This research discusses the changing role of women in Spanish society during the nineteenth century through the works of Francisca Navarro and Joaquina Garcia Balmaseda. The thesis shows the break with the traditional image of the "angel del hogar" and the gradual incorporation of the social changes affecting women which were reflected in the female protagonists of the comedies written by such playwrights. By reading theoretical texts of the emerging feminist theory and through analysis of the main female characters, this study examines the changes regarding the established canon and its own evolution within the nineteenth century, from the works of a pioneer like Francisca Navarro in the first third of the century to those of Joaquina Gracia Balmaseda towards the end of it.