Play’s analysis of male to female relation:
The relationships between men and women in The Viper of the Cross is very unhealthy and intense. One could almost say they are corrupt. Besides the money factor, relationships are the driving force in the play. It can be looked at by the fact that Ricardo runs into his money problems due to his buying the necklace for Maruja. He only bought her the necklace because he loved her. In a relationship, it is the male’s duty to work hard and make money. As a result, he will provide for the needs of the women or try to impress them with nice gifts. On the other hand, the females are either working in the cabarets and supplying for the men, or may be working at a boarding house taking care of the men. In the play, we see how strong an emphasis Julio Escobar puts on love, and how that love ultimately kills. We are able to understand and analyze the gender relations in an upper-class party setting. We can get a good look at the interactions between both men and women. We see how their relationships are very physically violent. Through the supporting characters, we are shown first-hand experiences of men physically and verbally abusing the women. The abuse might be the result of the lack of respect the men give the women. Women are treated like property and if the women act out or misbehave in any way, they are punished for it. At the party, men call women “sluts who are asking for it.” If the men do not get their way, they try forcing women into their place by physically intimidating them. They would say “I am going to hit you so hard that your profile will end up uneven.” In the patriarchal society of Buenos Aires in 1919, men abusing women and degrading them “is the style in these kinds of places.” By “places”, we mean upper-class parties.
Two young women who perform in a cabaret at the Piccadilly Hotel strike a pose, circa 1925. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Play’s analysis of female to female relation:
Two young women who perform in a cabaret at the Piccadilly Hotel strike a pose, circa 1925. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)In the play, we see two different types of females. They differ through jobs and social class, and we are able to evaluate their relationships. For the brief time, Luciana was at the party dropping off the telegram for Ricardo. She explains to Diderot that she is afraid of the lifestyle ‘those people’ or, the ‘elite’ live. Luciana does not understand what the attraction is to the routine of getting abused by men, and working in the cabarets. She is not sure how a man like Ricardo could even love a woman like Maruja because she is a ‘whore’. It is understood that in this time period there is another way to categorize the females. A woman with a husband is considered a ‘woman’, and a single woman is considered a ‘slut’ or ‘whore’. For most women who might be working in the cabarets, like Maruja, it can be reasonable to assume they might not be married. As for those women who work at boarding houses, the lifestyle that comes with that job is a little more mellow and better suited for a married woman. Luciana and Maruja share a commonality in the play in that they both are in love with Ricardo. However, instead of being mad at Ricardo, tensions between the two women are high and could possibly indicate slight verbal abuse towards one another.
Married life:
Marriage is not a huge topic of discussion and does not seem widely popular in our play. We are told of only one married couple, which happens to be Ricardo’s parents. The only other slight mention of marriage is when Diderot describe a woman; if she is single, she is a whore. However, if she has a husband she is a respectable woman.
Summary:
Overall, the men seem to be playing the superiority card and we see how men are continually degrading most women during this time period. We see this primarily through their physical and verbal abuse, like when a man said “if I called her a woman, that would be offensive to decent women.” Another example of men trying to insert their dominance is through the power of tango. The tango will be further discussed in the historical context section; however, we are able to conclude that the men were trying to show sexual dominance by way of the dance. We can see, however, that a woman’s social class and job, is a determining factor as to the level of respect that she would receive from a man. According to Professor McCleary’s thesis, most of Julio Escobar’s plays are centered on gender relations, but he shows how moral reformation exists across all different social classes.