the owner of the whole village, is about to arrive.
Don Augusto arrives with his daughter Isabel to stay at Blasa's house and is surprised that no one else has come to greet him.
Don Augusto has decided to increase the rent of the villagers, but Juan is unwilling to obey his orders because the land does not provide sufficient yield.
Isabel, proud, replies that she has no obligation for his efforts to protect her from the bull and shows her disdain for having to mingle with the villagers.
Blasa, on the other hand, has been suffering since the arrival of Don Augusto, who has increased the rents to the villagers, has a grudge against her son and is pursuing her niece.
It is discovered that someone has stolen wheat and Tomaso suspects Alonso, who has also allied with Don Augusto in his hatred against Juan.
In the tavern, Juan reproaches his fellow villagers for not being willing to rebel together against the abusive actions of Don Augusto, but they do not want to address the matter out of fear of possible reprisals and seek comfort in wine.
When they retire to sleep together in the threshing floor, Alonso comes out of hiding and attacks Juan with a sickle, killing him.
From the beginning of the play, Juan stands out for his gallant personality, a characteristic that attracts his cousin Encarnación and the other girls of the village.
[7] Blasa is a hard-working woman, who is very concerned about the village's drought problem and who gives her own merits of her peasant life to Don Augusto.
She possesses a bravery that is evident when she confronts her husband, as well as showing a certain irony in the face of Don Augusto and Isabel.
The social reasons refer to his fear that the villagers would join Juan to rebel against him, which would mean the end of his tyrannical rule.
Within the social reasons, we find that eliminating Juan would mean for Alonso to make a step above him, to get out of the shadow he casts on him with his continuous protagonism.
The hatred that Alonso feels towards Juan is the reason that leads him to ally himself with Don Augusto to take revenge.
[7] The choir of young men is made up of Lázaro, Lorenzo, Roque and Tomaso, who are the ones who admire and respect Juan, as well as being the ones who support him in things they would never dare to do.
An example of Lope's influence is his play Fuenteovejuna, in which a similar case, if not the same, occurs as that of Don Augusto and Encarnación, where the lord of the village tries to take advantage of the peasant girl and her lover (Juan) prevents him from doing so.
One of the first received reviews was made by Ricardo Doménech in 1974; this means that in the thirty-five years following its publication, it did not stand out as other plays could have done.
However, from the moment it was first performed, it has received several positive reviews such as that of Fernando Lázaro Carreter in 1977, when he said that the play was "the most direct theatrical drama of our contemporary theater".
Thus, the criticism that best describes the work is the one made by professor Díez de Revenga in 1997: "the culmination of a manner of making theater, tied to a certain literary tradition,[11] but also presided over by the originality and the impulse of someone who was a brilliant poet and wanted to be a great dramatist".
