This paper will attempt to account for the insatiable ambition to rule of Semíramis, the protagonist of La hija del aire . It will draw on the writings of Freud and Jung and will utilize dramatic analysis, psychological theory and a knowledge of certain myths. It will trace the course of Semíramis' psychic development especially as it concerns the emerging domination of the animus (Jung). Semíramis exhibits 'penis envy' (Freud) when she complains that Nature erred in not creating her a man. She imprisons her son, the legitimate heir to the Assyrian throne, and, in male garb proceeds to assume his identity and rules, thus taking on the masculine role denied her by Nature. Semíramis is protected by the goddess Venus, who herself is a transformed phallus, since she was born from the foam of the sea under unusual circumstances. Cronos, son of earth and heaven, castrated his father (Ouranos) and hurled his testicles into the sea. They drifted away and the semen from Ouranos' castrated genitals mingled with the foam. Semíramis lacks the phallus from a physical point of view, but from a psychological viewpoint she substitutes aggressiveness and valor, a phenomenon corroborated by psychologists. Thus Semíramis triumphs over a male-dominated society. Under the protection of the goddess Venus, and possessed of phenomenal courage, she has asserted the masculine element in her psyche.

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To the Distinguished Tirsista, Ruth Lee Kennedy Uno de los aspectos poco estudiados del arte de la comedia es el comportamiento humano referente a la sexualidad. Este ensayo examina las tecnicas que utiliza Tirso para indicar como un personaje emplea la imaginacion para influir en las acciones sexuales de otros personajes. La imaginacion puede urdir tretas para que un personaje alcance su meta inventando historias y estrategias, cambiandose de identidad y traje y participando en un drama dentro de un drama. Sirviondose de la memoria, la voluntad y el entendimiento, la imaginacion funciona con las emociones para alcanzar un meta sexual.One of the least explored aspects of the comedia's art is its focus on human behavior especially in reference to sex. We do not mean to minimize the effect of physical action upon the mental and emotional states of the characters. In fact, there will be found a close correlation between the physical and mental. We are, however, more interested in this essay in Tirso's use of those mental and emotional factors which exert an influence on human sexual conduct. We will examine those techniques Tirso employs to indicate how a character uses the mind to devise schemes to sway the behavior of others especially regarding sexuality. The plays chosen for study are, La venganza de Tamar, Don Gil de las colzas verdes, and El vergonzoso en palacio.Like other great writers of the past, Tirso knew by observation and intuition what modern psychologists have established clinically, viz., that two of the most powerful human drives are those of the hunger for food and for sex. Tirso has achieved a remarkable blending of these two forces that determine human behavior by uniting food imagery with the sexual drive in an important play, La venganza de Tamar 1 . Hunger is thus something other than a longing for food; it is also a yearning for sexual relationship which has been frustrated by circumstances beyond an individual's control. The individual then seeks See my article, "The Incest Motif in Tirso's La venganza de Tamar", Hisp., 47 (1964), 268-276.

Soon after the death of Lope de Vega in 1635 Calderón was recognized as the foremost playwright of Spain and of the pleasure-loving court of Philip IV. It was not long before Philip decided to bestow upon his protégé the coveted order of Santiago. Pope Urban VIII signed the pontifical dispensation on April 28, 1637, and from that day on Calderón wore the insignia of his newly acquired honor.1 But the rise of Calderón as a court dramatist had begun several years earlier when some of his plays were being produced in the Salón de las Comedias of the old alcázar.

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