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.