The Disenchantments of Love 2

     In the sixth story Esteban conceals his identity by dressing as a woman but I don't think he actually takes on a new gender role. When he arrived at the house as a maid everyone spoke of 'her' beauty. They saw what they wanted to see, not as it actually was. They wanted to believe Esteban was a woman so that is what they saw. Esteban didn't experience a role change, he was still a man he was just dressed as a woman. "Since she was a woman in dress only, she didn't know the meaning of shame." Unless he had grown up as a woman he wouldn't have known how a woman really feels in society. Even when all the women were crocheting, he remarked on how he wasn't good at it. I think people today are still fascinated with this topic because the male and female gender are so incredibly different. Not to mention the extreme gender 'norms' that are forced on each by society from the moment a child is born. Blue for a boy, pink for a girl. Trucks for a boy, dolls for a girl. To see people cross the borders of gender is fascinating and often quite humorous. Esteban acts as a woman is supposed to in the society. That is the only way in which he changed genders. Biologically (and mentally) he was still a man.
     In the beginning of the story she tells us"Men have always been the authors of deception, scriptures and history tell us that." If we follow this statement and choose to believe it than Esteban was truly a man, both in biology and in mentality. He deceived Laurela by dressing and acting as a woman. He tricked her into falling in love with him only to abandon her once her life was in shreds. He was sick of the chase, he was married already. If you ask me, he was a master of deceit. If we follow this statement, that men are the deceitful ones, then Esteban was definitely  a man through and through. 
     In the poem that Esteban recites he speaks of a jealousy fueled by love. Many of the examples he uses come from his actions with Laurela. For example, "follow after her footsteps and pursue her with your heavenly light... cause her a thousand annoyances, keep her from enjoying her love." Esteban was with Laurels constantly. When she would go out with even her mother and sisters he would cause her anguish when she returned home. He would cry and act jealous. (Hardly the actions of a normal chambermaid). He wanted to keep her from don Enrique, the man she was supposed to marry. "Heart do you not love? Then bear patiently these bonds." Perhaps he is speaking to the fact that he is bonded to Laurela. He is so in love with her that he lives a lie, he has bonded himself to her household as her maid. He also speaks quite violently within this poem about the other man in this woman's life (perhaps don Enrique). This jealousy he feels enrages him.