Pensamiento e imagen de la mujer en las comedias cómicas y serias de Antonio Mira de Amescua

Female characters have an important presence in the plays of Antonio Mira de Amescua (1577-1644). Using the generic naming of the term «comedy», as referring to all theatrical production in the Spanish Golden Age, we can distinguish in his works serious and comic comedies, following the general tone of a play, the plot and the way in which a play concludes. The female characters, however, receive a considerably different treatment, both in terms of thought and image of women and in the theme surrounding women. The present study analyzes fourteen comedies by Mira de Amescua, seven comic ones and seven serious. Our aim is to extract the thoughts, images and themes around the female characters. We contrast the differences between both classes of comedies, detecting a much freer image of women in comic ones, sometimes even reversing roles with men, giving prominence to female figures and giving them freedom of choice in marriage. In serious works, on the contrary, the roles of female characters are secondary, the delegation of the choice of marriage remains with authoritative male figures, and there is an assumption of conventional or saintly roles.