Gendering the Crown in the Spanish Baroque Comedia

Taking into account theories of gender, performance and performativity within a historical context, this study explores how the Baroque comedia's preoccupation with kingship goes hand in hand with the obsessive representation of women (and women's bodies). The question of royal subjectivity in plays dealing with fantasies of feminine rule-by Calderón de la Barca, Tirso de Molina and others-is rendered inseparable from issues surrounding masculinity and femininity.