Bulletin of the Comediantes

Taking the cue from Tirso's own comments in Los cigarrales de Toledo («...no en vano se llamó la poesía pintura viva»), recent criticism has focused on the pictorial quality of Tirso's comedias. This study examines another aspect of Tirso's technique of representation: his use of emblematics in the biblical play La mujer que manda en casa. The function of this technique is both dramatic and didactic since emblems are used to shape the structure of the play and to emphasize its moral purpose. Tirso relies on two important factors, the active collaboration of the audience and the inherent theatricality of the spectacle, in order to create an illusion which leads the spectator to apprehend a deeper meaning. (DLS)