María de Zayas / The Disenchantments of Love - Day 3

Please answer three questions or come up with your own topics of discussion. Remember - do NOT make a new blog for this entry. Everyone should have just ONE blog which will contain ALL the responses for the entire semester.

1. In story 7 (“Marriage Abroad: Portent of Doom”), Blanca seems to have found a fool-proof method for assuring that the Prince is genuine in his love: her insistence in a one-year courtship period in which, it appears, she is in control. Despite this, she remains unhappy. Why do you think this is the case? Is there an aspect to the type of “love” between her and the Prince that is causing this unhappiness? (I think this has something to do with the poem on page 250 and is not yet to be found in the Prince’s homosexuality, for at this point in the story this is not yet an issue.)

2. I do not think it is accidental that story 7 immediately follows the story of Esteban / Estefanía. In story 6, Zayas introduces the theme of lesbian desire, and here we have two men found in bed together. Zayas once again introduces the theme of characters’ crossing of societal borders (as with Isabel / Zelima in story 1). What do you think the message is here about men crossing boundaries of gender and sexuality? (Hint: I think the fact that the Prince does not have a name speaks volumes.) Or possibly a different yet related question: How do you think these and other “boundary-crossings” in the text are subversive yet simultaneously maintain a societal status quo?

3. Story 8 (“Traitor to His Own Blood”) begins with Francisca’s comments about gossip and its evils. Think about gossip. What does it do? We have in a sense an “original speech act” that transforms as the gossip spreads. What might this have to say about speech in general? Do we have any control over the meaning of our words? How does this power of speech come into the story?

4. Story 9 also contains the underlying theme of blood and all its implications. “Blood” is in the title, we have bleeding corpses, etc. What do you think blood implies here (religious, social, biological overtones)? Why do you think the corpses bleed? What might this imply?

5. Story 10, “The Ravages of Vice” (really the last of 20 stories), has Florentina as the main female protagonist. Why do you think Zayas concludes her book/s that are supposedly in defense of women with a story about such a treacherous woman? On the same note, Gaspar is unique in the male characters of the book – he behaves impeccably (he does not deceive nor kill a single person). Do you think Florentina and Gaspar’s character traits can help in a reading of the overall text?

6. It seems that story 10 is the most violent of the book – we have the highest number of corpses by its end (more than any other story) and the violence in it is senseless. Why do you think there is such a high level of violence in the text, specifically against women? I think this is more than just “women beware” message. What we have here is in truth a moral imperative. What is it? What is it that tortured, raped and murdered bodies of women have to tell us?