SOURCE: Hegstrom, Valerie. “The Fallacy of False Dichotomy in María de Zayas's La traction en la amistad.” Bulletin of the Comediantes 46, no. 1 (summer 1994): 59-70.

In the following essay, Oakey regards Zayas's drama as a subversion of Golden Age conventions, where the reimposition of male dominance signals the end of the play and a return to normality. This essay was originally published under the name Valerie Hegstrom Oakey.

The works of María de Zayas have gained more importance recently in studies of Spanish Golden Age literature. While several books and articles have appeared on her narrative works, only a few scholars have studied her theater. Her play La traición en la amistad stands out among comedias, as one of just a handful of theatrical works available by women of that period. One scholar who has treated La traición, Matthew Stroud, concludes that despite Zayas's daring...