Woman and Society in the Spanish Drama of the Golden Age

Woman and Society in the Spanish Drama of the Golden Age: A Study of the Mujer Varonil

Melveena McKendrick

Preface/Introduction

· “Mujer varonil is a term of praise, not of abuse, in the Golden-Age drama” (ix)

· definition: “the woman who is ‘masculine’ not only in her dress but also in her acts, her speech or even her whole attitude of mind” (x), women who “departed from the feminine norm” (43)

· change in attitude towards women: from worship to scorn (11)

· suggests women upheld the patriarchal structure in which she lived (39)

The pre-Lopistas

· “the adjective varonil as a standard of excellence” in relation to “woman’s capacity for resolute action” (53)

· claims that Cueva’s plays say “’That is what many women are capable of being’ or even ‘This is how some women are’” (56)

· uses terms “mujer varonil” and “hombre femenil”

· “women who depart from the norm in an admirable, positive or at least forgivable way, are varoniles; those who do so in a totally reprehensible way are just wicked women” (62)

· “greatness of soul is a human, not a sexual, quality” (65)

· possible definition of feminism: “the depiction of women in a way which emphasizes their common humanity with men at the cost of conventional sexual distinctions” (70)

Cervantes and the Valencians

· conflict between Nature and Society (77, 101)

· playwrights consider accepting Love to be the defining feminine quality, rejecting it is unfeminine (89, 92)

· desire for vengeance (honor) is a masculine concern (103)

· mujeres varoniles “are all essentially feminine and are made to conform finally to the feminine norm” (104)

· “the outcome is a feminism of a different and more limited sort: liberal in important respects, but ultimately conservative” (105)

The bandolera

· female bandits display “anti-social behaviour” (112)

· “the woman who resents her sex or who despises men, and is their physical equal, even superior, will react more violently than the normal woman when she is sexually victimized and has no means of real retaliation” (115)

· when they fail they are being punished for their “arrogant feminism” (118)

· Calderón recognizes the human condition before people’s sex (126)

· “a vow of chastity can thus become a more effective means of social emancipation than marriage itself” (138)

· why does she differentiate between mujer varonil & mujer vestida de hombre? (139)

· Spanish playwrights had limited sympathy for the female rebel (141)

The mujer esquiva

· “It is not prompted by a desire to reject the essential nature of her sexual being, but by the way in which the concept of Nature is invoked by men to justify their delegation of woman to an inactive, inferior role in life” (143)

· dramatists are unable to “conceive of any assertion of female independence other than that based on some reprehensible character trait” (145)

· “any evasion or denial of love is a revolt against Nature itself” (149)

· women seen as “fickle, shallow, unreliable, insincere and motivated by vanity and caprice” (154)

· female arrogance must be punished (156)

· desire to be a man “born of impatience with the limitations imposed on them by their own sex” (166)

· self-preoccupation is a male prerogative (168)

· “the challenge to men represented by the woman who is seemingly immune to them is an accepted one, and the eventual submission of the mujer esquiva must have been equally pleasing to dramatist and male audience alike” (171)

· neo Platonism: “love is part of the natural order of the Universe” (172)

· men are “naturally reluctant to free woman of her traditional dependence upon and dominance by the man” (173)

The amazon, the leader, the warrior

· “all the Amazons sooner or later revert to the feminine norm and fall in love” (176)

· “they cannot hope to evade their destiny as creatures of love dependent on love” (182)

· “exploits the idea of the spirited female without challenging that of superiority of the male” (186)

· “to accuse a woman of being a woman has always been man’s favourite way of trying to dismiss the opposition she represents” (202)

· mujeres varoniles don’t always wear masculine dress (208)

· “the lady of the high baroque has recourse more naturally to her ingenuity than to mere courage, to mental rather than physical agility” (210)

· female warriors are distant (time & geography)

The scholar, the career woman

· they have to pass as men to have a career, including dressing like them (230)

· also reverts “to the conventional female role” (232)

· fits with the “mundo al revés topos” (235)

· there are a few examples of no character change after marriage (237)

· “tears, sighs, jealousy and suspicion” as symptoms of femininity, but a “highly emotional state” is asexual (238)

The bella cazadora

· “a love of the outdoor life . . . is almost a sure sign of female unorthodoxy” (242)

· seduction as occupational hazard (244)

· mujeres hombrunas – excessive masculinity (246)

The avenger

· those that seek revenge presents “a direct challenge to the superiority of the male” by usurping his role (261)

· Mira de Amescua warns the honor code can be taken to extremes (265)

· revenge plays reveal a “belief in woman’s equality in honour and its protection” (273)

Sources and Influences

· mujer varonil “represents a fusion, in time and place, of nearly all the manifestations of the extraordinary woman which history, mythology and literature, from the days of classical antiquity down to the seventeenth century itself” (276)

· Matulka claims this trope “was created to allow the Spanish dramatists to carry the feminist theme on to stage” (282)

o but McKendrick says it was “more the reaction against a contemporary aspect of feminism” (287) [i.e. revolt against love]

· influenced by “the culture of the Italian Renaissance & the medieval concept of courtly love” (283)

· Lope created the mujer esquiva (286)

· real mujeres varoniles usually found w/in royalty/aristocracy (296)

· Feliciana Enríquez de Guzmán an exemplary woman/evoked curiosity (299)

· classical figures/myths popular & important (308)

· mujer varonil as “product of Europe’s awareness of the extraordinary woman” (309)

Conclusion

· wearing male dress does not make you varonil (311)

· we cannot “ascribe our own sexual awareness” to other societies (316)

· the term varonil “the highest accolade bestowed by man on female behavior" (316)

· revolt “against Society and convention” (317)

· male homosexuality more of a threat than female homosexuality (318)

· mujer varonil as a form of female catharsis (320)

· “the mujer varonil role was a marvelous opportunity for actresses to indulge any desires . . . they themselves might have had” (321)

· “watching the inevitable subjection of female to male was a marvellous opportunity for self-congratulatory male esteem” (322)

· sex hides masculine characteristics or vice versa (323) - it's an illusion

· drew attention to woman’s position & injustices she suffered (325)

· playwrights upheld woman against society but not nature (328)

o “explored within the limits of what was socially conceivable”