Breaking the Vitreous Eye: Sight and Blindness in Ana Caro’s Valor, agravio y mujer

Abstract

Through chiaroscuro, chiasmus and mythological allusions, Ana Caro’s comedy Valor, agravio y mujer draws attention to the fallibility of sight as a method of enquiry and source of knowledge, at a time in the history of science when Aristotelian trust in the senses was being questioned in fields such as astronomy and art. The protagonist, Leonor, displays an innovative scientific sensibility that allows her to skilfully produce illusions of reflection and duplication, through which she traps the other characters in an optical labyrinth. This essay examines the topic of visual perception in Caro’s drama within the context of the scientific revolution, the controversy on heliocentrism, innovation in optical technologies (mirrors, lenses, camera obscura), and the implementation of perspectival techniques in art.