The Satiric Irony of Marta la piadosa

Many modern critics, while recognizing social satire in Tirso's Marta la piadosa, tend not to see the title character as included in that satire. In fact, all of the evidence in the play points to Marta as one more hypocrite in a hypocritical society. Verbal irony in the play, Tirso's ironic characterization of Marta and the inclusion of distanced characters, including the gracioso , who comment on Marta's behavior, mark Marta as a play of satiric irony, one of the poles of ironic comedy as defined by Northrop Frye. Marta, a hypocrite based on the proverbial Marta, is not a sympathetic figure; we laugh at Marta, we do not identify with her. She is held up for our judgment, not for our sympathy. Marriage at the end of the play is not the sign of a divinely sanctioned happy ending. We would do well to reject the notion of a «happily ever after» to Marta and to recognize the ironical, critical vein in Tirso's work. (JWA)