There is always the girl who is beautiful and accused of being the cause of death for some poor romantic soul. In Don Quixote's case her name is Marcela and the poor sap who died from love is Grisostomo. As will all young romantic men, he immediately proclaimed his love for her and began writing poetry for her.
But of course, tragedy befalls when she declines his advances. Instead of persuing her like Pan after Pytis he dies and accuses Marcela of being the murderer. The goatherds all gather together for the mans funeral and thus are confronted by Marcela, who informs them it's not her fault he died. She simply wants to be left with nature. She did not ask for the beauty which was bestowed upon her. She chose to be part of nature.
Marcela reminds me of Athena in the sense that she has decided she will not marry at all. As she points out that the only reason the men are interested in her is because of her chastity, she does not believe they will have any interest in her once she becomes un-chaste. Which makes sense, because for centuries, a woman's chastity was held above all things. When a woman wasn't considered chaste, and out of wedlock, she was considered no better than a whore.
Athena, despite being the goddess of war and wisdom, etc, was praised for being a virgin. It was one of the many reasons the Parthenon was built for her. To me, Marcela showed the wisdom angle. She knew the only reason men wanted her was for her beauty and virginity. Instead of giving up her virginity, she decided on a life of solitude and chastity
I also noticed the rhyming pattern to the poems that Cervantes puts into the works. They're all A/B A/B. It flows off the tongue pretty well. The goatherd's poem entertained me quite a bit, just as it entertained Don Quixote.
But poor Rocinante! The poor horse wanted nothing more than to get laid when he saw all those mares coming his way. Then what happens? The people who own the horses decided that was unacceptable and beat the poor guy down! Don and Sancho faired little better when they ran to his defense. I have to admit I'm very impressed that Sancho hasn't wrung Don's neck yet. He's the loyal sidekick that sticks around no matter what. I like the pairing. One of them is the realist and the other the dreamer. It must be super hard being a realist. I wouldn't know :-)
I think it is funny how the times have changed. Once women were expected to be chaste, now if your a virgin past the age of 17, you are a prude!
ReplyDeleteMarcela never encouraged any of the men that flocked around her. She was always true to herself. I like that about her--she chose freedom and nature. Not falling for the lies that were told to her so often.
Yes! Exactly and I really liked that about her! It's like todays peer pressure! So many kids are pressured by their friends to do something they may not want to. Whereas Marcela was briefly pressured by her uncle, but came out the victor in the long run of it!!
ReplyDeleteSo does anyone think Marcela's story might be setting up for Don Quixote's Lady Dulcinea? I am curious find out if Lady Dulcinea is like Marcela or just another one of Don Quixote's delusion.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I think that Dulcinea is a delusion. I imagine she's real, and probably works somewhere on his property, but not as a great lady that he imagines her to be. He's got such a grand idea of this lady that I expect to find just the opposite should we meet her soon.
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