El desengano y feminismo de Emilia Pardo Bazan

In her novels Los Pazos de Ulloa and La madre Naturaleza Emilia Pardo Bazan establishes the idea that woman are governed by the Church and society. The novels reflect Pardo Bazan's interest in Naturalism in the sense that events are shown as they are, in a crude and realistic manner. I analyze how women are linked to the Catholic Church in many ways and how society limits women with regard to their own individuality. Pardo Bazan reveals that women must obey the laws of the patriarchy. At the same time, in both novels nature represents freedom and the free expression of emotions. Also, we see that the social role of men is linked to machismo and power, because for men there are no barriers or obstacles.;In both novels feminist criticism is expressed through incest, which is associated with oppression and heartbreak. Nature is also tied to the theme of incest because the characters of Perucho and Manuela from La madre Naturaleza are half siblings and cannot be together, in spite of the unbreakable bond that they share. Pardo Bazan suggests that there are aspects of society that can and should be changed, but that there will always be aspects of life that cannot be controlled, which are exemplified by Perucho and Manuela's tragic incestuous relationship.