Female Representations in Two 17th-Century Narrative Works: Cervantes and Zayas

Abstract

This work is part of a broader research project that explores how women were represented in the narrative of the Spanish Golden Age. Along these lines, we analyze how literary discourse functions as a technology of gender, involving the paradigm of sexual difference and producing effects of meaning that generically mark bodies, behaviors, and social relations. It should be added that this paradigm intersects with other categories of analysis, such as social status, age, or religious affiliation (nun or not, Christian or not, etc.), which must be addressed to understand the complex social reality of women in the 17th century. Therefore, it is essential to consider the intersectionality between gender and social class in order to examine female representations of the period in question.

The corpus studied here encompasses the work of two significant authors of the period: the short story "El prevenido engañado" (The Pretended, Deceived) in Las novelas amorosas y ejemplares (Lovely and Exemplary Novels, 1637) by Zayas, and the intercalated story of Marcela and Crisóstomo in Don Quixote (I - 1605) by Cervantes. The analysis of the works presented here reveals how the female characters challenge the established hegemonic role for women. However, each author presents certain nuances in the construction of female characters that reflect their respective masculine and feminine perspectives.