Throughout The Bridge of San Luis, and especially when chronicling the Perichole's acting career, the narrator frequently alludes to famous writers of the Spanish Baroque era, which lasted from the middle of the 16th century to the beginning of the 17th century.
For example, the narrator notes that Uncle Pio reveres writers of this era and feels contempt for those who "exhibited no care nor astonishment "before the miracles of word order in Calderón and Cervantes." This passage alludes to Pedro Calderón de la Barca, a prominent dramatist and priest, and Miguel de Cervantes, who wrote the famous early novel Don Quixote. In another episode, when remarking on one of the Archbishop's regular journeys to Spain, the narrator notes that the priest returned with "thirty-five plays by Tirso de Molina and Ruiz de Alarçon and Moreto," referring to three other playwrights from the same period.
Importantly, these writers all worked at least 100 years before The Bridge of San Luis Rey takes place, so they would already have been considered historic figures by the novel's characters. Yet their works are considered valuable and relevant in Lima. The reverence accorded to these long-dead writers shows Wilder's conviction in the timelessness of great art. In fact, by writing a book for modern readers set in the 18th century, Wilder was suggesting that the same basic philosophical questions persist over centuries and aiming to create a timeless novel himself.
At the same time, these allusions contribute to the book's tongue-in-cheek, slightly mocking depiction of Spanish colonial society. The fact that the citizens of Lima are encountering these century-old plays for the first time emphasizes the city's provincial atmosphere distance from hubs of cultural output like Madrid. Moreover, as Spain's political power within Europe diminished in the 18th century, so did its artistic dominance. Compared to the era of Cervantes and Tirso de Molina, the Spanish cultural landscape was relatively barren at the time of The Bridge of San Luis Rey.
After the Perichole insults Doña Maria at the theater, she must go to the older woman's house and apologize in person. Fortunately for her, Doña Maria is completely drunk and doesn't even remember being insulted. Instead, she earnestly praises the Perichole's acting. Describing Doña Maria's inebriated yet dignified behavior, the book makes an allusion to the mythological figure Hecuba:
The mercer’s daughter could carry herself at times with all the distinction of the Montemayors and when she was drunk she wore the grandeur of Hecuba.
In The Iliad, an epic poem by the Ancient Greek bard Homer, Hecuba is the queen of the mythological city of Troy and mother to Hector, Troy's chief warrior. In the poems climactic scenes Hector dies in battle with the Greeks, who have laid siege to the city of Troy. Hecuba, who gives an important speech about her son's death, is known for her maternal grief and dignified behavior.
Doña Maria seems to have little in common with this mythological figure. She frequently embarrasses herself in public and is on terrible terms with her daughter. Unlike Hecuba, who fulfills her society's expectations by being a selfless mother and wife, Doña Maria totally disregards the norms of colonial Lima and is considered eccentric and even disreputable by her peers. The one thing that connects these two women is their maternal love. Even though Doña Maria might not get along well with her daughter, this love is the animating force in her life. This allusion highlights Wilder's belief that love confers dignity, even majesty, to people who might not otherwise possess those qualities.
Describing how the Abbess's mentorship overwhelms her young charge Pepita, the narrator makes an allusion to the myth of Jupiter and Semele:
[...the Abbess] had unthinkingly turned upon Pepita the full blaze of her personality, as Jupiter had turned his upon Semele.
In Greco-Roman mythology, Jupiter, the god of the sky, was one of the most powerful and fearsome deities. Semele was one of his human lovers. While Jupiter initially took on human form in order to woo Semele without frightening her, she eventually demanded that he show himself as a god in order to prove his divinity. However, this religious tradition held that it was deadly for humans to look at gods. So, when Zeus complied, Semele instantly died.
In the context of The Bridge of San Luis Rey, this allusion highlights the imbalance of power between a powerful authority figure and her humble apprentice. Because she's so determine that her charitable works will survive her, the Abbess has adopted Pepita as a successor. During the novel, she puts her through an intense and difficult training process that includes sending her to live with Doña Maria in order to learn to interact with members of the wealthy upper class. This relationship is hard on Pepita intellectually (as a teenager, she's been asked to take on a very adult level of responsibility) and emotionally (although Pepita and the Abbess are not romantically involved, their relationship carries the force of this mythical love affair). While Pepita struggles with the Abbess's expectations of her, she ultimately makes her peace with the relationship and accepts responsibility for carrying out her mentor's wishes shortly before dying in the bridge collapse.
This allusion also shows how the Abbess's desire to do good has led her astray. Even though she's motivated by the best intentions—she wants to make sure that someone is taking care of the city's poor after she dies—she ends up harming Pepita through her focus on her legacy, just as Jupiter harms Semele. Only when the Abbess learns how to concentrate on her work in the present moment is she able to find tranquility and form more equal relationships.
Describing the Perichole's attempts to escape her past as an actress and become a "virtuous" woman, Wilder makes a satirical allusion to Descartes:
In society she cultivated a delicate and languid magdelinism, as a great lady might, and she carried a candle in the penitential parades, side by side with ladies who had nothing to regret but an outburst of temper and a furtive glance into Descartes.
Now considered one of the foremost thinkers in the Western intellectual tradition, Rene Descartes was a 17th-century mathematician and philosopher whose supposedly heretical work aroused the ire of the Catholic Church. In colonial Lima, a society dominated by Catholic authorities and the ongoing Spanish inquisition, espousing Descartes' ideas would have been unorthodox and perhaps politically dangerous. But for women, who were considered incapable of higher learning or political action, a "furtive glance" into the philosopher's books would have been far less scandalous than working as an actress, a profession stigmatized as akin to sex work in many early modern societies.
In this passage, Wilder satirizes the close-minded nature of Spanish colonial society. Especially for his 20th-century readers, who would have recognized Descartes' enormous contributions to mathematics and philosophy, it's funny to imagine people deliberately turning away from his works. Through the tongue-in-cheek phrase "a furtive glance," Wilder also dramatizes the difference between the hypothetical woman's opinion of Descartes and that of the modern reader.
Importantly, Wilder also satirizes the Perichole's aspirations to ascend to the local aristocracy. In a society that is both fixated on hierarchy and repressive of women, her quest is most likely doomed. And if reading Descartes isn't really a sin, then the criteria for respectability in Peruvian society are largely meaningless—and so is the Perichole's desire to fit in.
