Swordplay Uncloaked: Women as Active Agents in Ana Caro’sValor, agravio, y mujerand Lope de Vega’sLa pobreza estimada

Abstract

This article explores possible dance and swordplay choreography in Felix Lope de Vega’s La pobreza estimada (1597–1603) and Ana Caro’s Valor, agravio, y mujer (1630s–1640s) in hopes of shedding light on the manner in which women as active agents or bodies in transaction contributed to the sociopolitical discourse of the space in theater. The excerpts and images examined from treatises on acting, dance, and swordsmanship, such as Alonso López Pinciano’s Philosophía antigua poética (1596), Juan de Esquivel Navarro’s Discursos sobre el arte del danzado (1642), and Luis Pacheco de Narváez’s Libro de las grandezas de la espada (1600), help the reader envision women wielding swords in early modern Spanish theater.