Laura – stereotipna kurtizana ili subverzivni lik u komediji Dundo Maroje?
Laura – a Stereotype Courtesan or a Subversive Character in Držić’s Comedy Uncle Maroje?

Summary/Abstract: Based on a stock character of a courtisane from Commedia dell’arte, Držić’s Laura surpassed its limitations. She is intelligent, manipulative and able to stand up for herself. Though her fate is predetermined by the laws of the genre, her character is subversive to its ideological subtext. Therefore, the paper argues, Držić’s Laura should be seen as an alternative to Pomet, since she is the only character in the play that destabilizes both gender and class stereotypes and progresses on the social ladder. To the fact that the character of Laura provokes new readings testifies recent Prohić’s staging of the play in the Croatian National Theatre. Having assigned the role of Laura to the male actor Livio Badurina, the staging has provocatively challenged the traditional gender/genre limitations imposed on the conceptualization of her character. Yet, this choice is not arbitrary; the paper argued that the text provides for new possibilities of its staging.

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