The Plays of Juan Ruiz de Alarcón

Alarcón defends the comedia against criticsm through his definition of illusion as a moral art - a stance evident in his plays. The plays of Ruiz de Alarcón, a significant dramatist in the Spanish Golden Age, show in many of their plots a preoccupation with deception, which Whicker believes reflects Alarcón's fundamental concern about truth-telling in literature. His study of Alarcón's comedias stresses the seriousness and moral orthodoxy of the playwright and his concern with how simulation and