De las Bambalinas al Tablado: La Presencia de las Madres en las Comedias del Siglo de Oro

Abstract

For decades, scholars have denied the crucial roles played by mother figures in Early Modern Peninsular theatre. The erroneous assertion that mothers are dead, absent, or unimportant in the comedia of the Spanish Golden Age is so deep-seated, that it has relegated them to near academic oblivion. This dissertation explores the dynamic interplay between gender and genre through the analysis of the mother figure in the comedias of the Golden Age. It shows the presence of the mother in the comedia of the Golden Age and offers an explanation for the critics’ insistence on her absence. Using a representative sample of canonical and non-canonical works, I show how the negation of the mother’s presence exemplifies the marginalization of feminine themes and characters. The field of cognitive science, specifically attention blindness, the perceptual cycle and schemata provide the theoretical framework for my research, particularly in exploring what this critical blinding reveals about our discipline and its traditionally accepted practices. The character of the mother offers a multitude of possibilities within the comedia, which makes her a potential source for future critical studies.