TThe image of historical characters from the Peninsula War in 19th-century dramatic literature

Abstract

Just like the pictorial portrait allows us to know the physical features of so many historical figures, literature also contributes to the perpetuation of their image. Nonetheless, even when the authors have attempted to be faithful to the model, neither painting nor literature portrays the person as he/she was, but the personal view that the author of the work of art had of a particular historical figure. This study approaches the image of the protagonists of the Peninsular War (Spanish, French and British characters) that drama (both the one that emerged contemporary to the events and the one that followed up to its first centenary) conveyed along the 19th century. The present research will put forward the difference in the literary treatment of those personalities during and after the war. Furthermore, thanks to this study, it is made clear how drama, the most popular literary genre of the 19th century, contributed to the establishment of the images of the protagonists of the War of Independence among the Spanish population, where just a minority could read and, even those, did not always read history books.