Abstract

In the 16th century, Europe witnesses the triumph of the pre-capitalist economy, personified by the merchant. This new situation brought the rejection of the humanists, who wrote about the society’s decadence of values and the destruction of social status. Ruiz de Alarcón wrote La industria y la suerte, a play in which he describes the confrontation between the Sevillian traders and the nobility. Arnesto, the merchant, represents the corruption brought on by money, and, because of that, Don Juan defeats him in his attempt to gain Blanca’s love by the play’s end.

Abstract

reassessed taking into consideration anthropological, civil, legal, lexical, moral, philosophical, theological and psychological aspects. An application of this refurbished concept follows, wherein the idea of honor as a social concept and as a moral attribute clash in three villein plays: Pedro Calderón de la Barca’s The Mayor of Zalamea (El alcalde de Zalamea) and Lope de Vega’s All Citizens Are Soldiers (Fuenteovejuna), and Peribáñez and the Comendador of Ocaña (Peribáñez y el Comendador de Ocaña).