Jaume Roig: la comicitat de la moral o la moral de la comicitat?

Abstract

LSpill, by Jaume Roig (1460) is a distinguished composition characterised by an evident ambiguity, which allows for a reading of the text from a variety of perspectives. Though critics have up to now have sought to explain lSpill solely in terms of its satirical and misogynist aspects, this article attempts to point to the conjunction of the apparently divergent notions involved in the duality comedy/ morality. In the analytical nucleus it cites ambiguous jokes, combined with frequent folklore motifs and repeated themes from satirical and popular works and persuasive, moralistic writings, such as the Speculum Humanae Salvationis, biblical quotations, the patristic tradition and collections of exempla. This double reading of the Spill is based on a departure from the mediaeval mans fears, deceptions, and obsession with death, in order to perpetuate the essence of the humour.