This analysis, written in Spanish, compares the use of violence in four of Castro's dramas with its use in their sources and in the works of other Golden Age authors. Chapter II investigates the manner in which the plays based on Greek myths compare with the original stories and with the ancient Classical theater. Each of the four following chapters compares one of Castro's plays to contemporary works with the same plot. The conclusion indicates that Castro's plays do not show an extraordinary use of violence. In some instances Castro demonstrates more restraint than the other dramatists. Thus, Castro, as a typical author of his epoch, does not deserve his reputation for writing excessively violent works.

This study is an attempt to analyze the novels of Juan Valera y Alcala Galiano, with particular attention to the characterization of the principal figures.

This thesis is a study of social criticism in the works of Leopoldo Alas ("Clarín"), a nineteenth century Spanish novelist, literary critic and short story writer. In Clarín's two major novels, "La Regenta" and "Su único hijo," and in his numerous short stories there is frequent criticism of the abuses of the clergy, the state of Spanish morality, the misunderstanding and misapplication of religion by the laity, the quality of education, literature, theater and medicine, the corruption of law and government and the treatment to which the poor and uneducated were subjected. Because of Clarín's techniques it can be said that he was the leader of the naturalistic movement in Spain. It can also be said that Clarín as a naturalist did not follow the tenets of the French school.

This is a study of the feminist content of the dramas of Jacinto Benavente (1866-1954) whose dramatic career spanned the same sixty years during which the most spectacular feminist advances took place in Spain. To this end twenty-nine plays are considered to illustrate topically Benavente's conception of the nature of Spanish women and his attitudes with regard to their position in society. It is concluded that Benavente in his first period of dramatic output drew into focus the problems confronting Spanish women in their culture, but in his second period (after 1920), however, he failed to portray adequately the modern female and her approach to the changing environment. Nevertheless, at its best, Benavente's drama constitutes a great contribution to feminist literature.

Este estudio propone hacer un ensayo dando énfasis los motivos temporales y estructurales en las obras Los pasos perdios (1946) y Guerra del tiepo (1958) de Alejo Carpenter, gran novelista y cuentista cubano del momento. Carpenter obliga al lector a notar nuevos conceptos sobre el tiempo y a aceptar nuevas definiciones y dimensiones mas amplias, libre de todas las restricciones tradicionales. Mediante la deformación del tiempo en todo aspecto concebible (vuelto al revés, transpuesto del lugar normal, invertido, fragmentado, o torcido en una manera que es ilógica e inexplicable), Carpentier utiliza los medios temporales en su narrativa de varias maneras: el tiempo circular, el tiempo regresivo, el tiempo histórico, el tiempo interiorizado, o el tiempo atemporal, que son los principales aspectos analizados en esta tesis.

This thesis studies three of the most significant themes in the poetry of the Cuban Modernist, Julian del Casal. The poet's morbid fascination with death is characterized by an inability to adapt to his life environment, boredom, a strong self-destructive drive, and the concept of death as the ultimate joy and refuge. He reflects the Modernist aesthetic code in his cult of plastic and lyric beauty. An escapist, he sought refuge in an ideal world of perfection and elegance. This unobtainable goal resulted in deep melancholia and despair. The theme of love reflects a complete absence of passion and eroticism. The poet's categorical rejection of woman as a sensual object is accompanied by subtle insinuations concerning his own physical impotence and inability to love.