Courtesans and adulteresses : dishonesty and the inverted world in three Renaissance comedies

Juan Aguilar González

doi:10.5817/ERB2025-2-8

Courtesans and adulteresses : dishonesty and the inverted world in three Renaissance comedies

Vol.46,No.2(2025)

Juan Aguilar González

https://doi.org/10.5817/ERB2025-2-8

Stable URL (handle):
http://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/digilib.83310

PDF (Spanish)

Abstract

During the Renaissance, there were comedies that, imitating those of classical antiquity, reversed the roles of participating characters, particularly in the power dynamics between parents and children, servants and masters, and men and women. This work focuses on relationships between the sexes and aims to explore how, in this world alla rovescia, the frequently reviled female characters — the courtesan and the adulteress — use dishonesty to achieve their desires. It will also examine whether this behavior reflects a philogynous or misogynistic perspective, hypothesizing about the intentions of the authors.

Keywords:
Italian literature; genre; comedy; Renaissance

Pages:
92–107

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