Discover Don Quijote de la Mancha, chapters 29 through 52 - donquijote.ufm.edu/en

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Lesson 24: The inn: a place of magical encounters 78
Lesson 29: Andalusian labyrinth 96
Lesson 35: Don Quijote and the canon of Toledo 115
Lesson 40: Don Quijote attacks the penitents 132
Lesson 26: Maritornes’s trap 85
Lesson 31: The prophecy 102
Lesson 25: Mule-boy or“Mariner of Love” 81
Lesson 30: Sancho’s ass finally reappears 99
Lesson 36: “The Pass of Honor” 119
Lesson 41: Return home, the lead box, and the epitaphs 135
To review 138
Lesson 27: Don Quijote, the innkeeper, and two guests 89
Lesson 28: The debate over the“bashelmet” 93
Lesson 1: Dorotea becomes Princess Micomicona 4
Lesson 2: Sancho the slaver 8
Lesson 5: Andrés disillusions Don Quijote 19
Lesson 3: The great kingdom of Micomicón 11
Lesson 6: The beauty of the novels of chivalry 22
Lesson 4: Sanchos’s embassy 16
Lesson 7: The literary debate between the innkeeper and the priest 25
Chapters 29 - 32
Chapters 33 - 35
Lesson 8: The Novel of the Curious Impertinent 29
Lesson 11: Camila’s performance 39
Lesson 9: Anselmo discovers Lontario’s betrayal 32
Lesson 12: “I was the author of my own disgrace” 42
Lesson 10: “Camila surrendered, surrender did Camila...” 35
Chapters 47 - 49
Chapters 50 - 52
Chapters 42 - 46
Lesson 32: Don Quijote’s cage 106
Lesson 37: “The Adventure of the Knight of the Lake” 123
Lesson 33: The enchantment of Don Quijote 108
Lesson 38:“The spotted she-goat” 126
Lesson 34: ”a certain temptation to write a book of chivalry” 111
Lesson 39: Eugenio, Anselmo, Vicente, and Leandra 129
Description 140
Activities 141
Course activities
Chapters 36 - 38
Chapters 39 - 41
Lesson 13: The four horsemen 47
Lesson 18: The Captive’s Tale 60
Lesson 15: The metamorphosis of Princess Micomicona 52
Lesson 20: A chance at freedom 65
Lesson 17: Don Quijote’s discourse on arms and letters 57
Lesson 22: Escape from Algiers 71
Lesson 23: Arrival in Spain 74
Lesson 14: Anagnorisis 49
Lesson 19: The new knight 62
Lesson 16: The arrival of the Captive and Zoraida-Mary 55
Lesson 21: Zoraida-María, renegade Mooress 68

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- Bartolomé de las Casas, History of the Indies
“Regarding this counsel that the cleric gave, soon thereafter he
found himself repentant, judging himself to be inadvertently
guilty, since, as he later saw and confirmed, it would appear
that the capture of blacks was as unjust as that of the Indians;
and so it was not a proper remedy for him to have advised
the importation of blacks in order that the Indians might
be liberated, even if he had supposed the prior to be justly
captured; and, even so, he was still not certain that his
ignorance about this and his own goodwill would be enough to
vindicate him before divine judgment.”

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DoroteabecomesPrincess
Micomicona
A
t the beginning of chapter twenty-nine, Dorotea
announces the end of “the true story of my tragedy.”
Is this really a tragedy or is it some more modern use
of the ancient generic term? Dorotea now asks for advice on how
to find a hiding place in which to spend the rest of her life without
bringing shame on her family. The priest wants to console her, but
Cardenio speaks first. He recognizes her as “the only daughter of
the rich Clenardo,” identifies himself as the one whom Lucinda
had called her true husband, and states his intention to restore
Dorotea’s honor, even if he has to challenge Don Fernando to a
duel. In this last detail Cardenio sounds like DQ: “I swear by my faith
as a nobleman (caballero) and a Christian not to desert you until
I see you wed to Ferdinand; and if reason is unable to make him
recognize what he owes you, then I will use the right (libertad) to
which I am entitled as a nobleman to legitimately challenge him for
reason of the unreason that he has done to you.” Remember DQ 1.1?
“The reason of unreason which has overtaken my reason.”
Dorotea wants to kiss Cardenio’s feet in gratitude, but he will
not permit it. Meanwhile, the licentiate, our priest, councils that
they should all return to their village and determine what to do.
LESSON 1
“the true story of my
tragedy”

5
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He also informs them regarding the strange case of DQ and suddenly,
according to the narrator, “There awakened in the memory of Cardenio,
as if it had been a dream, the dispute he had with Don Quijote, and he
told the others about it, although he could not say what caused their
quarrel.” Cardenio’s selective memory is curious. Again, it should be easy
to understand that Freud was attracted to Cervantes’s narrative.
At this point, SP appears, having found DQ “naked except for his shirt,
thin, yellow, and starved, and sighing for his lady Dulcinea.” To make
matters worse, the hidalgo will not stop his penance. The narrator reveals
that SP reports that his master“had replied that he was determined not to
appear before her ladyship until he hath performeth such deeds as doth
maketh him worthy of her grace.” It’s easy to overlook the complexity
of this speech. It’s another case of the free indirect style, but it’s
compounded by the fact that the narrator imitates the squire’s imitation
of his master’s archaic speech. So the text’s form and function harmonize:
DQ is as lost as ever, out of sight and reduced to a savage, natural state
of both physical and emotional desperation. And if the problem now is
how to get the distant hero out of the sierra, only SP can take us to where
he is.
The solution, “remedy,”“cure,” or medicine appears to be at hand. The
licentiate explains to Dorotea and Cardenio his plan to convince DQ to
return to their village. Dorotea immediately offers to be “the distressed
damsel” because she knows well the style of chivalric romances and
moreover, she has a dress that will allow her to do it in “a natural way.”
The priest’s reaction to this “natural” solution is to observe that the good
fortune of coincidence seems to favor them all “because, without ever
imagining it, sir and madam, the door to remedy your situation has begun
to open, and we have been shown the one we needed.” There is a moral
lesson in all this mutual aid—i.e., the benefits that arise from cooperation
LESSON 1
“a dress made of a certain fine
woolen cloth and a mantilla of
another splendid green fabric, and
from a little box, she produced a
necklace and other jewelry with
which in an instant she adorned
herself such that she appeared to be a
rich and great lady.”
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that meets different parties’ natural needs. Perhaps we should not
be surprised that the narrator now offers a detailed description
of the textiles and jewelry donned by Dorotea: “a dress made of a
certain fine woolen cloth and a mantilla of another splendid green
fabric, and from a little box, she produced a necklace and other
jewelry with which in an instant she adorned herself such that she
appeared to be a rich and great lady.” Apparently, all is well; but we
know Cervantes rarely leaves things as they are.
SP is most stunned by this display of wealth, for he was not
present when the others met Dorotea. The priest begins to weave
the chivalric narrative with which he hopes to draw DQ out of the
sierra. Cervantes makes another generic shift here, this time turning
to the Byzantine novel characterized by its many disguises and its
narratives endlessly emerging from other narratives. Notice also
how this story, created in order to deceive SP as well as DQ, now
takes on an international tone: before we focused on local events
in Andalucía and the Sierra Morena; now we contemplate a map of
the Atlantic Ocean connecting equatorial Africa to the commercial
ports of Iberia. Furthermore, we have transited from the problems
of social “estates,” in the sense of peasants, hidalgos, or nobles, to
the problems of modern “states,” in the sense of peoples, nations,
“the heiress, via direct
male lineage, of the great
kingdom of Micomicón”
LESSON 1

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or unified kingdoms. And there’s more: with the establishment of the plantation system in the New World in the first half of the
sixteenth century and then Philip II’s annexation of Portugal in 1580, Spain became deeply involved in the international trade of
Black African slaves. In other words, some readers around 1605 would have recognized the curate’s story in chapter twenty-nine as
a reflection, sometimes comic, sometimes serious, on the moral and economic implications of the new, modern form of slave trade.
According to the priest, her “most beauteous ladyship” is “the heiress, via direct male lineage, of the great kingdom of Micomicón”
(a combination of “monkey” and “funny”). She has been dealt an injustice by a giant and has journeyed from Guinea in search of DQ
to help her. Is this absurd or is Cervantes making a point? SP, of course, is thrilled. Concerned about his island and still hoping his
master will avoid joining the “archbishopric order,” he begs the priest to make DQ marry the princess. When the priest tells him that
the lady is called “Princess Micomicona,” the squire says this makes sense: “I have seen many take their name and title from the place
where they were born, calling themselves Pedro of Alcalá, Juan of Úbeda, and Diego of Valladolid.”These places are highly suggestive:
Cervantes was born in Alcalá; Saint John of the Cross, alluded to in chapter nineteen and an opponent of Spanish colonialism in
Africa, died in Úbeda; and it was at Valladolid where Las Casas and Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda famously debated whether or not slavery
was just (cf. the “wild men” on the facade of the Theology College of San Gregorio).
LESSON 1

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Sanchotheslaver
R
eturning to Princess Micomicona of Guinea (or Ethiopia according to SP): DQ’s squire guides Dorotea and the barber
(disguised as her squire) to where he had left his master. What follows is an hilarious performance by Dorotea in which she
implores DQ to come and exact her “vengeance against a traitor” who has usurped her kingdom. Considering the overseas
extent of Spanish conquests at this time, there’s irony here: Micomicona is asking DQ to confront the expansionist tendencies of his
own empire.
LESSON 2
In the middle of all this, there suddenly returns the perennial
problem of SP’s ass. It’s easy to convince DQ to leave the sierra and
undertake the journey. Everyone mounts up and the only one left
walking is SP, “whereupon his mind turned again to the loss of the
grey.” What’s strange here is that, after some hesitation, he’s quite
happy to walk. “Sancho the slaver” is perhaps the ugliest and most
ominous portrait Cervantes gives us of our squire: “the only thing
he regretted was the thought that the kingdom was in a land of
blacks and the people who were to be given to him as vassals would
all be blacks; for which he then came up with an excellent remedy in
his imagination, saying to himself: ‘What difference does it make to
me if my vassals be black? Need I do anything more than load them
up and ship them off to Spain, where I can sell them, and where
they’ll pay me cold, hard cash?... for as black as they may be, I’ll
turn them back into white or yellow.’” Here the narrator underscores
SP’s satisfaction by referring again to his missing ass: “With that he
strutted about so eager and so satisfied that he forgot his regret at
having to walk on foot.”

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Lesson 2
Mother of God! As if SP’s lost donkey were not problematic
enough, now we have his moral downfall. And there’s more:
a true literary feat is lodged in the complex way in which the
squire simultaneously alludes to the black color of the slaves
and the white and yellow colors of the silver and gold coins
that he will earn by selling them in Spain. Moreover, Cervantes
indicates that he understood Gresham’s law: bad money, in this
case copper coins (which were black), replaces good money, in
this case silver and gold coins (which were white and yellow).
This fantastic merger into one phrase of two of the most hotly
debated moral and economic issues of the time, slavery and
monetary debasement, is yet another indication that Cervantes
was conscious of the natural laws and human rights at the heart
of the neo-Aristotelian philosophy popularized by the University
of Salamanca.
What follows emphasizes the theme of metamorphosis. It’s
also something like an episode of physical comedy from a film by
Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton. For starters, there are problems
with the outward appearances of Cardenio and the barber.
Cervantes indicates that he
understood Gresham’s law: bad money,
in this case copper coins (which were
black), replaces good money, in this
case silver and gold coins (which were
white and yellow)
LESSON 2

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The licentiate has to shave Cardenio’s beard and change his clothes so that DQ won’t recognize him. In fact, “Cardenio seemed so
different from what he once was that he would not have recognized himself even if he had looked into a mirror.” Next, there is more
confusion regarding mounts because DQ doesn’t want the licentiate to walk. The priest says he’s content to go on the haunches of
a mule of one of the other travelers: “and even then I will imagine that I ride like a knight on the horse Pegasus or on the zebra or
great charger of that famous Moor Muzaraque.” The reference made to “the great hill of Zulema, which is near the great Compluto”
is another personal allusion by Cervantes, as if he were pointing out that he is innovating the picaresque novel in a way peculiar to
his hometown of Alcalá.
Confusion continues when the Princess Micomicona’s squire, that is, the barber and not SP, offers the priest the saddle of his mule.
When the barber then tries mount himself onto the same mule’s haunches, because it is a “rental,” it gives him two kicks, causing
Nicolás to fall to the ground and lose his beard made from the oxtail of the innkeeper’s wife. The priest then has to fake a miracle,
saying an incantation, “and presently the squire was as well bearded and as healthy as before.” Like the good travelers they pretend to
be, they now summarize the journey that lies ahead: they will pass through the priest’s village, then follow the “route” to Cartagena
in the province of Alicante, and finally, embark for the Black Sea. What a mess! I thought Micomicón was in Guinea or Ethiopia, not
the heart of the Ottoman Empire. Cervantes alludes again to Spanish colonialism when the priest has to explain his presence by
inventing a story that he is on his way to Seville “to collect some money” that a relative has sent him from the West Indies: “more
than sixty thousand assayed pesos.” Quite a fortune! The chapter ends with interesting references to the two wild men of the Sierra
Morena: Cardenio and DQ. According to the priest, Cardenio has been fully transformed: he is “like new” after having been assaulted
by robbers who stole “even his beard.” These robbers, he has been told, were galley slaves released by “some man who must have
neither soul nor conscience, for he chose to release a wolf among the sheep.” This last reference to DQ as a misguided liberator is
suggestive. The knight’s shame is palpable and ironic if we recall the racial issue: “his color changed at each word, and he didn’t dare
say that he had been the liberator of those good wicked people.”
“Cardenio seemed so different
from what he once was that
he would not have recognized
himself even if he had looked
into a mirror.”
LESSON 2

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LESSON 3
ThegreatkingdomofMicomicón
T
he dispute between SP and DQ that begins chapter thirty requires us to reflect on the ethical and moral problems of
Princess Micomicona’s narrative. SP accuses his master of the “sin of giving freedom” to the galley slaves. Look who’s
talking! DQ responds that“knights-errant are in no way obliged or concerned to discover whether the afflicted, enchained,
and oppressed whom they find along the roads travel in that condition or suffer that anguish because of their misdeeds or their good
deeds.” If we accept DQ’s view, we undercut SP’s plan to enslave the citizens of Micomicón, right? And when DQ compares the galley
slaves to “a rosary, a string of disheartened and unfortunate people,” the moral question strikes even closer to home. In any case, DQ
is enraged. In fact, he feels “righteous anger,” and Dorotea must intervene so that the knight does not attack his squire.
Maintaining narrative tension, Princess Micomicona now tells of her kingdom and how she came to Spain in search of DQ. If we
attend to its details, her story is a sublimated version of her experience with Fernando, although it refers to other characters too. I
don’t think this requires Freudian theory, but, again, we see many parallels. Echoing SP’s fantasy, the “huge giant” and “lord of a great
island” off the coast of Micomicón is named “Pandafilando of the Gloomy Glance.” Motivated by his desire to marry the princess, the
giant attacks her kingdom. As prophesied by her father, “Tinacrio the Wise,” a knight-errant named “Don Azote or Don Gigote,” who
has a certain mole below his left shoulder, will remedy the ills of her kingdom. Hilariously, DQ wants SP to help him undress and
verify the prophecy. More pragmatic, the princess says that “it is not necessary to look into such trifles” and that as long as DQ has any
mole anywhere, “it is all of the same flesh.” She ends her story with another geographical slip, saying that she traveled to Spain and
disembarked at Osuna, which is about a hundred kilometers from the sea. Is this lapse just a way of mocking DQ? Is it psychosexual?
Or is it symbolic of some greater moral and geographical problem? You decide.
“a rosary, a string
of disheartened and
unfortunate people”

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When DQ expresses his satisfaction to SP –“Did I not tell you?”–, the squire responds with “two heel kicks in the air” followed by
vulgar language: “for the fucker who doesn’t marry after slitting the throat of Sir Pandahilado! And damn if the queen’s not a bad
snag! May all the fleas in my bed be so sweet!” The image of the sword at the throat of the giant and SP’s hint at having the princess
in his own bed are striking. Moreover, the transformation of “Pandafilando” into “Pandahilado” suggests the verb “hilar” or “to spin,”
which at that time also meant “to fornicate.” SP’s phrases, in conjunction with multiple allusions to DQ’s nudity and the erotic content
of Cardenio’s and Dorotea’s respective stories, force us to think about the sexual significance of the Sierra Morena in Cervantes’s
novel.
Now we confront yet another lapse when DQ declares himself ready to serve Princess Micomicona “until I find myself facing your
fierce enemy, whose arrogant head I intend, with the help of God and my arm, to decapitate with the sharp edges of... I cannot say
‘good’ sword, thanks to Ginés de Pasamonte, who stole mine.” There has been no mention in any previous episode of any of DQ’s
swords. Next, when DQ says he cannot be married to anyone, “not even if it were to the phoenix,” SP becomes frustrated and insults
Dulcinea, saying she is nowhere near as beautiful as Micomicona (“she doesn’t even compare to her shoe”) and insisting that his
master marry the princess so that, upon becoming king, he can make his squire “a marquis or a governor.” For the second time in only
a few pages, DQ is infuriated by his squire’s blasphemies, and this time he gives him two blows. Once again, Dorotea has to intervene
to save SP’s life. For his part, the squire hides behind the princess’s palfrey and lets it slip that he hasn’t even seen Dulcinea. When DQ
gets even angrier, SP has to clarify that he didn’t see her up close. In the end, Dorotea makes SP kiss his master’s hand, adding again
that “you must not be denied a state where you will live like a prince.”
LESSON 3

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DQ forgives his squire. Then the two men move aside to discuss the details of SP’s embassy to El Toboso. The mad knight expects
“good news,” but SP complains of his beating, stating that it was worse than that of the fulling-mills episode. DQ’s response is
enigmatic: “For a new sin, a new penance.”What sin? To make matters worse, inserted at this point in the second edition of the novel,
is the explanation of SP’s missing grey. A gypsy comes down the road riding a donkey and SP recognizes it: “Sancho Panza, whose
eyes and soul went after every ass he saw, had scarcely glanced at the man when he knew it was Ginés de Pasamonte, and by the
thread of the gypsy he found the coil of his ass, and such was the truth.” SP yells “Oh, thief Ginesillo!” and the galley slave runs away.
So the squire recovers his precious ass: “And with that he kissed and caressed it as if it were a person. The ass was silent and let
himself be kissed and caressed by Sancho without answering a single word.” Everyone offers SP “congratulations for finding the grey,
especially Don Quijote, who told him he would not thereby annul the promissory note of the three donkeys.”
After the priest and Cardenio comment on the simplicity of DQ and SP, the chapter ends with the continuation of the dialogue
between knight and squire. SP admits that he did not take the letter to Dulcinea and, for his part, DQ admits that he already knew
as much, “because two days after your departure I found in my power the memory book where I wrote it.” SP tells his master that he
had memorized the letter and that he had found a certain sacristan who then transferred it back to paper.
An hilariously satirical detail here is that, according to SP, even though the man “had read many
letters of excommunication, he had neither seen nor read so beautiful a letter as that one.”
When DQ asks if he still remembers the letter, SP says only the part “about the ‘sovereign
lady,’ and that last bit: ‘Yours till death, the Knight of the Sorrowful Face.’”
LESSON 3
“And with that he kissed and
caressed it as if it were a person.
The ass was silent and let himself
be kissed and caressed by Sancho
without answering a single word.”

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LESSON 3
Let’s summarize: Here the novel is characterized by a comedic and ridiculous tone, referring repeatedly to fantastical events,
places, and characters. Moreover, we’re almost overwhelmed by the number of characters, by the multiple narrative threads, by all
the stories being told by so many of these same characters. And everything seems chaotic, impossible to tie together. But beware!
We must read this narrative entropy as a series of red herrings. For example, if we contemplate the details of Princess Micomicona’s
tale, we find connections with Dorotea’s. Another example: Cervantes is articulating some sort of evaluation of, even an indictment
against, Spanish expansionism. It’s as if Hapsburg imperialism were little more than another chivalric fantasy, or worse, it’s as if
Spaniards were the real monsters of these fantasies. In other words, if by the strength of his arm DQ is supposed to free the citizens
of Micomicón, only to then have SP sell them all into slavery in order to become filthy rich, well, how horrible is that?

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- Euclid, Bridge of Asses
“The angles opposite the equal sides of an
isosceles triangle are themselves equal. And
if the equal sides of the triangle are extended
below the base, then the angles between the
extensions and the base are also equal.”

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LESSON 4
Sanchos’sembassy
C
hapter thirty-one continues the dialogue between DQ
and SP about the squire’s failed embassy to Dulcinea
del Toboso. Concerning the ideal woman, and just as
we saw in chapter twenty-five, Cervantes contrasts the peasant’s
precise realism with the hidalgo’s vague fantasy (cf. Auerbach’s
famous essay). DQ asks SP “and what was that queen of all beauty
doing?” The hidalgo is confident that the squire would have found
her “embroidering some heraldic emblem in gold thread for this
her enslaved knight”; whereas the squire reports that he found
her “winnowing two measures of wheat in a corral by her house.”
The latter statement carries sexual connotations.
Next, our heroes debate which kind of wheat
Dulcinea would have been working. More
references to the uncertain purity of Dulcinea
arise when, instead of “Candeal” or “Durum,” that
is, either white or spring wheat of high quality,
SP says she was winnowing “buckwheat,” that
is, heartier and more productive wheat, but of
lower quality. DQ’s response grants Dulcinea
transformative powers, for he asserts that if the buckwheat was
“winnowed by her hands, it made white bread, no doubt.” Then DQ
calls on SP to relate all the details, using a beautiful metaphor that
combines the art of writing with that of composing music: “don’t
leave even a half-note in the inkwell” (i.e., “don’t forget even the
shortest of musical notes”).
“and what was that
queen of all beauty
doing?”

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When SP reports that he informed Dulcinea that DQ was doing penance, going about “naked from the waist up, here among
these sierras as if he were a savage,” we note that the squire, as if he doesn’t want to remember what he has seen, has inverted the
naked parts of his master. Next we focus on Duclinea’s possible smells: “did you not perceive a certain perfume of Sheba, an aromatic
fragrance of unspeakable pleasure?” Untruthful, and always irreverent, SP highlights the young woman’s laborer status, responding
that, to the contrary, he had gotten “something of a mannish whiff, and this had to be because with so much exercise she was sweaty
and kind of sour.” DQ continues to Orientalize his beloved, alluding to the scents of Arabia and representing her as if she were the
Shulamite woman of the Song of Songs: “You must have smelt yourself, because I know well the fragrance of that rose among thorns,
that lily of the fields, that delicately diluted ambergris.” SP dodges the debate: “Anything can be... one devil is like any other.”
Finally, DQ asks SP what his lover did with the letter after “she finished cleaning her wheat and sent it to the mill.” According to the
squire, Dulcinea destroyed it in symbolic fashion, “she did not read it, because she said she could neither read nor write; rather, she
tore it up into tiny pieces, saying that she did not want to ask anyone to read it.” Cervantes suggests another possible meaning for
the famous windmill of DQ 1.8: a realistic woman functions like a kind of machine that crushes the fantasies of imperialistic racists.
Let’s move on. SP reports that Dulcinea replied that she had been visited by the Basque but none of the galley slaves. Now
DQ wants to know if Dulcinea gave SP something when he departed, “some rich jewel as a reward, in appreciation of her knight’s
missive.” SP’s prosaic response underscores the dialogue’s comedy: that might have been the practice “in the old days,” but “nowadays
it is customary to give a piece of bread and some cheese,” although he adds that it was “sheep’s-milk cheese.” DQ seems satisfied and
as always he has at the ready a response that fans the flames of his passion: “She is liberal in the extreme... and if she did not give you
a gold jewel, surely it must have been that she had none on hand to give to you.”
“You must have smelt yourself, because
I know well the fragrance of that rose
among thorns, that lily of the fields,
that delicately diluted ambergris.”
LESSON 4

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Suddenly DQ doubts his squire’s embassy. It would
be miraculous for SP to have returned in just over three
days because El Toboso is more than thirty leagues
away, seventy-five miles or one hundred and twenty-five
kilometers from where DQ was in the Sierra Morena. DQ
infers that “some friendly sage must have carried you
through the air without your perceiving it.” The squire
agrees, but he continues to undermine his master’s
chivalric rhetoric with mundane alternatives: “by my faith,
Rocinante rode as if he were a gypsy’s ass with quicksilver
in his ears,” that is, like a donkey with mercury in its ears to
make it livelier. Be careful! This is more than rural realism
reflecting the way gypsies made their asses walk faster.
In Roman mythology, Mercury is the messenger of the
gods, and the patron god of commerce, eloquence, and
thievery. Mercury is also a key element in alchemy. Oh,
and mercury poisoning can make you crazy.
“by my faith, Rocinante
rode as if he were
a gypsy’s ass with
quicksilver in his ears,”
LESSON 4

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AndrésdisillusionsDonQuijote
S
atisfied with this explanation, DQ hesitates about how to proceed:
on the one hand, he wants to go see Dulcinea; on the other hand,
he is drawn on “by the pledge I have sworn and by the glory I am
certain to achieve in this enterprise” to liberate the Kingdom of Micomicón. He
resolves to perform the latter as quickly as possible: “I intend... to go quickly
to where this giant is, and upon arriving I will cut off his head and restore the
princess peacefully to her domain, and then I will return straightaway to see
that light which illuminates my senses.” We have reached the zenith of DQ’s
chivalric fantasy. Let’s consider two points. First, commercial language looms
everywhere in terms like empresa or “enterprise,” negocio or “business,” and
adahala or “bonus.” Second, SP’s slaver fantasy is still very much in play: the
squire insists that his master marry Princess Micomicona because he wants to
rule a kingdom “larger than Portugal and Castile combined,” referring precisely
to the dynastic annexation that involved Spain in the transatlantic commerce
of Black Africans. When DQ says that even if he cannot marry the princess,
the squire will still receive some part of the kingdom, SP insists that “the part
chosen should be along the coast, because, if I’m not happy residing there, I
can ship off my black vassals and do with them as I have already said.”
After resolving DQ’s plan, Cervantes offers us a brief disquisition on Platonic
or courtly love. DQ explains to his squire that knights serve their ladies“without
expecting any reward for their many and good wishes other than that she
should be content to accept them as her knights.” SP then gives a humanistic
and theological twist to this idea: “That’s the manner of love... I’ve heard it
preached, with which we should love Our Lord, for Himself alone, and without
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LESSON 5
any expectations of glory.” DQ is stunned: “It’s as if you’ve actually studied.” At
this point the barber interrupts them and SP is relieved, because, according to
the narrator, even though “he knew that Dulcinea was a peasant woman from El
Toboso, he had never laid eyes on her in all his life.” But wait, didn’t SP describe
her in detail in chapter twenty-five? Is SP lying? Does his memory fail him? Or is
the narrator somehow out to get him?
Now a complicated novelistic wrinkle unfolds before us. A boy appears. He is
walking. It turns out to be Andrés from DQ 1.4, and so we are obliged to reconsider
both the shepherd boy’s salary and his whipping by the wealthy farmer Haldudo.
The incredible narrative dexterity of Cervantes is on full display. Remember: his
craft foregrounds “perspectivism.” First, Cervantes allows DQ to narrate his own
version of the episode in DQ 1.4. Of course, the mad hidalgo emphasizes “how
important it is that there be knights-errant in the world.” DQ even gives us a
vision of Andrés tied to the oak tree and “naked from the waist up” (recall the odd
description SP gave us of his master a while back). DQ glorifies himself more: “as
soon as I saw him I asked him the cause of such a horrific beating; the savage
replied that he was flogging him because he was his servant, and because certain
of his oversights owed more to his being a thief than a simpleton; in response
to which this child said, ‘My lord, he whips me for no other reason than that I
have asked him for my salary.’” Apparently, DQ resolved everything: “I made him
untie him, and I took the rogue’s oath that he would take him with him and pay
him real by real, and perfumed even.” If you remember, that’s not exactly what
happened, because DQ excused Haldudo from paying the “perfume” or interest.
Of course, it’s much worse. Andrés now disillusions DQ regarding his knightly
feat: “the business turned out very much the opposite of what your worship
imagines.” The poor boy was “left skinned like Saint Bartholomew.” The novel’s
second allusion to the skinned apostle (cf. Michelangelo’s The Last Judgement)
is more complicated than the first, because this time we cannot separate the
matter of Andrés’s abused skin from those of the vassals of Sancho, the fantastic
“as soon as I saw him I
asked him the cause of
such a horrific beating;
the savage replied that
he was flogging him
because he was his
servant, and because
certain of his oversights
owed more to his
being a thief than a
simpleton; in response
to which this child said,
‘My lord, he whips me
for no other reason than
that I have asked him
for my salary.’”

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LESSON 5
governor and slaver of Micomicón. Note that DQ’s reaction is to prepare to go
find Haldudo and fulfill his original oath: “you will remember, Andrés, that I
swore that if he did not pay you, I would have to go find him and that I would
find him even if he were to hide himself in the belly of a whale.” This allusion to
Jonah, in conjunction with the issues of race and Christian charity, suggests the
same kind of moral judgment at work in the portrait of Philip II by El Greco. There
we have another Christian knight about to find himself in the belly of a whale
because he cannot “see” that the skin color of his fellow man does not justify his
victimization.
Let’s finish chapter thirty-one. Dorotea convinces DQ that he must attend
to the business of Micomicón before turning to another campaign. Andrés says
he’s going to Seville and, curiously, it’s SP who manifests charity toward the
boy, offering him “a piece of bread and another of cheese” and confessing that
“something of your misfortune touches us all.” Andrés asks him scornfully, “what
part touches you?” At which point, SP reminds us that he too has suffered the
blows of a master: “the squires of knights-errant are subject to much hunger and
misfortune, and even other things which are better left felt than spoken.” With
this, Andrés leaves, but not before begging DQ –“For the love of God!”– to never
involve himself in the affairs of others and then cursing “all the knights-errant
ever born into this world.” Brutal. DQ was convinced that he had done a great
deed. And the narrator makes quite clear that our hero is ashamed: “Don Quijote
was utterly mortified by Andrés’s story.”
“you will remember,
Andrés, that I swore
that if he did not pay
you, I would have to
go find him and that I
would find him even if
he were to hide himself
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LESSON 6
C
hapter thirty-two represents what we call meta-literature—i.e., it reflects back on the definitions and functions of
literature itself. The idea is to summarize the moral and aesthetic purposes of the very novel we have been reading, and
thus prepare us for The Novel of the Curious Impertinent in chapters thirty-three through thirty-five and The Captive’s
Tale in chapters thirty-nine through forty-one. Our theoretical overview begins with a brief reiteration of bourgeois ethics, followed
by a burst of erotic jokes. Heading toward their village, the priest, the barber, SP and DQ, accompanied by Dorotea and Cardenio,
come to the inn of the squirely blanketing, that is, the second inn, the one run by Juan Palomeque and his wife, their daughter, and
Maritornes. The knight’s first gesture is to tell them “that they should prepare him a better bed than before. To which the hostess
replied that, so long as he should pay for it better than last time, she would prepare him a bed fit for princes. Don Quijote said that
indeed he would, and so they prepared him a reasonable one in the same loft as before.” Don’t overlook this brief negotiation. In the
contexts of slavery and the respective mistreatments and still unpaid wages of servants like Andrés and SP, the fact that DQ finally
recognizes that he must pay for his room at an inn represents a major transformation.
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Now, once DQ is in bed, the innkeeper’s wife launches lascivious expressions at the barber. She demands the return of her ox’s
“fine tail” (buena cola) in which she hangs her “comb” (peine), thus making sexuality a theme parallel to that of commerce. How to
understand this relation? I would argue that Cervantes seeks to expand the ways in which more traditional readers might understand
the idea of “economy.” Notice, for example, that while DQ, whom the narrator calls “the liberator of everyone,” is sleeping, the priest
and the innkeeper amplify the business arrangement already agreed to by our knight and the innkeeper’s wife: “The curate had them
prepare whatever food was available at the inn, and the host, hoping for better payment, diligently prepared them a reasonable
meal.”
Next Cervantes gives us a fascinating look at early seventeenth-century reading practices. Perhaps the most unusual detail is
the fact that the innkeeper and DQ share the same taste in novels. For example, when the priest announces that reading books of
chivalry has driven DQ insane, the innkeeper claims that “there’s no better reading in the world.” He adds that at harvest time many
reapers gather at the inn and someone always reads aloud from these novels.
LESSON 6
Here, comments unleashed by members of the
innkeeper’s family recall the ancient debate, which goes
back to Plato’s Republic, over the moral and social value of
fiction. First the innkeeper admits that novels have a strong
effect on him: “when I hear of those furious and terrible
blows struck by the knights, I’m seized by a desire to do the
same.” This should remind us of our own debates over the
relation between real violence and art with violent content,
such as video games or action movies. In point of fact, if
one consults the chronicles of conquistadors like Hernán
Cortés or Bernal Díaz del Castillo, it’s obvious that the most
violent men of the time read novels of chivalry. But wait;
things aren’t so simple. The innkeeper’s wife adds that she
also loves these novels, and precisely because they distract
her husband: “I never have a quiet moment in my house
except when you’re listening to somebody read, because
you get so enthralled that you forget about arguing.” And if
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Lesson 6
that doesn’t complicate things enough for you, now Maritornes says that she too loves these novels, especially “when they tell about
the other woman under the orange trees in the arms of her knight, and there’s a maiden on guard nearby, dying of envy.”This alludes
to a particularly funny episode of La Celestina. And topping all this, the priest asks the innkeeper’s daughter for her opinion, and
she says that “the lamentations uttered by the knights when they are apart from their ladies, in truth sometimes it seems so unfair, I
want to cry.” Finally, Dorotea’s question goes directly to the issue of whether or not this type of literature promotes illicit sex among
its readers: “So, young lady, you would offer them relief... if they were crying over you?” Cervantes. Amazing. In 1605. Does art cause
violence and sex? Note too how this exchange indicates that these novels functioned as violent epics for male readers and erotic
melodramas for female readers. They’re like Star Wars meets Jane Eyre.
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LESSON 7
T
he innkeeper produces “an old valise, locked with a small chain,” which contains two chivalric romances along with a
pseudo-historical book about the adventures of the Spanish heroes of the military campaigns in Italy during the early
fifteenth century: “The History of the Great Captain Gonzalo Hernández de Córdoba, and the Life of Diego García de Paredes.”
The priest and the barber consider burning these books. But the innkeeper objects: “So your grace wants to burn more books?” This
is both eerie and ominous. How does the innkeeper know they have been burning books? Then he adds an even more important
detail: “by chance... are my books heretics?” He says, further, that if they are to burn any of them, “let it be that one about the Great
Captain and that Diego García.” When the priest mounts a defense of this other, more historical book, he cites a detail that recalls a
certain sleeping hidalgo: Diego García de Paredes was “of such bodily strength that with one finger he could stop the wheel of a mill
turning at full force.” A more subtle irony is the fact that this same Diego García de Paredes (1466-1530) died when he fell from his
horse during the coronation of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at Bologna. Various historical figures (St. Ignatius of Loyola, for
example) have been proposed as inspirations for DQ. In my opinion, we could hardly do better than Diego García de Paredes, a knight
with both epic and tragic traits, a figure who represents both the rise and the fall of the Spanish imperial dream.
In a parallel manner, the innkeeper defends the romances of chivalry, alluding
subconsciously to the battle of the sheep in DQ 1.18 and then describing the
incredible adventure of a knight who threw himself onto a dragon which took
him to the bottom of a river where the beast then metamorphosed “into an
old, old man, who told him so many things that there’s simply no more to hear.”
Then, with an anti-imperial gesture, he offers “Two figs for your Great Captain
and that Diego García of yours!” Here Dorotea whispers to Cardenio that the
innkeeper could easily “make a second part to Don Quijote.” Editors have
interpreted this as if Dorotea meant that the innkeeper could sing in harmony
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with DQ or else play a companion role in a theatrical piece about our hidalgo; but we should also note that the innkeeper’s story
anticipates the contours of the Cave of Montesinos episode at the heart of the novel’s 1615 continuation. At this point in the 1605
text, could Cervantes already have the sequel in mind?
In his defense of the novels of chivalry, the innkeeper alludes to another novel by Cervantes, The Colloquy of the Dogs, as well as
mathematics and even the issue of race: “Throw that bone to another dog... As if I didn’t know two plus three makes five or where my
own shoe hurts! Your grace shouldn’t try to fool me, because, by God, I’m no moron” – “no soy nada blanco,” he says, or literally “I’m
not at all white.” Next, the innkeeper makes an hilarious allusion to the selective censorship of the time, suggesting that Cervantes
understood, like other humanists, that it was military recruitment that underwrote the continued dissemination of chivalric fiction:
“That’s really something: your worship would have me believe that everything these good books say is nonsense and lies, when
they’ve been printed and licensed by the lords on the Royal Council, as if those were the kind of people who would allow so many
lies to be gathered together and printed, with so many battles and so many enchantments that they make your head spin!”
The discussion between the innkeeper and the priest reaches its climax when the latter claims that the chivalric romances are
false, that they are only a type of pastime: “by the same token in well-ordered republics games are allowed, such as chess or ball or
billiards, for the entertainment of those who do not have to, or else should not or cannot, work.” By the way, here Cervantes refers
to the social caste of DQ himself, the increasingly idle hidalgos, who avoided work in order to receive their military pensions. Note
further that we are again confronted by Plato’s ideas about literature as a means of corrupting the citizenry. On a happier note,
perhaps the true moral of the confrontation between the priest and the innkeeper is that through dialogue it is possible to accept
the existence of more than one point of view. When the priest says that he hopes the innkeeper won’t go crazy like DQ, the host calms
down: “There’s no chance of that... because I’m not so crazy as to make myself a knight-errant.” Suddenly, SP enters the scene and
“was very confused and thoughtful” regarding the debate. The squire’s appearance might also allude to a relation between chivalric
literature and the slave trade by which he plans to get rich.
Finally, the priest removes from the innkeeper’s valise The Novel of the Curious Impertinent. Consider the ethics of the innkeeper,
who says that many guests have asked to keep this text, “but I haven’t wanted to give it to any of them, hoping to return it to
whomever left this forgotten suitcase here with these books and those papers; for their owner might return here at some point,
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and although I know that I’ll miss these books, by my faith I’m going to give them back, for even though I’m an
innkeeper, I’m still a Christian.” Wow! This is crucial information. The innkeeper refers to the reputation that those of
his profession had of being Moors who practiced Islam in secret. In other words, all this literary debate, full of allusions
to the Inquisition’s powers to censure and to burn books, we can now relate directly to the idea of expelling and
burning heretics or marginalized ethnic groups.
To conclude this chapter, note the very Cervantine relation between sleep and fiction. The priest hesitates. He
says he would read the novel, “but it might be better to spend this time sleeping instead of reading.” But Dorotea
insists, and he accepts with a final zeugma: “I’ll read it, out of mere curiosity: perhaps it will please us with
some of its own.” In the first case “curiosity” means “trivial interest,” but then “some of its own” takes “curiosity”
to mean something like “rare variety.” Moreover, the priest is already playing with the title of the novel he is
about to read. All of this screams for our attention. We are not just going to read a random novel. There are
continuities at work!
Let’s sum up: Mother of God! These two chapters are essentially a transition from the stories of
Cardenio and Dorotea to The Novel of the Curious Impertinent. But there’s still a lot here. In chapter
thirty-one Cervantes continues developing the themes of Dulcinea’s questionable ethnicity and
SP’s fantasy about becoming a rich slaver once his master “frees” the people of Micomicón.
The ironies here are excruciating. And the arrival of Andrés further stresses and
complicates the ethical problems lodged in DQ’s mission. As for chapter thirty-
two, we should recognize the complex relations Cervantes establishes between
an ongoing literary debate over the function and even the admissibility of
narrative fiction and the social tensions among a range of military, national,
ethnic and religious groups. Finally, the sexual outburst by the innkeeper’s
wife suggests yet again that there is a relation at the heart of DQ between
carnal desire and imperialistic fantasy. So I just have one question: Who is
the owner of the case that the innkeeper has just produced? Cardenio? Ginés
de Pasamonte? One of the guards of the galley slaves? An anonymous reaper
from somewhere in Andalucía? A certain soldier and writer returned from his
military service in Italy? Perhaps the answer is all of these.
LESSON 7
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- Apuleius, The Golden Ass
“And you, my daughter, dry your tears; and
do not fear that your lineage and your rank
will suffer from this mortal marriage. For
I shall legislate that these nuptials are not
unequal, but perfectly legitimate and in
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C
hapters thirty-three through thirty-five represent a deep change in Cervantes’s narrative style. This shift has already
been announced. Cardenio’s and Dorotea’s stories were already dissimilar from DQ’s, but what follows is a more
comprehensive and self-contained version of the literary genre that Cervantes himself would call the “exemplary novel,”
which manifests a certain moral lesson, but not without some rather scandalous entertainment. This genre might also
been termed “Baroque urbane.” What’s important to appreciate is that Cervantes masters all types of novel. He
outlines the chivalric novel in DQ’s fantasies, produces the essence of pastoral in Grisóstomo and Marcela,
and replicates sentimental and Byzantine novels in Cardenio’s and Dorotea’s tales. At the same time he
parodies all of these forms via multiple echoes of the anti-sentimentality of La Celestina. And we have seen
the subversive realism of the picaresque in the episodes involving Ginés de Pasamonte and Maritornes,
where it undercuts epic allusions to the Cid as well as Homer, Virgil, and Dante. Now we confront a
kind of hyper-melodrama. The Novel of the Curious Impertinent is essentially a love triangle, heavy
with psychopathology, mystery, betrayal, and revenge. Its interpersonal dynamism sets it apart
from the rest of DQ. Here Cervantes suspends his meta-literary games and ribald humor and
narrates in an elegant, traditional way as well as any author then or since. We might compare
what Cervantes does here to rock bands like The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, or The Who, who
during their most radical and innovative periods would still take time to produce the
occasional perfect, catchy pop song.
The novel is set in Florence, where the Renaissance originated before spreading its
rediscovery of classical culture throughout Western Europe. Keep in mind the intimate
political contacts between Florence and Toledo, between the Habsburgs and the
Medici. The plot derives from a traditional story, but it also reflects canto forty-three
of Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso. We should also acknowledge anticipations of Hegelian and
Freudian theory here: the tragic falls of the main characters represent the hopelessly
conflicted essence of human beings in general. Thus, the opening scene establishes an
LESSON 8
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almost perfect harmony between two male characters: everyone in Florence refers to Anselmo and Lotario, “by antonomasia and
par excellence,” as quite simply “the two friends” and “their wills were in such perfect unison that a more synchronized clock had
never been invented in all the world.”The only difference between them is that “Anselmo was slightly more inclined toward amorous
pursuits than Lotario, who was more drawn to those of hunting.” Ah, the infinite army of Cervantine hunters!
Anselmo fell in love with Camila, whose name alludes to the Italian heroine of Virgil’s Aeneid, in which she fights alongside Turnus
against Aeneas and her murder is avenged by the goddess Diana. Lotario “served as ambassador” for this relationship (remember
the problematic roles played by SP and Don Fernando with respect to DQ and Cardenio). Camila and Anselmo married and Lotario
then stopped frequenting his friend’s house in order to preserve the couple’s reputation, their public honor. Anselmo became
annoyed, insisting that Lotario continue his visits: “assuring him that his wife Camila had no other wish or aspiration (voluntad) than
that which he wanted her to have.” Uh-oh! Given the centrality of the aspirations and willpowers of women like Marcela, Torralba,
Luscinda, Dorotea, and Aldonza Lorenzo, this statement by Anselmo is thematic and ominous. Lotario makes excuses, saying that
every husband must have “a friend to make him aware of any missteps” regarding his person, but Anselmo ignores him. At this point
we have a sophisticated intervention by the narrator, who brandishes both the first person and the free indirect style: “But where
could one find so discreet a friend, one as loyal and true as Lotario here describes? Surely, I do not know.”
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During this phase of their friendship, when Lotario was still avoiding
the home of the newly married Anselmo, one day, “they both went walking
through a meadow outside the city” and Anselmo confessed to his friend that
he felt anxiety, a “distress” (angustia); he even calls it an “insanity” (locura): “the
desire that weighs me down is my wondering whether or not Camila, my wife,
is as good and perfect as I imagine her to be, and I cannot verify this truth
except by testing her with such a test as to make manifest the purity of her
goodness, just as fire reveals whether gold contains alloys.” In short, the good
reputation of Camila was not enough without anyone ever having tempted
her, and Anselmo has chosen Lotario “to undertake this battle of love.”
Lotario now protests at length. His concatenating style reflects the era’s
education, which used debates over the nature and limits of concepts like
friendship or fidelity to perfect the rhetorical and legal skills of students.
Lotario produces a variety of classical, logical and moral arguments, including
examples from the Bible, nature, poetry, and even military life. To indicate
the divine limits to friendship, he begins by quoting a phrase that Plutarch
attributed to Pericles: “usque ad aras,” or “until the altars.”The complete phrase
is “amicus usque ad aras,” meaning “a friend as far as the altars.” Then Lotario
accuses Anselmo of reasoning like the Moors, who are unable to accept Euclid’s
third common notion: “If we subtract equal parts from two equal parts, then
those that remain are also equal.” OK, this is more than just rhetorical exercise.
We have mathematical reasoning up against the limits of religion between
two practically identical young men. We have yet another allegory for human
conflict, especially that of southern Spain.
“If we subtract equal parts from
two equal parts, then those that
remain are also equal.”
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Anselmodiscovers
Lontario’sbetrayal
T
o Lotario’s mind it’s “impertinent,” unwise, to test Camila if Anselmo
already considers her to be reserved, honest, selfless, and prudent.
Unlike saints and heroic soldiers, Anselmo wants to undertake an
enterprise that can only bring disgrace, not glory, honor, or profit. Lotario
quotes from a poem, “The Tears of San Pedro,” to reveal the example of the
Apostle’s shame and underscore a Christian’s obligation to do the right thing
even when there are no witnesses. Let’s see, what was Saint Peter ashamed
about? Ah yes, he denied Christ three times... and perhaps he shouldn’t have
cut off the ear of a certain slave (see John 18.10 and Luke 22.51). Returning to
Lotario, he even cites the example of the prudent Reinaldos de Montalbán,
who, according to Ariosto, refused to have anything to do with wife-testing.
Now, why was DQ so fond of this particular chivalric hero in chapter one?
Certainly not for his discretion in matters of love.
Next Lotario produces a flurry of analogies: an honest woman is a diamond,
an ermine, a mirror, and a garden. In such cases, the ideal object must be
accepted as such, for the consequences of testing it can only be negative.
He ends this stage of his argument by quoting verses from a play in which
an old man advises his friend to shut his daughter away, because “if there
are Danaës in the world, / there are also showers of gold.” Lotario brings still
more arguments against Anselmo’s idea, because “all of this is required by the
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Lesson 2
labyrinth into which you have entered” (the labyrinth again). He asks for more respect from his friend and says Anselmo should also
have more self-respect because society will judge him if his wife is bad. Then Lotario produces his final religious argument, citing
Eve’s creation from Adam’s rib and referring to marriage as a “miraculous sacrament which makes of two different people one and
the same flesh.”This echoes Princess Micomicona’s comment about DQ’s mole. Lotario adds that “although they have two souls, they
have but one will.” Notice how Cervantes has forced the logic of Euclid’s third common third notion to invade theological reasoning.
Since they are of the same flesh, if a husband brings dishonor to his wife, he disgraces himself as well: “the husband is a partner in
the disgrace of his wife, for he is one and same with her.” Lotario reiterates that Anselmo suffers from an “impertinent curiosity” and
concludes with apparent decisiveness: “you can go find another means of achieving your disgrace and misfortune; I will not be that
instrument.”
Anselmo now admits that he is sick, but he again begs Lotario to help him,
at which point he agrees, but with the idea of pretending. Wow! All those
elaborate arguments come crashing back down to earth in the blink of an eye. So
Anselmo supplies his friend with money and jewelry to facilitate the seduction,
and he fabricates the “indispensability or imbecility of his absence” in order to
leave Lotario alone with Camila. Things are going to get complicated; so there’s
something ironic about the friend’s complicity: “Lotario agreed to everything,
albeit with different intentions than Anselmo thought.” Note also the fencing
“Ley de Gresham, según la cual
el dinero malo, en este caso las
monedas de cobre (de color negro),
sustituye al dinero bueno, en este
caso las monedas de plata y de oro
(de color blanco y amarillo)”.
Lesson 2
“Lotario agreed to
everything, albeit with
different intentions
than Anselmo thought.”
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terminology, the military rhetoric, and the apostrophe to the reader that Cervantes uses to describe circumstances opposite those
anticipated by our supposed seducer: “Lotario found himself mounting the stockades as his friend wished, and with the enemy
before him, one whose beauty alone could defeat an entire squadron of armed knights: behold how right it was for Lotario to fear
her.” But Lotario does nothing: “what he did was to plant his elbow on the arm of a chair and place his cheek on the palm of his hand.”
He lies to his friend, telling him he is attempting to seduce Camila as would the devil, “the angel of light, who being himself but of
darkness, masquerades behind virtuous appearances.” In reality, he passes the time with her without uttering a single word.
When Lotario reports that Camila resists his advances, Anselmo doubles down, giving his friend four thousand gold escudos in
order to buy “jewels with which to tempt her.” A pause is in order here. These four thousand escudos are tantamount to one hundred
and sixty times SP’s annual salary. Clearly, our Florentine characters represent a highborn aristocracy that we have not yet seen in
DQ. To continue, one day Anselmo hides in a chamber and peers “through the holes in the lock.” He realizes that all has been “fiction
and lies.” Now he confronts his friend. Here we have a whole paragraph of apostrophe by our narrator, this time aimed directly at
Anselmo: “How wretched and ill-advised you have been, Anselmo!” It’s all very ominous, ending with a poem that indicates that the
protagonist will be denied what he seeks.
Lotario yields, agreeing to start over in earnest. Anselmo arranges again to be absent, and this time, at the renewed insistence of
his friend and upon the curious absence of the maid Leonela, Lotario “had the chance to contemplate one by one all the extremes of
grace and beauty that Camila possessed, which were enough to enamor a marble statue, much less a heart of human flesh.” Although
he wants to be a good Christian and a faithful friend (and perhaps we can doubt the narrator’s words here), in the end the beauty and
grace of Camila “brought Lotario’s loyalty back down to earth” and he begins to express his love to his friend’s wife.
“In the end the beauty and
grace of Camila “brought
Lotario’s loyalty back down
to earth” and he begins
to express his love to his
friend’s wife.”
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LESSON 10
Camilasurrendered,
surrenderdidCamila...”
C
hapter thirty-four begins with a “billete,” or letter, written by
Camila to Anselmo, in which we again note military rhetoric: “Just
as it’s said that an army cannot be without its general nor a castle
without its castellan, I say that a young married woman is even worse off absent
her husband.” In other words, Lotario has begun to work seriously. Camila says
she wants to go to her parent’s home, but Anselmo forbids it, leaving her
confused: “by remaining she put her chastity in danger, but by departing she
went against her husband’s command.” Eventually, “Camila’s firmness began
to tremble” and “the words and tears of Lotario” awakened in her “some loving
compassion.” The military rhetoric continues: Lotario decides “to tighten the
siege of that fortress” and as the narrator reports “there is nothing that more
surely conquers and lays low the towers and battlements of the vanity of
a beautiful woman her own vanity fanned by phrases of flattery.” Finally, a
resounding chiasmus, a poetic figure in the form a syntactical ‘X,’ underscores
the inevitable conclusion: “Camila surrendered, surrender did Camila...” Here
the moralizing narrative voice intervenes again, long before the story ends: “A
clear example disclosing that love’s passion can only be vanquished by flight
and that no one should attempt to struggle against so powerful an enemy,
because divine legions are required to vanquish its human ones.”
“A clear example
disclosing that love’s
passion can only be
vanquished by flight
and that no one should
attempt to struggle
against so powerful an
enemy, because divine
legions are required to
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When Anselmo asks for another report, the story takes a baroque turn. Lotario uses the essence of his previous account, which
was once true, to now deceive Anselmo: “You have a woman who can, without a doubt, serve as the crown example of all good
women. The words that I have spoken to her are simply gone with the wind.” At the same time, and in a curious way, the military
rhetoric becomes decidedly maritime: “you have passed dry through the sea of doubts and suspicions which women can and do
produce; do not attempt to sail forth again into that oceanic abyss of new perils, and dare not to test, with another pilot, the grace
and fortitude of the ship that heaven has bestowed upon you.”
So Anselmo wants to end the game. To do so, he asks Lotario to pretend to be in love with a young Florentine and to write her
verses. This woman does not exist, but for her to be credible to Camila, Anselmo invents a pseudonym, Clori. Lotario tells Camila
that his verses are actually meant to praise her alone, because, according to the narrator, “had she not been warned... she would
have doubtlessly fallen into the desperate web of jealousy.” The sonnet is marvelous, like that perfect ballad we expect from great
rock bands. Paradoxically, given the current narrative chaos, this is the easiest sonnet to understand in the entire novel. Each stanza
represents one of the four main points that the sun occupies in the sky during a twenty-four hour period, the zenith, the nadir, and
each horizon. At each point the poet complains of his unrequited love for Clori. Interestingly, the only cardinal direction mentioned
is east, the orient. Notice also the typical play Cervantes makes with the commercial, religious, and narrative meanings of the words
cuenta and cuento or “accounting” and “account”: the poet offers heaven “a poor accounting of my wealth of sorrows,” and towards
the end he says, “I double my cries. / Night returns; I repeat my sad account.”What is perhaps most interesting about this scene is the
secret flirting with Lotario that Camila performs right in front of Anselmo: “is everything that poet lovers say true?” Lotario replies:
“As poets, no... but as lovers, they’re always as truthful as they are speechless.”
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Camila requests another sonnet, which returns to the maritime theme,
lamenting the misfortune of a poet lover as if he were a lost sailor: “Woe to him
who sets sail under dark skies, / crossing seas uncharted, hazardous routes
where / neither port nor north can ever be found!” Meanwhile, the narrator
emphasizes again the ironic dynamics of the love triangle, “Anselmo praised
this second sonnet as he had the first, and in this way he went adding link by
link to the chain which he drew forth to fashion his own disgrace, because the
more Lotario dishonored him, the more he told him that he was most honored;
and thus all the steps that Camila descended toward absolute disgrace, in
the opinion of her husband, she climbed toward the summit of virtue and
excellent reputation.”
At this point in the plot we meet Leonela, the maid to whom Camila
confesses everything. Let’s first consider the rhetoric whereby Camila
represents her dilemma as a matter of values and estimations: “I am ashamed,
Leonela my friend, at having so lowered my self-esteem, because I didn’t
even make Lotario suffer time before taking complete possession of my will
which I so quickly surrendered.” Leonela supports her mistress, telling her
that love is mutable and impossible to control, adding that “someday I’ll tell
you everything my lady, for I too am made of the flesh and blood of a girl.”
She assures her “that Lotario esteems you as much as you esteem him.” She
then lists “a complete and entire alphabet” of praise for Lotario, calling him
“appreciative, benevolent, courteous,” etc. Note that, according Leonela, “The
x does not fit him, because it’s a harsh letter.” All this reassures Camila, that is,
until Leonela informs her that she too is involved in a love affair “with a well-
born young man from the same city; at which point Camila became disturbed,
fearing that door might lead to her dishonor.” The problem is that because
Camila has confessed everything to her maid, she cannot control her. As the
narrator points out: “This is among the many harms brought about by the sins
of ladies: they become the slaves of their own servants.”
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With these mutual confessions the main crisis arises. Leonela lets her lover visit her in a room of Anselmo’s house and Camila
has to facilitate these unions: “she removed all hindrances, so that he would not be seen by her husband.” Ironically, the crisis is
instigated by Lotario. Cervantes’s description of the psychopathology of jealousy is another marvel. It turns out that Camila could not
remove the obstacles to Leonela’s lover so perfectly that “Lotario did not see him one day departing at the break of dawn. Without
knowing who he was, at first he thought it must be a ghost, but when he saw him walk, muffle his face, and gather his coat about
him with deliberate care, he dropped his first impression and hit upon another, which would have been the ruin of them all if Camila
had not remedied the situation. Lotario thought that this man, whom he had seen leaving Anselmo’s house at such an odd hour, had
not been there for Leonela; he couldn’t even remember if Leonela existed: his only thought was that Camila, who had been so easy
and loose with him, was being just as easy and loose with another.”
Lotario becomes “blind with jealous rage” and prepares his revenge, informing Anselmo that Camila had finally succumbed to his
advances and that they had arranged to meet the next time Anselmo was absent. Lotario tells Anselmo to pretend to leave for a few
days and then hide behind some tapestries in a room where the lovers meet. Remember how Cardenio hid at Luscinda and Fernando’s
wedding? But soon thereafter Camila confesses to Lotario the trouble she is having with Leonela. At first Lotario believes she is lying;
when she cries, he is convinced she is telling the truth. So he confesses that, “instigated by the furious rage of jealousy,” he has told
Anselmo about them, begging her for advice on how to “safely escape from such a twisted labyrinth.” Speaking of labyrinths: let’s see,
Don Fernando’s tears before Dorotea proved false, but San Pedro’s were real. Are Camila’s real? It’s hard to tell, right?
“Remember how Cardenio
hid at Luscinda and
Fernando’s wedding?”
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Camila’sperformance
A
ccording to the narrator, “more than a man, a woman naturally
has her wit prepared for good as well as evil.” I am inclined to
agree. Thus, “Camila discovered straightaway how to remedy
such an apparently irreparable business.” She doesn’t tell Lotario what she has
in mind, but insists that he proceed as planned, that is, that Anselmo should
hide and that the lovers should meet in the room where he would be hidden.
On the appointed day, Anselmo is prepared to “witness with his own eyes a
vivisection of the entrails of his own honor.” Leonela and Camila enter the
room and perform a scene for the cuckolded husband. Camila professes to
be furious for some offence done to her by Lotario; she is even of a mind to
commit suicide with Anselmo’s dagger. First, though, she instructs her servant
to go to the window of another room and call Lotario up for a confrontation.
Before leaving, Leonela tells her mistress not put herself in a situation in which
she might be raped, “Be advised, my lady, that we are but weak women and
he is a man, and a determined one at that; so if he comes up here, blinded by
passion, and with that evil purpose in mind, then before you can put your own
into motion, he might take from you that which you value more than life itself.”
Camila faints, and Leonela gives a brief soliloquy, saying that her mistress
is “the very exemplar of chastity” and comparing her to “a modern and most
persecuted Penelope.” Camila comes to, and Leonela tells her she dares not go
call Lotario unless she first gives her Anselmo’s dagger because she fears she
will commit suicide. Camila says she has no intention of becoming “another
Lucretia.” There are political connotations here: according to legend, Lucretia
was raped by the son of the last Etruscan tyrant of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius
“Camila discovered
straightaway how
to remedy such an
apparently irreparable
business.”
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Superbus, and her subsequent suicide caused a rebellion that gave rise to the Roman Republic in 509 BC. In the absence of Leonela,
Camila continues acting for Anselmo, voicing a long monologue about her plan to avenge Lotario’s affront and then commit suicide:
“I will depart this world bathed in my own chaste blood as well as the impure blood of the falsest friend that amity has ever seen.”The
narrator’s comment is fascinating, especially given the transvestitism that we have seen in previous chapters: “So saying, she paced
about the room with dagger drawn, taking such giant and disorderly steps, and making such gestures, that it seemed as if she was
lacking in all judgment and was, instead of a delicate woman, a desperate thug.”
Note the wonderful way in which the narrator traffics in the thoughts of different characters. Throughout Leonela and Camila’s
performance, our narrator assures us that Anselmo is totally convinced by the innocence of his wife. He is always on the brink of
coming out from his hiding place and ending the confrontation so as to avoid bloodshed; but he fails to do so, either because he
wants to witness just a bit more, because another character unexpectedly enters or exits, or
because he hears something remarkable. Anselmo is enthralled, like an audience viewing a
well-written and well-acted play. Finally, Lotario enters and Camila “marking a great line with
the dagger on the floor in front of her” insists that Lotario justify his betrayal of Anselmo and
his indecent proposals to her. Lotario knows he too has to act: he confesses his transgression
and begs Camila’s forgiveness, attributing his folly to the power of love. Lotario’s most
enigmatic phrase supposedly expresses his respect for Camila: “I know you well, and I hold
you in the same regard (en la misma posesión) that he does.” According to the wordplay here,
“I know you well,
and I hold you in the
same regard (en la
misma posesión) that
he does.”
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when Lotario says “posesión,” he means that his “regard for” or “opinion of”
Camila is the same as Anselmo’s, but the implication is that, like Anselmo, he
has actually “possessed” her—i.e., had sex with her. This is classic baroque:
Lotario deceives with the truth and his speech targets two different characters,
Camila and Anselmo, respectively, with radically different meanings.
The denouement of this play within the novel within our novel consists
of Camila directing a long harangue against Lotario, at the end of which she
says she wants to “kill in the act of dying.” The narrator’s description of what
happens now is another great example of the destabilizing effect of Cervantine
“perspectivism.” No one, not a character in the story, not the narrator, and
(why not admit it?) not even the reader knows Camila’s true intention when
she attacks: “with incredible strength and agility she lunged at Lotario with
the unsheathed dagger, giving such signs of wanting drive it into his chest
that even he was almost in doubt regarding whether these maneuvers were
true or false.” When Camila cannot stab Lotario, “or else pretending” that she
cannot, she lodges the dagger “slightly above her left armpit (islilla), near her
shoulder, and then she dropped to the ground, appearing to faint.”
All the industry, “sagacity, prudence, and great discretion of the beautiful
Camila” seems to work, because Anselmo now believes that his wife is a
veritable “simulacrum of chastity” and “a second Portia” (the wife of Caesar’s
assassin Brutus, who proved her fidelity by stabbing her thigh with a barber’s
knife and by committing suicide by swallowing hot coals). According to the
narrator, Anselmo, after witnessing “the tragic staging of the death of his
honor,” becomes “the most deliciously deceived man the world has ever seen.”
Nevertheless, chapter thirty-four ends ominously: “a few months later, Fortune
turned her wheel and the immorality that so much artifice had concealed
strolled into the public square, and Anselmo’s impertinent curiosity cost him
his life.”
“with incredible
strength and agility she
lunged at Lotario with
the unsheathed dagger”
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Iwastheauthorof
myowndisgrace”
C
hapter thirty-five opens with another of Cervantes’s magnificent narrative
interruptions. This is the famous “Battle of the Wineskins,” which alludes explicitly
to a similar episode in Apuleius’s The Golden Ass. The priest is about to finish
The Novel of the Curious Impertinent when Sancho descends from the attic, shouting that
his master “has stabbed that giant enemy of the Lady Princess Micomicona.” The priest asks,
“How the Devil can that be true, since the giant is two thousand leagues from here?” There’s
a loud noise upstairs, followed by the cries of DQ: “Halt, thief, scoundrel, coward! I have you
now and your scimitar cannot avail you!” DQ’s reference to a scimitar suggests the sixteenth-
century struggle between the Spanish and Ottoman empires. Everyone rushes upstairs to find DQ half-naked and, ironically, with
the innkeeper’s nightcap on his head, slashing at some wineskins stored in his room. According to the narrator, DQ was dreaming
“that he had finally reached the Kingdom of Micomicón and was now locked in battle with its enemy.”The landlord is understandably
furious and attacks DQ. The hullabaloo only ends when the barber dowses our mad knight with “a large pot of cold water from the
well.” This is not the novel’s first well.
SP can’t understand what’s happened. This isn’t just ignorance; there’s self-interest involved: if the giant’s head is nowhere to
be found, then SP’s promised insular earldom might be slipping through his fingers. Meanwhile, the innkeeper curses DQ, whose
soul he hopes to see “swimming... in Hell.” Here again, Cervantes foregrounds the theme of commerce: “The innkeeper despaired...
and he swore that this wouldn’t go like the last time, when they’d left without paying, and that this time talk of chivalric privileges
would not be enough to avoid paying for this and that, including the cost of every last patch it would take to repair the torn
wineskins.” Moreover, according to the narrator, “Everyone was laughing but the innkeeper, who attributed his luck to Satan.” Even
the innkeeper’s wife complains, recalling the barber’s abuse of her oxtail, shouting “they have to pay me every last quarter for it.”The
priest manages to bring calm, “promising to make good on their losses as best he could, as much for the wineskins as the wine, and
above all else for the damage to the oxtail.”
LESSON 12
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giant enemy of
the Lady Princess
Micomicona”

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Lesson 5
At this point the narrator returns to The Novel of the Curious Impertinent,
reminding us that “it was Anselmo who was the author of his own disgrace,
believing that all was to his liking,”and then turning to the tragic outcome. Like
Lotario, Anselmo learns about Leonela’s lover. The architectural description
here makes the house into a metaphor for a woman’s body as well as the
possessive and jealous rivalry among men that always surrounds that body:
“one night Anselmo sensed footsteps in Leonela’s chamber, and wanting to
enter to see who it was, he sensed that the door resisted him, which made
him even more anxious to open it, and he pressed so hard that he opened it
and entered in time to see a man jump out the window onto the street below.”
Leonela explains this to her master in a way that recalls the stories of Cardenio
and Dorotea: “this is my affair, and mine alone, for he’s my husband.” Believing
the maid is lying, Anselmo pulls out his dagger, and at this point Leonela plays
the only card she has left: “Don’t kill me, master, for I’ll tell you things more
important than you can imagine.” Like Scheherazade in One Thousand and
One Nights, Leonela asks her master to wait until the next day so that she can
recover from her shock.
When Anselmo reports this to Camila, she despairs and “that same night,
when it seemed that Anselmo was asleep, she gathered her best jewels and
some money and, without anyone noticing, she left the house and went to the
home of Lotario.” Lotario gets her to “a nunnery, whose prioress was one of his
sisters” and then “he slipped away from the city.” The next day, “without even
checking to see that Camila was not at his side,”Anselmo went to where he had
left Leonela locked away, but “all he found were knotted sheets hanging from
the window, a clear sign that she had climbed down and gone.” He returned to
report this to Camila only to find “her open chests and from them most of her
jewelry missing.” When he goes to his friend Lotario’s house, the servants tell
him that their master had left that night.
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Finally, Anselmo comprehends his misfortune: “He closed the door to his house, mounted his horse, and, short of breath, he went
on his way.” He doesn’t get far before “he was forced to dismount and tie his horse to a tree, next to which he slid to the ground,
heaving tender and pitiful sighs.” All this should remind us of the first sally of a certain sleepwalking hidalgo. A man passes by and
Anselmo asks him about Florence. This “citizen” tells the whole scandalous story of the two friends: “it’s said publicly that Lotario,
that great friend of the wealthy Anselmo, who lived near San Giovanni, made off last night with Camila, the wife of Anselmo, who has
also vanished. All this has been related by one of Camila’s servants, whom the governor found last night climbing down a sheet hung
from the windows of Anselmo’s house.” Anselmo turns “pale, fatigued, and drained.” Does this remind you of anyone? He goes to the
house of another friend and requests “writing materials.”The next morning, the friend finds him “lying face down, half his body in bed
and the other half slumped over the side desk, on which was the opened letter he had been writing, and he still had the pen in his
hand.” In the letter, Anselmo confesses that “A foolish and impertinent desire took my life.” He forgives Camila “because she was under
no obligation to perform miracles.” The letter ends with “I was the author of my own disgrace, and there is no reason to...” and so,
according to the narrator, “one could observe that at that point, unable to finish his sentence, his life came to an end.” Everything now
gyrates toward the international level as we learn that Lotario dies “in a battle drawn at that time between Monsieur de Lautrec and
the Great Captain Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba in the Kingdom of Naples.” Finally, the priest ends the novel, reflecting positively
on its style, although he adds, “If this case had involved a lover and his lady, it would have been credible, but between a husband and
his wife there’s something impossible about it.”
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Let’s review: The Novel of the Curious Impertinent, the most baroque narrative in DQ, functions like an intratextual commentary
on the chaos among the lovers of the Sierra Morena episodes: the predominance of lust, the mimetic psychology of male lovers, and
the concatenation of errors, jealousy, and poetic justice. It all echoes the stories of Cardenio and Dorotea: the servant’s betrayal,
the disillusioned voyeur, the manly woman. Moreover, it connects back to the first chapters of DQ. And it’s clearly designed as
some allegory about the act of writing itself: hence Anselmo recognizes his “tragedy” in his final letter. There’s plenty to anticipate
Freud’s oedipal complex here as well: for example, Lotario “projects” his own sexual desires onto a mysterious phantom, who turns
out to be real, although not exactly the rival he has in mind. At this same global level, the novel represents the essence of DQ’s
psychopathology, and The Captive’s Tale that follows will function as a kind of corrective remedy to its painful finale. Lastly, on a
feminist note, consider Camila: if her behavior does not fulfill Anselmo’s expectations, that is, if she doesn’t work miracles, she most
definitely thinks and acts on her own, indeed her quick-thinking and forceful character make her tower above the ineptitudes of
Lotario and Anselmo. Or think about this as a truly modernized tragedy. Classical tragedy portrays the fall of a proud character: but
what more excessive pride can there be than believing that a woman has no other desire or will than that which her husband wants
her to have?
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- Charles V, Advice for His Son Philip II
“The Duke of Alba wanted to enter with them... but since it
was a matter of the government of the Kingdom, in which it is
not right for dukes to participate, I did not admit him, which
left him not a little offended... You must guard against letting
him or other dukes infiltrate the administration, because
in every way that he or they can, they will undercut your
authority, which later will later cost you dearly.”

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T
he thirty-sixth chapter begins with a wonderful sketch of bourgeois
morality: “The innkeeper, who stood in the inn’s doorway, said:
‘This group approaching now is a beautiful troop of guests; if they
stop here, we’ll have a guadeamus.’”The Latin means “Let us rejoice” and refers
to the passage known as “The triumph in heaven” from the New Testament’s
Apocalypse or Revelation of Saint John: “Let us rejoice and be glad and give
him glory; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made
herself ready” (19.7). By alluding to this heavenly marriage, Cervantes signal
his novel’s conclusion, which will occur via a series of exemplary “unveilings”:
the more accurate term is “anagnorisis”, meaning “epiphany” or “recognition”
in Greek, and which since Aristotle’s Poetics has been considered a key aspect
of any literary work. By the way, the genre that relies almost exclusively on
“anagnorisis” is the Byzantine novel.
The innkeeper describes four horsemen, “all with black masks; and with
them comes a woman in white, riding sidesaddle, and her face also covered,
and two other boys on foot.” Not wanting to be recognized, Dorotea covers her
face and Cardenio hides DQ’s room. One of the riders places the woman in a
chair in the inn and the two servants lead the horses to the corral. The priest
interrogates one of the boys, but all the young man knows is that the others
have asked him and his friend to accompany them “to Andalucía, offering
to pay us very well.” The commerce theme again, and another north-south
trajectory. There are also echoes of Camila’s fate in The Novel of the Curious
Impertinent, because the boy tells the priest that the “lady travels against her
will; and, as can be inferred by her clothes, she is a nun or else soon to become
one, which is more likely, and perhaps because her becoming a nun is not by
choice, she is sad, or so she seems.”
Thefourhorsemen
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The priest returns to the inn. Present are SP, Dorotea, although veiled, the priest and the barber, Cardenio, hiding behind the
door to DQ’s room, and the anonymous woman and rider, each of these wearing masks for travel on the dusty roads of Castile. What
happens now is a serious, melodramatic version of the comedic chaos of chapter sixteen when Maritornes had visited the mule
driver in the attic with DQ. Whereas confusion and misunderstanding reigned in the Maritornes episode, this scene is dominated by
recognition and clarification.
First, Dorotea, “moved by natural compassion” offers to attend to the unnamed woman, at which gesture the muffled rider makes
a bitter observation: “Don’t trouble yourself, my lady, to offer this woman anything, because she’s in the habit of not appreciating
what is done for her, nor should you try to converse with her, unless you wish to hear lies from her lips.” The unnamed woman fires
back: “my pure truth is what makes you false and deceitful.” At these words, Cardenio yells from behind the door, “What voice is this
that I hear?”The woman, “in total shock” rises to enter the other room, but the rider stops her. Now the “taffeta that covered her face”
falls away, “revealing an incomparable beauty, a miraculous face, although pale and traumatized.” We will want to remember this
image.
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“Everyone fell silent; everyone
looked at one another, Dorotea at
Don Fernando, Don Fernando at
Cardenio, Cardenio at Luscinda,
and Luscinda at Cardenio.”
Anagnorisis
Next, the rider holding the miraculous woman loses his mask, “and Doretea, who held the lady, raised her eyes to see that the
man, who also embraced the lady, was her husband Don Fernando.” Dorotea lets out an “Ay!” and falls into the arms of the barber.
“The priest then approached to remove her veil so as to sprinkle water on her face, and as soon as he revealed her, Don Fernando,
who was the one holding the other woman, recognized her and turned to deathly stone; but for all that he still did not let go of
Luscinda, who was the woman tying to escape from his arms.” Believing that Luscinda is going to faint, Cardenio emerges from
hiding and now we have a tense moment: “Everyone fell silent; everyone looked at one another, Dorotea at Don Fernando, Don
Fernando at Cardenio, Cardenio at Luscinda, and Luscinda at Cardenio.” Luscinda breaks the silence, addressing Don Fernando: “Let
my tendrils reach the wall toward which I grow... Note how heaven, by hidden and unknowable means, has placed my true husband
before me.” Luscinda voices the impact on sixteenth-century literature made by 1) the rediscovery of Aristotelian precepts, which
emphasized “mimesis” and 2) the mandates of the Council of Trent, which de-emphasized miracles: in short, fantastical interventions
are no longer convincing or acceptable devices for resolving convoluted plots; so authors must now rely on more plausible events
to impress their readers, i.e., to achieve the effect of “admiratio.”
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Lesson 2
Next, Dorotea “got up and went to kneel” at Fernando’s feet, “and, with her
face flowing with copious and beautiful and pitiful tears,” she implores him:
“I am that humble peasant whom, either out of kindness or out of desire, you
said you wanted to raise to the heights of calling herself yours; I’m the one
who... opened the doors to her modesty and surrendered to you the keys to
her freedom.”This long speech, structured in humanistic fashion, repeats many
of the novel’s major themes: a woman’s free will (“it will be easier for you... to
come to love the one who adores you than to force the one who abhors you”),
slavery (“accept me as your slave, for so long as I am in your power, I’ll know
I’m blessed”), blood purity (“consider that hardly any of the world’s nobility
has come into being without this idea... true nobility is virtue”), religion (“your
signature will be your proof, and my witness heaven, which you yourself called
on to witness what you promised me”), and, finally, personal ethics (“your
own conscience cannot fail to speak to you, silencing you in the midst of your
pleasures”).
In the end, Don Fernando yields with another chiasmus: “You have
conquered me, beautiful Dorotea, conquered me you have; because no soul
can deny so many truths gathered together.” And when Fernando lets go of
Luscinda, she falls into the arms of Cardenio, saying, “You, my lord, are the
true master of this your captive.” Now, the modern reader will find it difficult
to hear these submissive women expressing progress, but we must keep in
mind the conservative era in which Cervantes writes. The key points are that
women’s wills are being articulated and respected just as the relatively violent
desires of men are being restrained. In this way, Cervantes seems to propose
his text as medicine against a possible outbreak of violence in the Sierra
Morena. Note, for example, that when the lovers are finally reunited, there
again arises the problem of jealousy. Dorotea observes “that Don Fernando
had lost all color in his face and he made a gesture as if to take revenge on
Cardenio, for she saw him moving his hand toward his sword.” Then we have
the climactic image of these stories: Dorotea “grasped him about the knees,
Lesson 2LESSON 14

Discover Don Quijote de la Mancha, chapters 29 through 52 - donquijote.ufm.edu/en

Discover Don Quijote de la Mancha, chapters 29 through 52 - donquijote.ufm.edu/en

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Discover Don Quijote de la Mancha, chapters 29 through 52 - donquijote.ufm.edu/en