Rising to manhood: transgressive women in XVIII century popular literature

Abstract

Family conflicts raised in Eighteenth century Spain. Economics and social changes had redefined the position of women in marriage making and public spaces. During the Enlightenment, couples followed certain social rules according to the rules of gender hierarchy. Chapbook romances provide us insights about an alternative version in which gender hierarchies and conflict resolution were pushed on a different direction. Popular romances allowed more violent or audacious solutions but mostly ending up in an acceptable way. In this paper, I analyze the female role performed in various romances published in various cities of the kingdom of Spain in popular formats. The results indicate that chapbooks and popular stories maintained a particular version of female roles. In these stories, it was acceptable for women to perform a dominant and assertive public role in order to defend her honor and restore the social balance.