Abstract
The essay focuses on the subject position of Queen Mariene in El mayor monstruo del mundo . The thesis is that the queen occupies an intermediate space between the female protagonists of the Calderonian honor plays and the precociously assertive heroine of Elizabeth Cary's The Tragedy of Mariam (1613). Because in El mayor monstruo Calderón takes recourse to the fate of classical antiquity, Mariene is doomed from the start, but she gains a victory of sorts by separating herself from her husband Herod and by speaking her mind. An analysis of the particular rhetoric of Mariene's discourse reveals an incipient subjectivity, lacking in the women of the honor dramas, who cannot cease to be functions of their husbands' (and society's) obsessions. Using essentially the same plot materials, Cary, for her part, moves beyond the spiritual triumph to draw attention to key feminist issues of her own time and place. (EHF)
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
