Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

The Toothsome Mouth in El médico de su honra

The Toothsome Mouth in El médico de su honra Abstract: The painful practical realities of seventeenth-century dentistry underpin the dramatic action of El médico de su honra . While a number of critics have used thematic evidence to argue whether King Pedro will have Coquín's teeth extracted, it should first be recognized that the king's threat to have all of Coquín's teeth extracted constitutes a death threat. The present study argues that the fates of Coquín and Mencía are intimately connected. In fact, they are so inextricably intertwined that after the apariencia of Mencía's bloody bed—a visual spectacle that resembles a bloody mouth—Coquín's death is no longer dramatically or thematically necessary. Mencía has bled to death in imitation of the same threat directed against Coquín. Reading the play from Gutierre's point of view, we recognize that Gutierre's fear of King Pedro's male teeth makes him turn against Mencía, a more vulnerable female target. In Gutierre's mind, Coquín and Mencía are allied, among other factors, by their less-than-masculine sexuality. King Pedro has threatened Coquín with death because of the clown's rampant expressiveness and its threat of disorder. Similarly, Gutierre arranges Mencía's murder in part out of a fear of her expressiveness and its inherent threat to male honor and male order. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Bulletin of the Comediantes Bulletin of the Comediantes

The Toothsome Mouth in El médico de su honra

Bulletin of the Comediantes , Volume 55 (1) – Jan 8, 2003

Loading next page...
 
/lp/bulletin-of-the-comediantes/the-toothsome-mouth-in-el-m-dico-de-su-honra-Eo9rkJw6p7

References

References for this paper are not available at this time. We will be adding them shortly, thank you for your patience.

Publisher
Bulletin of the Comediantes
Copyright
Copyright © Bulletin of the Comediantes
ISSN
1944-0928
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Abstract: The painful practical realities of seventeenth-century dentistry underpin the dramatic action of El médico de su honra . While a number of critics have used thematic evidence to argue whether King Pedro will have Coquín's teeth extracted, it should first be recognized that the king's threat to have all of Coquín's teeth extracted constitutes a death threat. The present study argues that the fates of Coquín and Mencía are intimately connected. In fact, they are so inextricably intertwined that after the apariencia of Mencía's bloody bed—a visual spectacle that resembles a bloody mouth—Coquín's death is no longer dramatically or thematically necessary. Mencía has bled to death in imitation of the same threat directed against Coquín. Reading the play from Gutierre's point of view, we recognize that Gutierre's fear of King Pedro's male teeth makes him turn against Mencía, a more vulnerable female target. In Gutierre's mind, Coquín and Mencía are allied, among other factors, by their less-than-masculine sexuality. King Pedro has threatened Coquín with death because of the clown's rampant expressiveness and its threat of disorder. Similarly, Gutierre arranges Mencía's murder in part out of a fear of her expressiveness and its inherent threat to male honor and male order.

Journal

Bulletin of the ComediantesBulletin of the Comediantes

Published: Jan 8, 2003

There are no references for this article.