The Hermeneutics of Iberian Identity: Reassessing the Stability of Signs in the Theatrical Works of Juan del Encina

The end of the fifteenth century was a charged moment in Iberia as authors grappled with shifting social categories in the decades leading up to and following the Expulsion of the Jews. Two of Juan del Encina short theatrical églogas are quite suggestive for reassessing the hermeneutics of Iberian identities. The humour serves to reassure the audience that self-transformation is a ridiculous prospect confined to the stage. Nevertheless, the exploration of themes of identity shifts underscores the collective anxiety that social transformations might indeed be occurring in contemporary Castilian society and need to be dismissed with humour.