House of Trials Response

Conventions of the Spanish Golden Age comedias are much different from other plays we have read.  Two conventions I picked out were the importance of honor and the breaking of the fourth wall.  These two conventions appear multiple times in House of Trials.  Honor seems to be mentioned on every single page.  As we discussed in class, honor for women is their sexual purity and for men it is keeping the sexual purity of their wives, sisters, or daughters.  It is mentioned so much, it seems like it would be something brought up in other Spanish Golden Age comedias as well.  The characters also break the fourth wall a few times.  For example, on page 103 Castaño says, “Let’s go and skip the cries of ‘alas!’ and ‘alack!’ that prevent our leaving and prolong the act.”  He is breaking the fourth wall by acknowledging that they are in a play.  This occurs a few more times throughout the play making it seem like it can occur in other comedias too.  These different conventions allow for many different plays than we have been reading.  Breaking the fourth wall and focusing on honor are two conventions that seem quite apparent in Sur Juana’s House of Trials.