Juan Ruiz de Alarcón (c. 1581[1] – 4 August 1639) was a New Spanish writer of the Golden Age who cultivated different variants of dramaturgy.

His works include the comedy La verdad sospechosa (es), which is considered a masterpiece of Latin American Baroque theater.

Besides, his red haired complexion made him an occasional object of scorn, since some sectors of the conservative catholic society in which he later lived held the prejudice that Judas Iscariot was a redhead.

He worked as a legal adviser for a while, as an advocate, and as an interim investigating judge, all the while trying repeatedly and unsuccessfully to gain a teaching chair at the University.

At the same time, purely as a way of making money apparently, he threw himself into the heady literary and theatrical life of the capital, eventually having a number of his plays performed.

For ten years, he pursued this double life, until he finally secured first an interim and then a permanent appointment to the Royal Council of the Indies (1626) — rather like an appeals court for Spanish colonies in America.

[6] Among the political plays, El dueño de las estrellas stands out as a stunning tragedy, dealing with Lycurgus, the Spartan lawgiver.

[9] Embittered by his deformity, Alarcón was constantly engaged in personal quarrels with his rivals; but his attitude in these polemics is always dignified, and his crushing retort to Lope de Vega in Los pechos privilegiados is an unsurpassed example of cold, scornful invective.

[2] More than any other Spanish dramatist, Alarcón was preoccupied with ethical aims, and his gift of dramatic presentation is as brilliant as his dialogue is natural and vivacious.