Domineering women in spanish dramaturgy: from La Serrana de ja Vera to la Casa De Bernarda Alba

Abstract

The Golden Age of Spanish dramaturgy, which created the myth of D. Juan Tenorio, also produced a set of dramatic works in which the protagonists are marginal, violent and domineering women who can transiently impose their power on a structurally patriarchal society. This is the case of the two comedias entitled La serrana de la Vera, inspired by the same folk tradition, and whose authors are two of the most important Spanish Baroque writers: Lope de Vega and Luis Vélez de Guevara. These works will be studied in this article in contrast to a contemporary drama, La casa de Bernarda Alba, by Federico García Lorca, in which a more subtle and therefore more effective and lasting form of domination is staged.