Arte y realidad en El sí de las niñas de Leandro Fernández de Moratín

Abstract

One of the many reasons why Moratín's theatre impressed contemporary audiences and readers was because of the author's exploration of human feelings and motivation. The present article relates El sí de las niñas to eighteenth-century theories of the emotions, contrasting the social demands of apparently reasonable behaviour, as portrayed by doña Irene, with the more problematic presentation of natural feelings in conflict with the social norms of the period, as presented by don Diego, don Carlos and doña Francisca. Contemporary analyses of Moratín's play reveal an appreciation of the subtlety of Moratín's psychological presentation of these characters, praising his skill in detailed characterization, a feature which reflected the reality that audiences identified with the world around them.