SOURCE: Larson, Catherine. “Gender, Reading, and Intertextuality: Don Juan's Legacy in Maria de Zaya's La Traición en la amistad.” INTI: Revista de Literatura Hispanica, no. 40-41 (fall-spring 1994-95): 129-38.

In the essay that follows, Larson compares the treatment of the relationship between men and women in Zayas's La tración with Tirso do Molina's El burlador de Sevilla.

María de Zayas's comedy, La traición en la amistad, could not, in many ways, be more distant and removed from Tirso de Molina's eschatological, moralizing El burlador de Sevilla. The comedy, written by a woman, deals with the amorous problems of the idle, noble rich; the serious drama, penned by a man, treats such weighty issues as human salvation. One focuses on social interaction; the other, on divine intervention. Yet, there are numerous points of contact between the two plays. The libidinous Liseo of Zayas's comedy sounds...