At the dawn of the 20th century, there was a burgeoning social awakening of playwrights in the Spanish-speaking world who make creative use of the platform of the stage to denounce injustice and disparity. In Puerto Rico and Spain, playwrights' denunciation through theatrical performance shed light on the realities that affected society, the consequences of war, and the deleterious effects of the economic crisis. In the context of the home front, moral disintegration and challenged values experienced by a family's patriarchal figure were compromised by hunger and misery. This moral disintegration also created social impotence whereby the patriarchs struggled to protect their home and struggled in their role as providers, parents, and heads of household. As weakened characters, they became passive and stagnant, crippled by denial and delusion. This thesis analyzes two theatrical works, one from Puerto Rico and the other from Spain, respectively, Tiempo Muerto (1940) by Manuel Méndez Ballester and El tragaluz (1967) by Antonio Buero Vallejo. The analysis of these two plays examines, through the lens of masculinity studies, the male characters who exemplify the patriarchs and their connections to family and society. Further, it uncovers the socio-economic and cultural effects that triggered a moral disintegration and that turned their role as protector into a passive one, thereby jeopardizing their masculinity.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ucf.edu/oai:stars.library.ucf.edu:etd2020-1920 |
| Date | 01 December 2021 |
| Creators | Rodriguez, Ibis Enid |
| Publisher | STARS |
| Source Sets | University of Central Florida |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020- |
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