Fantasy and the honour code: Lope's "La viuda valenciana" and "El cordobés valeroso Pedro Carbonero"

Abstract

Lope’s plays are widely considered to be unrealistic but they are still far from being smoke screens. This article discusses how Lope’s fantasy scenarios and the fantasies that his protagonists in La viuda valenciana and El cordobés valeroso Pedro Carbonero devise in order to circumvent the obstacles of a very real honour code, do little to resolve or soften for the audience the vagaries of living with honour in the Golden Age.