Abstract

Much critical work has been dedicated in recent years to the transgressive representation of gender in the plays of the Spanish Golden Age, an interest sparked in great measure by Melveena McKendrickʼs sem­inal work: Woman and Society in the Spanish Drama of the Golden Age. A Study of the «Mujer Varonil» (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1974). This article examines the depiction of gender ambiguity and confu­sion in the plays of the Andalusian dramatist Cristóbal de Monroy y Silva, with a special focus on El caballero dama and La batalla de Pavía y prisión del rey Francisco. While Monroy y Silvaʼs depictions of gender ambigui­ty usually correspond to the conventional categories of mujer vestida de hombre or mujer varonil, these two plays offer interesting and original case studies. La batalla de Pavía y prisión del rey Francisco presents an almost unheard of case of gender dysphoria.