The Comedia of Virginity: Mary and the Politics of Seventeenth-Century Spanish Theater

Mirzam Pérez's The Comedia of Virginity: Mary and the Politics of Seventeenth-Century Spanish Theater explores three little-known comedias from seventeenth-century Spain with an eye toward understanding their impact on the cultural discourse about the Virgin Mary in this period. The book includes some insightful observations and analyses but fails to deliver on the promise of its overall argument.

The first three chapters examine a lesser-known work, La limpieza no manchada (1618), by the famous playwright Félix Lope de Vega. This comedia was unusual for its subject matter — the Virgin Mary's immaculate conception — and its commissioning — it was sought by the University of Salamanca for performance in that city. All of this is quite intriguing. It is helpful to learn more about Lope's oeuvre, and it is also useful to shift the analysis of the comedia to smaller cities outside...