SOURCE: “The Monarch/Mother in the ‘Comedias’ of Tirso de Molina,” in Crítica Hispánica, Vol. 9, Nos. 1-2, 1987, pp. 39-49.

In the following essay, Chittenden studies the development of female characters in de Molina's plays, outlining their roles and comparing them with one another.

As critics have frequently noted, the presence of the madre in the comedia is very rare. As a matter of fact, among the 256 female characters in the 61 plays that we know to have been written by Tirso de Molina, there are only 15 madres whose role as a mother plays a significant part in the development of the drama. Reigning female monarchs are likewise scarce, there being only 13 in Tirso's comedias. In the category of monarch/mother we find only four: Irene, in La república al revés; Tetis, in El Aquiles; Elena, in El árbol del mejor fruto; and María de...