Una serrana domesticada: La señá Frasquita en El sombrero de tres picos (1874). Issue 1 (2nd January 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Domènech, Conxita; Noya, Adriana; Wilhelm, Kathleen
• Is Part Of: Romance quarterly. Volume 65:Issue 1(2018)
• Page Start: 1
• Page End: 10
• Publication Date: 2018-01-02
• Subjects: El sombrero de tres picos -- La serrana de la Vera -- Luis Vélez de Guevara -- Pedro Antonio de Alarcón -- serrana; Romance literature -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; Spanish literature -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; Romance philology -- Periodicals; 840.905
• DOI: 10.1080/08831157.2018.1396116
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0883-1157

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Despite the large amount of scholarship on Pedro Antonio de Alarcón's El sombrero de tres picos, its female protagonist, Frasquita, has been overlooked. This article analyzes the character of Frasquita through her literary and historical context. We argue that Frasquita's descriptions and actions are inspired by the mythical figure of the serrana and, more specifically, by Gila, the titular protagonist of Luis Vélez de Guevara's La serrana de la Vera. Both female protagonists, Frasquita and Gila, are described as excessively beautiful and desired, yet they are simultaneously described as having masculine strength and independence. Alarcón utilizes the serrana figure, tamed and transformed into the character of Frasquita, to assuage fears over the changing roles of women in fin-de-siècle Spain. By presenting gender deviance through Frasquita, and yet ultimately restoring her to a traditionally feminine and domesticated role at the end of the novel, El sombrero de tres picos attempts to represent and resolve the anxieties over gender deviance that were prevalent at the end of the nineteenth century.