Female Characters In Lope De Vega's Plays

Throughout the history of Theatre, we see numerous stories of powerful and brave men overcoming obstacles that deem them heroes. However, the same kinds of roles for women are scarce. It wasn’t until The Spanish Golden Age when the very influential Lope De Vega began to write plays that demonstrated the beauty of well-developed female characters. Of course, there are extremely notable female characters written before Lope De Vega’s time. However, while iconic in their own right, these female characters can’t compare to the beautifully complicated and respectful women demonstrated in De Vega’s plays. Another factor that lead to the revolutionized female character was the presence of actresses during The Spanish Golden Age. Previously, since women weren’t allowed on stage, it’s no surprise that the general public …show more content…
They married in 1588 and moved to Valencia. Here, Lope De Vega worked on his playwriting skills and perfected his own revolutionary style. After his years of exile were over, Lope De Vega began to work for The Duke of Alba. Tragedy struck in 1594 when Isabel died suddenly. After four years of mourning, he remarried a local girl. The two lived happily and began their family with four children: one boy and three girls. De Vega then left his family to begin working as a secretary for the Count of Lemos. There, he met a young, married actress named Micaela. Despite both their marriages, Lope and Micaela had five children of their own. While Lope’s love of women was a bit extreme, these experiences of managing two families and countless amount of lovers throughout his life undoubtedly translated into the 3,000 sonnets, 3 novels, 4 novellas, 9 epic poems and approximately 500 plays that are attributed to him. While some may consider him a womanizer, Lope cared for all the women in his life deeply and worked extremely hard to make sure both his families were comfortable and well