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The Life Of Spanish Noblewomen In The Secular World And Their One Alternative: The Role Of The Convent In María De Zayas' Desengaños Amorosos, Maria Middleton

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This thesis examines the literary works of María de Zayas y Sotomayor called the Desengaños amorosos (1647) and the message these works suggest about life choices for women in sixteenth and seventeenth century Spain. In these novellas, María de Zayas makes a connection to the actual life of noblewomen both in the convent and outside of it. Her writing suggests through virtual and narrated experience that life in the convent allows for greater self actualization than life as a married woman. For the female characters in Desengaños amorosos, María de Zayas often utilized the convent as the superior alternative to …