Being that the Admitting Book club has been clubbed, I have decided that I will take over the blog for the time being. Since I always have a book going I have decided to use this blog as an outlet for my thoughts. Feel free to contribute.
Currently I am reading Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra and translated by Tobias Smollett. A co-worker of mine loaned me a copy of the book in the original Spanish, and at one time I had the ambition to tackle it. That notion didn’t last long. I am reading the translated version. Call me lazy if you will.
I am currently about a third of the way through the book, and thus far I have not been disappointed. Though I must admit I wasn’t sure what to expect. The only thing I knew about Don Quixote was that he attacked windmills, thinking in his mad delusions that they were giants. That particular event occurs early on in the book, which left about 800 pages to go.
I recognize that Cervantes was poking fun at the old tales of chivalry, and it is most obvious in his tale of Cardenio and Dorotea. While studying medieval literature and the chivalric code in college I was always amazed at how women were treated. The story of Cardenio and Dorotea is a good example of the disregard in medieval literature toward women.
I will summarize (and shorten) the tale as best I can. While wandering in the wilderness Don Quixote and Sancho Panza encounter Cardenio, a young man who has forsaken civilization and survived in the wilderness living like an animal. Cardenio is prone to fits of rage and spends his time in isolation lamenting his misfortunes and the loss of his love, Luscinda.
Eventually Cardenio tells why he has chosen to live apart from man. He was at one time in love with Luscinda, a beautiful woman who he had promised to marry. But before he was able to wed, his father sent him to work for Don Fernando, a wealthy young man. Cardenio confided in Don Fernando that he was to marry Luscinda, but upon seeing Cardenio’s beautiful bride to be Fernando decided to steal her away. He sent Cardenio on an errand, and then asked Luscinda’s parents for her hand in marriage, which they immediately agreed to. After figuring out Fernando’s plan, Cardenio returned to marry the woman who was rightfully his. He arrived just in time for the marriage, and to witness Luscinda say “I do” while he hid in a curtain. Cardenio fled the city and began his sojourn in the mountains alone.
Shortly after Cardenio confides his story of woe, we are introduced to Dorotea. He has been living in the mountains masquerading as a man while working for a sheep herder. Not having heard Cardenio’s story, Dorotea relates her tale of misfortune. She had been courted by a wealthy young man named Don Fernando (yes, the same). She had told Fernando that she would not give herself to him unless he promised to wed her. He did so, saying that he was her husband and that one day he would make it official. He then disappeared, much to the dismay of Dorotea. Dressing as a man she searched for him only to find that he had wed Luscinda.
At this point in the story I thought that Dorotea and Cardenio would connect and live happily ever after. It made sense, considering that the two had both been wronged by a lover, and needed someone. But no. Instead we find out that Dorotea had to go into hiding because her parents were looking for her and that it was rumored that her attendant was having inappropriate relations for her. Disgraced, she like Cardenio fled into the wilderness. Dorotea also relates that she had heard, before fleeing, that Luscinda had fainted after saying her ‘I do’ and a letter had been found in her breast that stated that she could not marry Don Fernando because she was committed to Cardenio.
When Cardenio hears this news, he is overjoyed to find that his love is not really married, and that she was actually faithful to him. His intent then is to return Dorotea to Fernando, and for him to return to marry Luscinda. So the man gets to return to his love, who had been faithful to him, where the woman gets returned to the husband who had betrayed her in favor of another woman. And everyone is supposed to be happy.
It is a very satirical commentary on the way that women were treated in the tales of knights errant. They are property, and their happy endings are contingent upon the happy ending for the knight. I am reminded of the tale of Erec and Enide. Erec, in his quest for greatness treats his wife as a tool. At one point he chastises her for warning him about impending danger and forces her to walk ahead of his horse while tied to a rope. He uses her as bait for other knights, who attack and are all killed by him.
The idea of women in literature being treated as property, and even being treated by a double standard of fidelity goes back even to the time of Homer. Fernando’s desire for a woman other than his wife is much like Odysseus’ relations with other women during his adventures home from the Trojan War. His wife Penelope waits for him faithfully at home, rejecting the suitors who court her in her husband’s absence. Odysseus has relations with the enchantress Circe, as well as a long relationship with the nymph Calypso. His extra marital affairs are viewed as acceptable, even necessary. Yet any sign of unfaithfulness on the part of his wife would have meant death for her. And just as the women from the medieval literature are treated as property so too is Penelope. Odysseus refers suggests that his wife is his property, much like the cattle and other property that the suitors so wrongly tried to take from him. Luscinda and Dorotea are likewise property, to be given from one man (fathers) to another. Luscinda only consents to marry Don Fernando because her father has given her hand, and she doesn’t want to disgrace the old man.
Cervantes meant to poke fun at the medieval tales of knights errant and chivalry, and this example of the folly of the men in regard to the treatment is a very subtle but very effective jab.
In conjunction with my reading of Don Quixote I rented the movie “Lost in La Mancha”. If you get a chance, I highly recommend it.
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