—Anonymous
A great work is something that can be replicated throughout history, it is a piece of work that speaks values or teaches lessons. A “great work” of literature has depth, beyond page length or text size. Verbiage, imagery, and symbolism are the characteristics of the depth of great work. Great work always keeps the reader intrigued and asking questions, like what happens next? A great read is written in plain simple English and allows the reader to challenge the writer’s text interpretation.
Lope De Vegas’ Fuenteovejuna, a play that takes place in Spain in 1476, is about a town rising up against its commander. The commander is the type of man to use his power to display forms of toxic masculinity. He tried to capture two women, Laurencia and Pascuala, but they escaped. Two other characters in the story, Jucinta and Mengo, run into Laurencia and Pascuala and ask them for help to escape the commander. When the commander finds them, he punishes Mengo and sends Pascuala to be a sex prostitute for his soldiers who consistently rape and beat her. Later in the story, the Frondoso and Laurencia have their wedding in the town where the commander comes and crashes the wedding and captures Laurencia once again. No one does anything, the men of the town pull together a group of people with plans to take down the commander, but because of their cowardly ways, no one does anything. Laurencia finds a way to escape and comes back to the town to encourage the women to stand up or else they would be captured. She goes on a rant describing the men as cowards and weak fools comparing them to nothing. Everyone was moved by Laurencia’s bravery and finally decided to go after the commander and his soldiers.
