SOURCE: "The Puerto Rican Woman in René Marqués' Drama," in Revista Chicano-Riqueña, Vol. XI, Nos. 3-4, Fall-Winter 1983, pp. 169-76.

In the following essay, Griffin explores the female characters in Marqués's major dramatic works, particularly as they relate to the theme of national salvation.

René Marqués is probably, after Hostos, the best known of all Puerto Rican authors, and certainly his country's leading playwright. Profoundly concerned with the problems of Puerto Rico, he made them the substance of his dramas. He saw these problems arising from the abandonment of cultural traditions and values, and traced them to the industrialization and modernization that transformed the island under the domination of the United States. His work constantly affirms the need for self-respect and the assertion of identity; no where is this more evident than in the presentation of the Puerto Rican woman in his dramas.

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