The Male Gaze and Phallic Aggression in Gongoras "Are they from Tolu ..?"

This article examines Góngora’s sonnet “¿Son de Tolú…?” from the point of view of the male gaze and exposes the aggressive, and ultimately violent, reaction resulting from a frustrated gaze. The epigraph explains how don Luis traveled to Cuenca where he was offered two ugly criadas. The sight prompts the poet to first animalize and racialize the women by describing them as monkeys and to then invite the men of Cuenca to se-xually assault them. Finally, the poet introduces a parrot as surrogate in order to perpetuate the male gaze and its resulting attempt to dominate and control. © 2022 THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY, UNIVERSITY PARK PA.