The Paradisal Geography of Tirso's La mujer que manda en casa

The motif of verticality underlies the depiction of Queen Jezabel as the Babylonian queen Semiramis. By expanding her royal gardens, Jezabel seeks to emulate the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, which were built by Semiramis. The motif of verticality also relates to the joint struggles of Jezabel's opponents, Elías and Nabot, to lead the Israelites to the garden-city of the New Jerusalem. In the Apocalypse, the New Jerusalem is described as a garden-city surrounded by a high wall and located on a mountaintop. Each of its three principal features (the garden, the wall, and the mountain) comprises an arena of conflict in the play. (MOL)