By Allon Boettcher

Faculty Mentor: Betsy Lewis

Abstract

My presentation examines the role of the woman character in Mexican 19th-century theatre through Isabel A Prieto’s works, which break societal expectations set by the hegemonic class (i.e., educated, wealthy men) despite Prieto’s somewhat typical personal life. Through these plays, Prieto poses herself as an early feminist who predates the coining of feminism, critically developing strong female protagonists who mock and defy their male counterparts. Beyond employment of pre-feminist beliefs and characters, the publication and performance of Prieto’s works were unusual because she was female, which further demonstrates the multiplicity in which Prieto developed an early lust for women’s rights when society remained largely segregated based on gender and class. Prieto averted expectations through giving women power over men in the home while still generally prescribing to the notion of the angel of the hearth and home–that is, her female protagonists’ plots primarily center on amorous love and their search for it, which was expected of women at this time. Despite this partial subscription to the ideals of the time period, the manners in which Prieto broke other ideals is significant and, relative to her era, progressive. Introducing historical context to modern critiques and analyses of Prieto’s Los dos son peores and Las dos flores, this investigation brings to light disparities in the life of the female figure in 19th-century Mexico and Prieto’s resistance to them through literature and performance.