| Seventeenth century playwright Angela de Azevedo draws on the conventional norms of subplots, word play and double entendres to express women's experience from a female perspective. This dissertation examines her three plays in terms of women's issues.;Azevedo's only secular play, El muerto disimulado, challenges period notions on gender and advocates women's freedom of choice. It illustrates the social decay reflected in a society that has abandoned traditional values in favor of ones that covet money and status.;Dicha y desdicha del juego y devocion a la Virgen is an account of unwavering devotion to the Virgin Mary that also doubles as a clear protest against the widespread practice of marriage brokering and the commodification of women. The theme of women as commodities is of central concern to Azevedo owing to the significant social changes in early modern Spain-the move to mercantilism, bringing about the preoccupation with monetary wealth as a measure of success.;Although La margarita del Tajo que dio nombre a Santarem is a hagiographic drama concerning the life of martyred Portuguese nun Saint Irene, Azevedo crafts a play that reflects the moral, social, and political decline of her era delivering this message in the guise of devotional instruction.;Angela de Azevedo establishes two markedly distinct ethical spaces for her characters that directly challenge the early modern perception of men as rational and women as hysterical. Measuring her dramatis personae against social expectations, Azevedo responds to misogynist beliefs by elucidating that women can and in fact do regulate their desires much more than men. Azevedo assigns women to the ethical space of reason and prudence, and men to the space of unrestrained passion and violence.;Azevedo's female characters reject male aggression in favor of diplomacy and solidarity. Before resorting to actions that may be based solely on emotion, Azevedo's women act according to their systematic assessment of the situation and they establish a network of friendship and cooperation among themselves that enables them to resolve their dilemmas logically and peacefully. |
