That he avoids the cramped exaggeration which his intense interest in the individual and comparative indifference to mass problems make so easy for him is the best-evidence of the real quality of his genius as a dramatist. His splendid, almost Anglo-Saxon, sense of fair play has been both a source of inspiration and a balance to prevent his satires swinging into lampoons.
Changes in the thought of a people are subtle and difficult to appraise, and, while we cannot measure the effect now, the plays of this most popular dramatist are undoubtedly sociological forces at work in Spain to-day. Their effect upon contemporary Spanish drama, however, is very apparent, and at least two of the best known writers of these plays are men of serious social purpose. Although the classical drama of theatrical romanticism, which has held the stage of Spain in various forms since the Golden Age of Lope de Vega and Calderon, was killed in the revolt of 1890, still its spirit lives, and Benavente is the first Spanish dramatist to write plays conceived in the modern spirit and executed in modern technique. Especially is their effect felt upon the young playwrights who are following the path to serious social drama blazed by Galdos and Joaquin Dicenta.
