Tirso De Molina's The Trickster Of Seville

Literature can convey a great deal of information about life and society. This is both as it questions and as it reflects the society in which it is created. This is as true of literature produced today as it is of literature produced in the Middle Ages. In many cases, literature is the only means by which today’s society can discern the finer points of earlier societies, such as that found in Spain during the sixteenth century. Plays such as Tirso de Molina’s The Trickster of Seville reveal a great deal about the various nuances of Spanish society during this period of time. The play essentially tells the story of a young aristocrat who spends his time chasing through the various places he’s sent and seducing women at every opportunity. It

This is made clear in almost every case, including the cases of the peasant women. In that moment there is even a hint that these women have been touched by an ‘unauthorized’ man, they are deemed destroyed regardless of the nature of their downfall. When Isabella is seduced by Don Juan in the guise of her fiancé Octavio, it doesn’t matter that she has lost her virginity to the man she thought was her betrothed, she is still sent to the convent for a year. In addition, she is never given a chance to even defend herself and let others know how she was deceived. “A woman, yes! That was my wrong, born to this privilege of debasement, ordered to keep a civil tongue locked in its civil ivory casement. When you are pious, she’s a wife, and, when appropriate, a whore. Now that you’ve simplified my life to silence, I will speak

As Don Juan seduces other women he encounters, it becomes clear that even peasant women were largely considered to be the property of their men as well. This is revealed during the second act when Juan is completing his mischief with Aminta and Batricio. After having convinced Aminta that she will be a duchess if she goes with Juan, he sleeps with her and then runs off to her bridegroom to tell him of the deed. Batricio’s response indicates that marriage even in the country was viewed as something more akin to ownership than to partnership. “Read these papers: my license, here! Read! I bought her! She cost a fortune.”2 Although women seemed to have somewhat more flexibility than women in other parts of Europe at that time, evidenced in the way that Tisbea and Isabella are able to travel relatively unencumbered, it remains true that Isabella was traveling on instructions from her male ‘owners’ and Tisbea has few options available for her now that her suicide attempt has been thwarted and her previous fiancé murdered by the man who made her think she could have something