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El casamiento engañoso (Clásicos molineros nº 12) (Spanish Edition)

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By examining the evidence of works mentioned by contemporary critics and moralists, in addition to the books named by Cervantes himself in his description of Don Quijote's library, it is possible to arrive at some reasonable conclusions about the types of books and some specific titles that were in vogue during the sixteenth and seventeenth-centuries and which Cervantes might reasonably have been expected to have read.

One voice among the many, Malon de Chaide complained in his La conversion de la Magdalena about the moral dangers of youth reading "libros lascivos y profanos. His greatest fear was for "la doncellita que apenas sabe andar, y ya trae una Diana en la faldriquera, " because he believed that exposure to works of that type would only infuse her with wanton 25 ideas that would lead to her moral perdition and the dishonoring of her father's household.!

Malon de Chaide's warnings echoed the concerns of other moralists, including Fray Luis de Leon, Juan Luis Vives, and Francisco de Osuna, who were concerned with the effects of the growing interest in the fabulous and provocative tales of the fifteenth and sixteenth-centuries. In sexual matters these fictional women were liberal. In the eyes of contemporary moralists, it was even worse that it was not the "lost" women, but those portrayed by the authors as "good" — the beautiful, the loyal, the high-born ladies — who burned with passion. Erotic desires may have been considered inappropriate by the Church hierarchy, but they were almost a requirement for heroines in popular literature.

They not only desired, they flirted, they seduced, and they enjoyed without remorse or retribution. At the center of the controversy was the popular concept of courtly love, a decidedly unchristian attachment to or deification of a member of the opposite sex which had its roots in the songs of the troubadors. As noted by 0. Green, "in spite of its incompatibility with Christian 26 doctrine, courtly love was regarded by its proponents as an ally, even a producer, of virtue.

However, since the object of his unfulfilled desire was a flesh and blood woman, and not an abstract symbol of a Christian desire to become one with Christ, his worshipping of her was contrary to Christian teachings. Although the primary vehicle for courtly love was the romance of chivalry, Cervantes' target in his famous parody: Long before the lovesick Don Quijote made readers laugh at his fascination with the hefty Aldonza Lorenzo, that generic platypus, more accurately titled La tragi comedia de Calisto v Melibea.

The plot of this novel-drama follows two parallel threads of action — the upper-class deification of Melibea by Calisto "Melibeo so[y]" woven together with the lower-class escapades of Celestina, her "girls" and the two servants, Parmeno and Sempronio. It is interesting to note here that in 27 the tragic love of Calisto and Melibea, virtue did not conquer desire, and Melibea committed suicide, after having lost her virginity in a liason with Calisto that had been arranged by Celestina.

As in Melibea 's case, courtly love, in spite of its lofty ideals and its presentation of men and women desiring merely for the sake of desiring, frequently culminated in other than pure spiritual love, chaste adoration and unconsummated desire. Moreover, with or without consummation, emotions of that magnitude were not considered acceptably Christian outside the religious mystic experience. Succinctly, in the words of Green I 76 , "Courtly love was divorced from Christian morality.

The literary models of the courtly love tales were not the only popular models for the Golden Age reader. Mirroring the real-life fears, beliefs, and controversies surrounding Golden Age literature and censorship, and perhaps most interesting for this study is Chapter VI of the Ouiiote.

Book I, wherein the Curate and the Barber put the volumes in Don Quijote's library on trial, consigning the majority to be burned in the courtyard below in a scene reminiscent of the real historical accounts of the Inquisition's "autos de fe. To pare the list even more, it is almost certain that one of the saved, Los diez libros de Fortune de amor by Antonio de Lofraso, is actually being mocked, since it was directly attacked in Cervantes' Viaie del Parnaso.

The Espeio de Caballerias is consigned to "perpetual exile" in a dry well and Don Belianis is saved only on condition that the Barber allow no one else to read it. The majority of books in Don Quijote's library seem to fall into one of two main categories, that is, either chivalric or pastoral romances, in addition to only a few volumes of poetry that are specifically named. In keeping with the parodic purpose of the writing of the Quijote , the pastorals are generally more favorably regarded by the Curate as being "libros de entendimiento" DQ I Particularly noteworthy from that group is the Galatea , Cervantes' own contribution to the genre and the work for which he seems to feel the most fondness and the most guilt for having left without the 29 promised sequel.

The Curate describes it as the book that "propone algo, y no concluye nada," DQ I and Cervantes, just before his death, mentions it again in the Dedication of the Persiles 16 , promising "si. Queen Pintiquiniestra, in Amadis de Grecia by Feliciano de Silva, is thrown to the pyre with such enthusiasm that the Curate swears "que a trueco de quemar a la reina Pintiquiniestra, y al pastor Darinel, y a sus eglogas, y a las endiabladas y revueltas razones de su autor, quemare con ellos al padre que me engendro, si anduviera en figura de caballero andante" DQ I However, Placerdemivida, the Emperatriz, and the Viuda Reposada from Tirante el Blanco are exalted and the volume saved from the pyre by the Curate for its verisimilitude knights ate, slept, died in their beds, and made wills , and because he had found in it "un tesoro de contento y una mina de pasatiempos" DQ I It is ironic that Cfirvantes should have had a member of the clergy saving and even praising this particular book, which has been called by Green 1: Aylward, among others as a precursor of the modern novel.

The principal proponents of the practical "modern" ideas in Tirant are women. As stated by Aylward, "the figure of the sprightly damsel Plaerdemavida [Placerdemivida in Spanish] is arguably the most successfully drawn character in the entire novel and the one which has tickled the fancy of more readers and critics than any other" She is described as a benevolent and sensible go-between with matter-of-fact views on human sexuality that are similar to Celestina's, but she is without Celestina's selfish motives.

As is the case with Rojas' masterful character, Placerdemivida also uses religion to support her arguments in favor of the Princess Carmesina's acceptance of Tirant 's advances. Whereas Celestina represents herself as an agent of God bent on easing Melibea's pain by way of Calisto, Placerdemivida maintains that to refuse sexual favors to such a noble warrior as Tirant is a sin that will surely be punished.

The farcical humor of the erotic scenes between the randy Tirant and his idealistic lady, set up in large part by the wily Placerdemivida, rivals the humor of some of Don Quijote's most hilarious escapades. And far from being punished for her forward ideas and sensuality, Placerdemivida ends up happily married, confirming Martorell's thesis, as interpreted by Aylward , that true love is found only in the married state, a message seemingly missed altogether by the addled Don Quijote, but certainly not overlooked by Cervantes, who presented for his readers the image of what Don Quijote might have been in the figure of the comfortable country squire, Don Diego de Miranda, "El Caballero del Verde Gaban" DQ II The Emperatriz de Grecia is another lusty character admired by the priest, and again, rather ironically so, considering the Catholic hierarchy's general disapproval of adultery, and particularly in the case of older, married, upper class women with younger men.

Nor is there any divine retribution in this case to serve as a moral lesson at the end of the novel. If anything, the Empress and her lover, Hipolito, are rewarded for their sins. She is released from an sexually unfulfillng marriage by the convenient death of her husband.

Her boyish lover not only marries her, but following her death after three years of wedded bliss, he inherits the whole kingdom, remarries a young princess, and "happily ever after" with his new love and many heirs. It is interesting to note that the three female 32 characters from Tirant that were pointed out in this chapter of the Ouinote present to the reader different degrees of complexity of characterization as noted by Aylward While the psychological development of Placerdemivida is the most complete in the entire novel, and the Emperatriz is adequate and necessary as a believable minor character in a subplot, the last of the three women cited by the priest, the Viuda Reposada, is the most stereotypical.

She serves mainly as a vehicle for comic situations and as a foil for Placerdemivida 's plans rather than as a fully developed character. Two principal female characters from Martorell's novel are passed over in the priest's eulogy: Estefania is perhaps the most sensible and practical of all the women in Tirant. Having anticipated the seduction attempt of Diafebus, she grants him permission to enjoy her charms from the waist up, having previously hidden in her bodice a legal document, signed in her own blood, outlining the terms of her willingness to comply fully with his desires once they have completed a vow to marry, "un casamiento de palabra.

Each had as her primary aim the security of marriage. However, and perhaps this says more about his understanding of women's problems than any other of Cervantes' female creations, in the case of the lower-class Estefania, that bid for security was not only devoid of true love or even passion, but was also inextricably bound by the more pressing and fundamental drive to ensure economic survival in a world which provided few options to dowerless women who had passed marriageable age and who entertained little hope for the future.

Carmesina, Tirant ' s lady, is ignored by the Curate. Nonetheless, she is a nearly ideal courtly lady who adheres to outdated courtly traditions long after Tirant has taken Placerdemivida ' s advice to abandon his foolish and fruitless games. She is, fittingly, reincarnated for the Cervantine reader by Don Quijote who reveals her as a figure similar to — though not as wonderful as — the unparalleled Dulcinea del Toboso.

In spite of Don Quijote 's admiration for this character, in her own story Placerdemivida defines Carmesina 's hesitance at participating in a sexual encounter with Tirant as foolish, immature, and even sinful Tirant This overt criticism of one of the main characters stands in stark contrast to Oriana, Carmesina 's counterpart in Amadis de Gaula who is presented in a more positive light. In Amadis de Gaula. Although the romances of chivalry, in general, and Amadis de Gaula. Typically, courtly love, like its Neoplatonic counterpart in the pastoral romances, avoided marital unions and procreation.

The changing tone of the love of the two protagonists is marked by Oriana 's reply to Amadis when he asks how he can repay her for allowing their love to be publicly revealed: When, at Amadis' request, Oriana gains entrance into the enchanted "camara defendida, " the unrelenting desiring and suffering typical of courtly love are effectively removed. However, although she commends herself to God "Oriana entro Upon her entrance, not only is Amadis reassured of the purity of Oriana 's love, but in a rare moment in Spanish literature, Oriana is guaranteed a life free from worrying about her husband's possible future infidelities: En adelante podria hacer compania a Amadis sin temor de que viniese ninguna mujer, por hermosa que fuese" Amadis In spite of some chivalric romances' concessions to the traditional marriage ending, it is easy to see how the Catholic moralists would have felt threatened by the types of romantic relationsips portrayed in such works.

The section removed from Montemayor 's book deals with the wise Felicia and her enchanted water which provided the author with a deus ex machine solution to love's and his plot's problems. It is only to be expected that this total disregard for believable solutions to literary problems would have so irritated Cervantes, who demonstrated a great interest in maintaining verisimilitude in his works. It is also not surprising that Gil Polo's sequel should have been so highly praised since it is known for its non-f antastic solutions. Like the "novelas de caballeria, " the pastoral novels are an upper-class literature, that is, a genre whose characters may have appeared in the disguise of shepherds but whose actions and demeanor immediately identified them as "noble," whether in spirit or in fact.

However, unlike the chivalric novels, action in the pastorals is limited, and violence, when it does occur, is almost shocking. Forerunners of the psychological novels of later centuries, they are filled with analysis and reflection. The setting and scenery are utopian. Love, ever present in the chivalric novels, appears in the pastorals, as Avalle— Arce writes, "depurado en el crisol petrarquista, [que] empalma con el refinado amor platonico, ese puro 'deseo de hermosura' que 37 acucia al hombre renacentista.

However, their general characteristics are more interesting. They are an independent lot; and they are intelligent, beautiful, headstrong, aloof, and frequently disdainful of male attentions. They are, in fact, much like the mythological figures after whom they are patterned and, as such, permit the author to give them a liberty and forcefulness natural to these goddesses that was not typical of ordinary Golden Age characters — not even to the "wanton" characters from the chivalric genre. Felismena, the disguised Castilian noblewoman in Montemayor's Diana.

Wandering alone in the forest, she comes to the aid of three nymphs who are being abducted by three savages "tres salvages, de estrana grandeza y fealdad. Eran de tan fea catadura que ponian espanto. In keeping with the general characteristics of women in this genre, it is explicitly stated that Selvagia is playing an equal role in this defense team: Los dos pastores y la pastora Selvagia. Y sacando todos tres sus hondas. Su arco tenia colgado del brago ysquierdo, y una aljava de saetas al ombro, en las manos un baston de sylvestre enzina, en el cabo del qual avia una muy larga punta de azero Diana Without showing fear, remorse, or hesitation, she kills two of the savages with her bow and arrows.

Then, in hand-to- hand combat, she delivers such a blow to the head of the third that his brains spill out of the wound.

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This portrayal is diametrical to the non-fiction ideals set up for real- life women of the time who were taught by church leaders such as Fray Luis de Leon that they were, by nature, weaker and had fewer needs, resulting in the publication, as late as the twentieth century, of instructional manuals for women that urged them to remain true to those ideals. However, no matter how licentious, bold, independent, or immoral any of the women may have been in the upper-class pastoral and chivalric novels, in the lower-class literature of the picaresque genre.

Catholic morality was perverted almost beyond recognition — even to the point of using double entendres with primary religious and secondary underworld 39 meanings. Many of the characters in these novels were prostitutes, often with ties to the black arts. Of all the stars of the picaresque genre, none shines more brightly than Celestina, who is often considered the forerunner of later picaras and, as stated above, was mentioned by Cervantes in his works.

Bomli in his La femme dans I'Espagne du siecle d'or did not believe that Celestina herself was a forerunner of the picaras, giving that distinction to her "girls," Areusa and Elicia, his description of her could not be better said: Qui, en pronongant le mot 'alcahueta' ne pense tout d'abord a Celestina. Car cette vieille, malfaisante et depravee, est peinte avec une telle vivacite, une si grande variete de nuances qu'on ne saurait lui denier le merite d'etre 1 'incarnation meme du type de 1 'entremettuese. Although any reader of Hispanic literature will be familiar with this master character, it is useful for the purposes of this study to mention her most salient traits.

She was characterized by her author as a "mala y astuta mujer" Celestina 1; She was well versed in the black arts and exuded an openness about human sexuality homosexual as well as heterosexual that places her closer to the Medieval mentality than to the Baroque. Heiress of the Archpriest of Hita's Trotaconventos and grandmother of the later "picaras" such as the "Picara Justina" and the "Lozana Andaluza," it is certain that her charms were well known to Cervantes.

Cervantes goes to the trouble of working Celestina's name into the anagram at the beginning of his Viaje del Parnaso. However, in spite of his obvious admiration for Rojas' work, it might be said, using Harold Bloom's term, that Cervantes generally chose to "overcome" that "poet father" in a way other than direct imitation of Celestina. Classical Views of Woman Many of the views about the nature of woman that were common in Cervantes' time derived from classical roots, and the influence of classical authors remained strong throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth-centuries.

Many of the so-called scientific texts passed down to the Golden Age audience had been based originally on conjecture rather than experimentation or observation. In addition, the texts were often taught out of context and were further distorted by translators. This multi-level distortion in the texts which at that time comprised the basis for most scientific knowledge led to a vision of the universe, and specifically of woman, rife with contradictions, misinformation, and ambiguities. In recent years Michel Foucault has theorized that Cervantes was born into a world whose theories of knowledge 41 were based on resemblances of all things, one to another, and he left a world at the peak of a major epistemological change, a world where difference and individual identity replaced resemblance as the basis of knowledge.

Viewed in that respect, it seems only logical that in his works Cervantes should have revealed conflicting views regarding not only the nature of the literary creation, but of the very nature of human existence itself. Foucault, in fact, credits Cervantes' Don Quijote with being the seminal character of the new era The Order of Things No longer is a character who defines existence by resemblances — windmills to giants, prostitutes to princesses — considered normal.

Rather he is quite mad, insanely out of touch with the rest of a changing world. Unlike the character, Don Quijote, born middle-aged into the new world, Cervantes was born into a world still caught up in the old system, where knowledge was based on resemblances, on multiple variations and exegetical shadings of the Classical Greek and early Christian models.

In spite of the antithetical natures of many of the major tenets of the Christian religion and the classical pagan philosophies, Christian scholars seemed not only unable, but unwilling to break their intellectual ties to familiar classical texts. Existing information was not displaced or destroyed, it was reviewed and rearranged. So ingrained was 42 the practice of utilizing existing information, and the idea that the written Word was Law and akin to an organic being, that endless interpretation of existing texts was the primary method of seeking knowledge.

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Any method of learning which was not based on utilizing the earlier models might, in fact, be interpreted as heresy. Vern Bullough believes that it was not only Christianity or the unsupported prejudices of the medieval clergy which led to medieval and modern misogynism but also the medical and scientific assumptions of the ancient world that were incorporated igto medieval thinking with but little challenge.

Pagan authorities had been cited so frequently by Church fathers that their works had become incorporated into the Christian textual body. The trial of the Italian mathematician Galileo exemplifies this attitude on the part of the Church. Although he was officially tried and sentenced in for not adhering to Christian literalist interpretations regarding the movement and position of the sun and planets, the fact that he dared to question Aristotelian and Ptolemeic Laws, which were interpreted as agreeing with literalist interpretations, certainly did not help his defense.

The practice of constant reworking of older texts, some of which might well be ambiguous or contradictory, explains the co-existence in the sixteenth and seventeenth-centuries of the paradoxical and contradictory definitions of woman which so confound modern women. Each interpreter and 43 translator read texts, or fragments of texts, out of historical context and through the filter of his own real world experiences. Thus, the major models of woman in the sixteenth and early seventeenth-centuries were still based, with multiple variations and interpretative shadings, on the classical Greek and early Christian models.

Texts became so over-written by centuries of successive reader-writers that by the sixteenth-century, physicians "quoting" Galen to "refute" Aristotle, were neither in line with Galen's ideas, nor against Aristotle ' s. Of the ancient philosophers, two who were at the very base of the tower are Plato and Aristotle. In spite of being 44 the chronological forerunner, Plato's views on woman were, from a modern perspective, more "advanced" than Aristotle's. It has been debated whether Plato was an early feminist. Although later, in Laws , he reneged on his most radical positions, and although he always qualified his statements in the Republic with the declaration that women were in physical strength inferior to men and that they were, at their best, inferior to the best of men in all other traits as noted by Annas 24 , that does not erase the fact that he advocated equal education and opportunity for women in jobs to which they might be suited — and those jobs included positions in the hierarchy of his Guardian class.

The Humanists tried to disseminate notions similar to Plato's regarding the education of women Plato was approved reading for Juan Luis Vives ' pupil. Thus, in Catholic, Counter Hsformation Spain, both Platonxc and Humanist ideas were 45 sometimes hidden in literary texts which, with due to their inherently symbolic and "un-real" nature, have often served as a haven for unorthodox ideas, or as stated by Vargas Llosa in speaking of the "temor" which provoked the hierarchy's actions against the novels of chivalry, "pienso que fue el miedo del mundo oficial a la imaginacion, que es la enemiga natural del dogma y el origen de toda rebelion" Plato's disciple, Aristotle, considered himself a Platonist and, in many respects, that is true.

However, in various instances of particular import here, his interpetation of Plato seems to have exerted a greater overt influence on the philosophical and moral knowledge of the Golden Age than some of Plato's own texts. In his definitions of woman, for example, he seems to have disregarded the advice of Plato's Socrates to "let the wives of our guardians strip [to exercise], for their virtue will be their robe, and let them share in the toils of war and the defense of their country," and concentrated on Plato's qualification that "in all of them [pursuits] a woman is inferior to a man.

Evidence of this can be found in the Greek views on male homosexuality wherein it 46 was acceptable for Greek male citizens to participate in a homosexual encounter with the limitation that they were never to be the passive or "feminized" partner, that position being relegated to slaves and lower-class males. He emphasized Pythagoras' bi-polar construct, wherein males were on the side of light and good and women were on the side of darkness and evil Maclean 2. Maintaining that they had been formed from imperfectly heated male semen, a process which resulted in internal sex organs, Aristotle saw women as "characterized by deprived, passive and material traits, cold and moist dominant humours and a desire for completion by intercourse with the male" Maclean In spite of believing in her desire for "completion," he also interpreted her, at the same time, as being "devoid of sexual desire Although not all later theorists agreed completely with Aristotle, their disagreeing did not usually help woman's cause, since new theories were merely jumbled on top of the old.

In the thirteenth century, for example, Albertus Magnus saw woman's desire as "doubled," thus creating for her the doubly impossible role of a frigid furnace. He held the same sorts of superstitions about "unclean" menstrual flow as did the Hebrews and other ancient writers Maclean , Gies Among other things, and as an example of just how little empiricism counted in some of his popular theories and in the later quest for knowledge by his disciples, Aristotle maintained, rather inanely, that women had fewer teeth than males.

Since the ideas of the Classical philosophers, scientists, and physicians of Greece so informed the ideas of the religious leaders and saints of the early Christian church, it is not surprising that they were frequently consulted and quoted whenever the Catholic fathers set about to refine their definitions of woman. Physicians, as members of the ruling patriarchy, were on the side of Law and the Church — as opposed to the folk-healing "witches" and the much maligned barber-surgeons including Cervantes' father, Rodrigo.

In speaking of the European situation in general, Maclean, like Foucault, marks the end of the sixteenth- century as a turning point in world affairs, stating that many doctors at the end of the sixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth-centuries write eloquently against the wrong done to the honour of woman by Aristotle, and it is possible to argue that there is a feminist movement in medical spheres, where in theology there is little evidence of one" Regarding the "medical spheres," it must be remembered, however, that in Counter Reformation Spain, Church officials, government leaders, and physicians, as members of 48 the dominant patriarchy, frequently supported each other and touted similar ideologies.

Catholic Stereotypes Although there is little evidence of a "feminist" movement in theological spheres throughout the sixteenth century, there is evidence of a shift in attitudes toward the female sex as a whole within the church-based intelligentsia. The change is often subtle, and only rarely positive, but crucial to understanding the slowly evolving social roles of woman — those roles which were portrayed so well by Cervantes in his prose fiction. That Cervantes' works were directly informed, from the Galatea to the Persiles.

Green in Spain and the Western Tradition. In addition, in spite of the Hispanic tendency to name children after saints, the choices of the names of certain of Cervantes ' characters who are involved specifically in critical discussions on love and marriage e. Chrysostom, Marcella, and Ambrose are the very Church leaders who are known for their opinions on the same topics.

What sort of influence might the views of such early theologians as those mentioned above have had on Cervantes ' 49 vision of woman? At first glance it would seem to be a dark influence indeed. Many early church fathers such as including Augustine, Hilary, Jerome, Ambrose, and Chrysostom, in spite of passing through various individual developmental stages as they aged, all seem to demonstrate some clearly misogynist tendencies. Saint Jerome translator of Catholicism's official Latin Vulgate , for example, described woman as "the gate of the devil, the path of wickedness, the sting of the serpent, in a word a perilous object" — a statement which, by itself, would leave little doubt as to his feelings toward women Osborne However, this is the same Jerome who wrote to the daughter-in-law of one of his students with tender instructions on how to teach her infant daughter to read Gies And Brown notes, in describing Jerome's mutually supportive friendships with the holy women Marcella and Paula, that "he turned away from his male colleagues, with ill-disguised contempt, in order to lavish his erudition on the devoted women of the Roman Church" Jsrome's apparently ambivalent feelings toward women were not unusual.

John Chrysostom was supported by the wealthy Olympias Brown Much of Ambrose's work is known to us today from letters written to his beloved sister, the consecrated virgin, Marcellina Brown Augustine abandoned his son and his concubine of eleven years at the urging of his mother, Monica.

Casamiento Engañoso

It is obvious that these men, later proclaimed 50 saints by the Catholic Church, were both attached to and profoundly affected by the women in their lives, in spite of any misogynist tendencies that may seem evident to us today in their writings. What was the position of woman in the early Church? During the lives of the early saints 3rd-5th century , the Christian church was vying for followers with other religions.

Woman in a traditional non-Christian marriage was often envisioned as breeding stock to increase manpower in the expanding pagan cities. A few virgin cults recall the Vestal Virgins of Rome helped cement ties to the after- life; but, in general, motherhood with its inherent images of continuity, renewal, and expansion was the desired goal. In contrast, for Christians, woman's role in the Church was still being defined.

However, beyond their use for procreation, Christian women were wanted to immediately people the adult ranks of the believers, and to recruit more adult followers. Although the second coming was no longer felt to be quite so imminent by most fourth century leaders as it had by Paul, motherhood was still not accorded the high status among Christians who anticipated the end of all life on earth as it was among the pagans who tended to view life as a continuity.

In addition, rich widows who remained unattached to a male provided much needed funds for the support of erudite religious leaders who preferred to detach themselves from the mundane problems of life. In short, independent of birth rate, newly converted women 51 provided an immediate surge in the number of Christians on earth while presenting the opportunity for an infusion of wealth into the church coffers. Thus, women were needed and wooed — but not particularly for their traditional role as mothers.

Virginity had steadily gained status as a virtue for both sexes. Chrysostom's exegesis of Paul's opinions on virginity I Cor. As further support for virginity "Mary's purity was exalted by the Church, especially in the fourth and fifth centuries when asceticism was gaining ground. The Ascetics regarded earthly life and desires as inevitably polluted, and the Church Fathers set about encouraging virginity as a way of life.

Nevertheless, in spite of this exaltation of sexual abnegation, Christian mothers did provide Christian children for the rapidly expanding and increasingly politically powerful Christian church — a fact 52 that did not escape the notice of Christian rulers any more than it had pagan rulers. Therein can be found highlighted the problem of the contradictory image of the virgin-mother that has plagued Christian women for centuries.

That virginity was so highly praised is due to a combination of political and theological factors.

It must be remembered that two of the main aims of early Christian leaders were: For many, virginity had the best potential for fulfilling both those goals. In regard to the first, any disruption in the system of sexual traditions of a society including any unaccepted deviations such as prostitution, transvestitism, pederasty, etc. In the words of Bullough, these disruptions are "a way of denying the validity of current societal standards" Sex, Society and History An organized disruption on a mass scale which denies the call of human sexuality threatens "to bring marriage and childbirth to an end.

With marriage at an end, the huge fabric of organized society would crumble Many of the new Christians saw the crumbling of non- Christian societies as a goal within their power to achieve; and John Chrysostom, the "golden tongued" preacher of Antioch, was one of the most fervently in favor of the 53 collapse of the old order. Ironically, his aims are not wholly unlike the beliefs of courtly lovers who would have found little to disagree with in Chrysostom's statement that "where death is, there is marriage" which calls to mind Cervantes' Grisostomo who, rejected by the independent Marcela, chose death.

Although marriage was considered a useful aid to curb lust in On Virginity , Chrysostom assured his listeners that virginity made "those who spend time on earth live like the angels dwelling in heaven. Thus, it can be said that celibacy and denial of desire had political undertones as well as religious significance. And what of the religious motivations? In regard to the Christian goal of achieving entrance into the kingdom of heaven or, more specifically, of achieving unity or oneness with Christ, motherhood and sexual relations were quickly interpreted as rival interests to the divine union.

Christ himself was said to be celibate. Paul, in spite of his ambiguities, can be interpreted as favoring abstinence. Celibacy came to be viewed as the most desired state in a truly Christian existence, the surest path to unity with the 54 "Beloved" in eternal life. In the early Church, virgins of both sexes were valued, with Christian women being elevated to the status of "men" by their strength of will and dedication to "reason".

Celibacy was so desired by the early leaders that Tertullian who was married declared that "a stain on one's chastity was even more dreadful 'than any punishment or any death'" Bullough, Women and Prostitution Origen had himself castrated. Augustine was linked for many years to the Manichaeans, who advocated total abstinence for all members of the Elect.

With such a degree of importance attached to abstinence, celibate men feared anything that might provoke feelings of desire, thus endangering their purity and ultimately, their salvation. They feared the reflection of their own most perilous weakness, and that reflection, was seen to be incarnate in woman. Unlike the courtly lover who desired for the sake of desiring itself , and who loved the woman who mirrored his desire, what the Christian ascetics desired was to not desire. Women were feared and hated for reflecting men's own weakness for earthly pleasures — a weakness that could lead to the dissensions of hell and away from eternal life in unity with the Beloved Bridegroom in Paradise.

It is likely that men were equally feared by celibate women, but "since the Church Fathers were male, and many of them became conscious of the physical desires of their bodies when in the presence of women, misogyny became engrained in Christianity" Bullough, Women and Prostitution Christ still had not come. Desire had not been eradicated or overcome. Marriage, sex, and procreation had not been stopped. Among Christian men, the double standard that had existed in the Greek and Roman civilizations remained strong.

And misogyny, formerly used as a aid to maintaining male celibacy, had become institutionalized in its own right. Debates centered on the question of the existence of a female soul. In spite of a wave of feminist activity in the twelfth century, "Christianity turned out to be a male-centered, sex-negative religion with strong misogynistic tendencies and suspicion of female sexuality" Bullough, Women and Prostitution Previously, Augustine had emphasized woman's equality to man in terms of reason, and her inferiority in terms of body only, thus laying the ground for asserting that continence could mitigate her inferiority.

However, in the thirteenth century, Thomas Aquinas, whose methods formed the base of Medieval Scholasticism, chose to return to Aristotle's conception of the female as a misbegotten male whose sole purpose was reproduction. In his view, marriage was a sacrament designed specifically for women; but within the terms of that sacrament, they were obliged to meet their husband's demands even when those demands were immoral.

The picture for women was not always totally bleak. Nevertheless, even as things seemed to improve, Christian women began to lose their influence as members of the Church hierarchy. As indicated by Shulamith Shahar ; It is interesting to note that the phenomenon of both monks and nuns being ruled by a woman came to an end precisely in the period when the feminine element in divinity was elevated.

This emphasis on the feminine element was not accompanied by elevation of the practical status of women in general, or even of the nun within the religious community. Even in the Greek and Roman civilizations, women had been used as the scapegoats for the evils of the world. In Protestant countries Catholic nuns were persecuted and convents were closed. In Spain, nuns and prioresses begged for support from a government so busy with economic problems surrounding New World exploration that their pleas were often in vain. One particularly poignant account from Madrid describes the frustration of desperate nuns who had 57 been told repeatedly by the king to look for some other remedy ; La priora y monxas de la conzepzion hieronima de Madrid dizen es tan muy nezeitadas [sic] y les falta mucha hazienda para sustentarse el convento y cumplir con obligacion por las grandes deudas que tienen y demas desto tienen un quarto que se les biene al suelo que a no remediarse el haria en mucho detrimento la guarda de la casa y se siguiria grande escandalo como otras vezes an si[g]nificado a Vuestra Majestad suplicandole por alguna merced y limosna[.

Nunca esta seguro de ellas ni mozo ni varon, ni viejo ni sabio, ni valiente ni aun santo. Siempre esta tocando al arma este enemigo comun. Moreover, they were frequently 58 likened to Eve rather than Mary. In modern terminology, "because women's nature was 'other,' it was a nature to be feared.

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However, Erasmus was not favored by everyone. In , the Spanish Humanist Juan Maldonado wrote to Erasmus informing him of the incredible success of his works in Spain — specifically among the uneducated populace and among women who were reading his works--but who were forced to do so in defiance of their confessors: Para estas, anadia Maldonado, y para cuantos no saben 59 latin, muchos eruditos trabajan en traducir a nuestra lengua obritas tuyas. Ya el Enchiridion ha salido en espanol, y con tener muchos millares de ejemplares impresos, no logran los impresores contentar a la muchedumbre de los compradores.

Tambien algunos dialogos de los Coloauios traducidos al espanol vuelan en manos de hombres y mujeres. In spite of statements of a decidedly misogynist nature made in the fifteenth century by the most famous Humanists, before their fall from favor they helped to draft some of the most promising philosophical advances for the women of their time in matters of education, self concept, and fcimily position. Although many of the ideas of Humanism can be traced back to the Greeks and Romans, Humanism as a recognizable movement developed in Italy and began to spread to the rest of Europe in the middle of the fourteenth century.

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The time of its arrival and the circumstances of the early spread of its influence in Spain are not of particular importance here, but it is interesting to note that some researchers cite Alfonso X, "El Sabio, " as a medieval precursor of Spanish Humanism. Among these is Ottavio di Camillo, who notes that "before the first occurrence of the word humanista' was to be recorded in , the impact of Humanism, as it manifested itself in Spain, had been felt in all aspects of the cultural life.

The most famous of the European Humanists, Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam, enjoyed a great deal of popularity in Spain and was favored not only by the Inquisitor General, Cardinal Alfonso Manrique, and others of the highest church dignitaries, but also was held in high esteem by Charles V himself. As cited earlier, Gerda Lerner in The Creation of Patriarchy 54 , states that one of the earliest policies that contributed to a continuing tradition of women being denied positions of power in developing civilizations was that of denying women the right to an education.

Many Humanists were staunchly in favor of education for women — or at least, a "sufficient" education, so in that respect Humanism was an improvement over other traditional 61 philosophies. Although Humanism did not do away with the vision of the subservient female it did provide a fresh look at women as valuable flesh and blood beings with their own ideas and worthy intellects.

Humanism suffered as a result of Counter Reformation restrictions which had been instituted to combat Protestant influence, but Humanist ideas were more liberal in some matters regarding women's responsibilities and rights than those of leading Prostestants , such as Luther and Calvin. While they were advising absolute obedience to all husbands, even non-converted ones, at least one Humanist, Fray Luis de Leon, in La perfecta casada , encouraged women to disobey their Catholic husbands in small matters of charity, if the wives felt it was for the good of the husbands.

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In spite of the fact that he then all but renounced what he had just allowed "porque si el marido no quiere, esta obligado a querer; y su mujer, si no le obedece en su mal antojo. Unfortunately, for his suspicious ideas and teachings and for allegedly translating the Bible's Song of Songs , Fray Luis was imprisoned by the Inquisition It is even less surprising that the oppressors, in a struggle to maintain their position, should have resisted the infiltration of Erasmian ideas and humanist "liberalism" in general with every means at their disposal.

In spite of the existence of impressive numbers of proponents of Humanist ideas from among the nobility and the erudite Catholic hierarchy, including members of the early Inquisition, those clerics who felt threatened by imminent changes in their world, were able to turn Humanism into a weapon against by interpreting Erasmus ' popular satires of unscrupulous priests as heretical complaints against Catholic teachings.

That Erasmus' criticisms were just must have made the clerics' fears — and their resistance — even keener. Erasmian ideas were particularly vulnerable for two reasons: Support by the alumbrados or iluminados for the interiorization and individualization of prayer and religion, which would make the services of priests superfluous, was one of the main causes of the move to eradicate the popularity of Erasmus from Spain.

Moreover, his direct criticism of the exterior ceremonies of the Church and of the utilization of Catholic wealth put Erasmus dangerously close to the rebellious Martin Luther. Since the interpreting of ideas, statements, actions out of context was in total conformity with the prevailing traditions of religion and education in Spain, the undermining of Humanism was possible in spite of the support of influential and powerful individuals within the system. Following the death of the Inquisitor Manrique, the Inquisition, which had originally been re-instituted by the enlightened and Humanist-educated Isabella to help maintain the purity of the Catholic faith, being bound by the stringent rules of its own system, was forced into service by the determined anti-Humanist clerics.

Never quite in step with the rest of Europe, Counter Reformation Spain rapidly became a closed nation, a sharp contrast to Isabella and Ferdinand's "open society, which had been eager for, and receptive to, contemporary foreign ideas. In , the wife of the playwright Lope de Rueda, Maria de Cazalla, was arrested by the Inquisition for her questionable beliefs and evangelizing.

Although Erasmus ' Colloquies had been used as school texts, by , political pressure exerted by the outraged clerics resulted in Charles V declaring their use in schools a capital offense. Only some of Erasmus' works, including the Colloquies which, as noted by McKendrick 8 , contained a detailed exposition of his views on women, appeared on the Spanish Index. More were included in , and a general prohibition against all of his works was published in the Index of Modern scholars, including Bataillon, Castro, and Forcione continue to find evidence of Humanist influence throughout Cervantes' works.

La conversion de la Magdalena. Clasicos Castellanos- Espasa-Calpe, Siglo XXI, See especially Green, Spain and the Western Tradition: Julio Cejador y Frauca, 2 vols. Clasicos Castellanos-Espasa-Calpe , 1: See for data on "autos de fe" in Seville. For example, in , 6 men and 9 women were burned in the town square. On April 26 of , 12 were burned as "Lutherans", including 2 clerics and 2 friars. In July of , six were burned and another six in , etc. Alianza, 9- 41 and Edward T.

Aylward, Tirant lo Blanch Chapel Hill: Julio Cejador y Frauca, ed. Schocken Books, Harper and Row, Biblioteca Contemporanea- Losada , Madrid; Ediciones Istmo, Francisco Lopez Estrada Madrid: For evidence of the continuity of thinking regarding women's nature and roles see: La Condesa de A. Monataner y Simon, This book on etiquette shows how passive, frail, and submissive women in Spain were sometimes advised to be by "authorities" on female behavior.

Bomli, La femme dans I'Espaane du siecle d'or. Martinus Nijhoff, La lozana andaluza , by Francisco Delicado Madrid: See Rey's introduction 10 , for a summary of Rojas' influence on Delicado. Vintage Books-Random House, Maimura, "Avicenna," The Encyclopedia of Philosophy. In this article, Annas discusses the various arguments for and against Plato's "feminism. Oxford University Press, University of Illinois Press, Benjamin Jowett Oxford University Press, qtd. Columbia University Press, See also Vern L. Bullough's essays on homosexuality, particularly: Example from Mythology" Bullough, Sex.

El-silencio-vasco--Antolog-a

Society and History and Prometheus Books, Edwin Mellen Press, xiii-xiv. Lucas, Women in the Middle Ages; Religion. Marriage and Letters New York: Martin's Press, Sally Rieger Shore New York: Martin Luthers sammtliche Werke Erlangen and Frankfurt, Boxer, Mary and Misogyny. Women in the Middle Ages and Renaissance Detroit: Forms, and Legacy , ed. Fordone, Cervantes and the Humanist Vision: Although the romances of chivalry, in general, and Amadis de Gaula.

Typically, courtly love, like its Neoplatonic counterpart in the pastoral romances, avoided marital unions and procreation. The changing tone of the love of the two protagonists is marked by Oriana 's reply to Amadis when he asks how he can repay her for allowing their love to be publicly revealed: When, at Amadis' request, Oriana gains entrance into the enchanted "camara defendida, " the unrelenting desiring and suffering typical of courtly love are effectively removed.

However, although she commends herself to God "Oriana entro Upon her entrance, not only is Amadis reassured of the purity of Oriana 's love, but in a rare moment in Spanish literature, Oriana is guaranteed a life free from worrying about her husband's possible future infidelities: En adelante podria hacer compania a Amadis sin temor de que viniese ninguna mujer, por hermosa que fuese" Amadis In spite of some chivalric romances' concessions to the traditional marriage ending, it is easy to see how the Catholic moralists would have felt threatened by the types of romantic relationsips portrayed in such works.

In addition to the romances of chivalry, another threat to the dominant belief system was presented by the Neoplatonists , whose literary endeavors produced, among other things, the pastoral romances. As cited above, Cervantes demonstrates a fondness for this genre and for his own Galatea in 36 particular. The section removed from Montemayor 's book deals with the wise Felicia and her enchanted water which provided the author with a deus ex machine solution to love's and his plot's problems. It is only to be expected that this total disregard for believable solutions to literary problems would have so irritated Cervantes, who demonstrated a great interest in maintaining verisimilitude in his works.

It is also not surprising that Gil Polo's sequel should have been so highly praised since it is known for its non-f antastic solutions. Like the "novelas de caballeria, " the pastoral novels are an upper-class literature, that is, a genre whose characters may have appeared in the disguise of shepherds but whose actions and demeanor immediately identified them as "noble," whether in spirit or in fact.

Felismena, the disguised Castilian noblewoman in Montemayor's Diana. Wandering alone in the forest, she comes to the aid of three nymphs who are being abducted by three savages "tres salvages, de estrana grandeza y fealdad. Eran de tan fea catadura que ponian espanto. In keeping with the general characteristics of women in this genre, it is explicitly stated that Selvagia is playing an equal role in this defense team: Los dos pastores y la pastora Selvagia. Y sacando todos tres sus hondas. Su arco tenia colgado del brago ysquierdo, y una aljava de saetas al ombro, en las manos un baston de sylvestre enzina, en el cabo del qual avia una muy larga punta de azero Diana Without showing fear, remorse, or hesitation, she kills two of the savages with her bow and arrows.

Then, in hand-to- hand combat, she delivers such a blow to the head of the third that his brains spill out of the wound. This portrayal is diametrical to the non-fiction ideals set up for real- life women of the time who were taught by church leaders such as Fray Luis de Leon that they were, by nature, weaker and had fewer needs, resulting in the publication, as late as the twentieth century, of instructional manuals for women that urged them to remain true to those ideals. However, no matter how licentious, bold, independent, or immoral any of the women may have been in the upper-class pastoral and chivalric novels, in the lower-class literature of the picaresque genre.

Although any reader of Hispanic literature will be familiar with this master character, it is useful for the purposes of this study to mention her most salient traits. She was characterized by her author as a "mala y astuta mujer" Celestina 1; She was well versed in the black arts and exuded an openness about human sexuality homosexual as well as heterosexual that places her closer to the Medieval mentality than to the Baroque.

Heiress of the Archpriest of Hita's Trotaconventos and grandmother of the later "picaras" such as the "Picara Justina" and the "Lozana Andaluza," it is certain that her charms were well known to Cervantes. Cervantes goes to the trouble of working Celestina's name into the anagram at the beginning of his Viaje del Parnaso.

However, in spite of his obvious admiration for Rojas' work, it might be said, using Harold Bloom's term, that Cervantes generally chose to "overcome" that "poet father" in a way other than direct imitation of Celestina. Classical Views of Woman Many of the views about the nature of woman that were common in Cervantes' time derived from classical roots, and the influence of classical authors remained strong throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth-centuries.

In recent years Michel Foucault has theorized that Cervantes was born into a world whose theories of knowledge 41 were based on resemblances of all things, one to another, and he left a world at the peak of a major epistemological change, a world where difference and individual identity replaced resemblance as the basis of knowledge. Viewed in that respect, it seems only logical that in his works Cervantes should have revealed conflicting views regarding not only the nature of the literary creation, but of the very nature of human existence itself.

Foucault, in fact, credits Cervantes' Don Quijote with being the seminal character of the new era The Order of Things No longer is a character who defines existence by resemblances — windmills to giants, prostitutes to princesses — considered normal. Rather he is quite mad, insanely out of touch with the rest of a changing world.

Unlike the character, Don Quijote, born middle-aged into the new world, Cervantes was born into a world still caught up in the old system, where knowledge was based on resemblances, on multiple variations and exegetical shadings of the Classical Greek and early Christian models. In spite of the antithetical natures of many of the major tenets of the Christian religion and the classical pagan philosophies, Christian scholars seemed not only unable, but unwilling to break their intellectual ties to familiar classical texts.

Existing information was not displaced or destroyed, it was reviewed and rearranged. So ingrained was 42 the practice of utilizing existing information, and the idea that the written Word was Law and akin to an organic being, that endless interpretation of existing texts was the primary method of seeking knowledge. Any method of learning which was not based on utilizing the earlier models might, in fact, be interpreted as heresy. Vern Bullough believes that it was not only Christianity or the unsupported prejudices of the medieval clergy which led to medieval and modern misogynism but also the medical and scientific assumptions of the ancient world that were incorporated igto medieval thinking with but little challenge.

Each interpreter and 43 translator read texts, or fragments of texts, out of historical context and through the filter of his own real world experiences. Thus, the major models of woman in the sixteenth and early seventeenth-centuries were still based, with multiple variations and interpretative shadings, on the classical Greek and early Christian models. Texts became so over-written by centuries of successive reader-writers that by the sixteenth-century, physicians "quoting" Galen to "refute" Aristotle, were neither in line with Galen's ideas, nor against Aristotle ' s.

Of the ancient philosophers, two who were at the very base of the tower are Plato and Aristotle. In spite of being 44 the chronological forerunner, Plato's views on woman were, from a modern perspective, more "advanced" than Aristotle's. It has been debated whether Plato was an early feminist. Although later, in Laws , he reneged on his most radical positions, and although he always qualified his statements in the Republic with the declaration that women were in physical strength inferior to men and that they were, at their best, inferior to the best of men in all other traits as noted by Annas 24 , that does not erase the fact that he advocated equal education and opportunity for women in jobs to which they might be suited — and those jobs included positions in the hierarchy of his Guardian class.

Physicians, as members of the ruling patriarchy, were on the side of Law and the Church — as opposed to the folk-healing "witches" and the much maligned barber-surgeons including Cervantes' father, Rodrigo. In speaking of the European situation in general, Maclean, like Foucault, marks the end of the sixteenth- century as a turning point in world affairs, stating that many doctors at the end of the sixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth-centuries write eloquently against the wrong done to the honour of woman by Aristotle, and it is possible to argue that there is a feminist movement in medical spheres, where in theology there is little evidence of one" Regarding the "medical spheres," it must be remembered, however, that in Counter Reformation Spain, Church officials, government leaders, and physicians, as members of 48 the dominant patriarchy, frequently supported each other and touted similar ideologies.

In addition, in spite of the Hispanic tendency to name children after saints, the choices of the names of certain of Cervantes ' characters who are involved specifically in critical discussions on love and marriage e. Chrysostom, Marcella, and Ambrose are the very Church leaders who are known for their opinions on the same topics. What sort of influence might the views of such early theologians as those mentioned above have had on Cervantes ' 49 vision of woman?

At first glance it would seem to be a dark influence indeed. Many early church fathers such as including Augustine, Hilary, Jerome, Ambrose, and Chrysostom, in spite of passing through various individual developmental stages as they aged, all seem to demonstrate some clearly misogynist tendencies. Saint Jerome translator of Catholicism's official Latin Vulgate , for example, described woman as "the gate of the devil, the path of wickedness, the sting of the serpent, in a word a perilous object" — a statement which, by itself, would leave little doubt as to his feelings toward women Osborne However, this is the same Jerome who wrote to the daughter-in-law of one of his students with tender instructions on how to teach her infant daughter to read Gies And Brown notes, in describing Jerome's mutually supportive friendships with the holy women Marcella and Paula, that "he turned away from his male colleagues, with ill-disguised contempt, in order to lavish his erudition on the devoted women of the Roman Church" Jsrome's apparently ambivalent feelings toward women were not unusual.

Although the second coming was no longer felt to be quite so imminent by most fourth century leaders as it had by Paul, motherhood was still not accorded the high status among Christians who anticipated the end of all life on earth as it was among the pagans who tended to view life as a continuity. In addition, rich widows who remained unattached to a male provided much needed funds for the support of erudite religious leaders who preferred to detach themselves from the mundane problems of life.

In short, independent of birth rate, newly converted women 51 provided an immediate surge in the number of Christians on earth while presenting the opportunity for an infusion of wealth into the church coffers. Thus, women were needed and wooed — but not particularly for their traditional role as mothers. Virginity had steadily gained status as a virtue for both sexes. Chrysostom's exegesis of Paul's opinions on virginity I Cor. As further support for virginity "Mary's purity was exalted by the Church, especially in the fourth and fifth centuries when asceticism was gaining ground.

The Ascetics regarded earthly life and desires as inevitably polluted, and the Church Fathers set about encouraging virginity as a way of life. Nevertheless, in spite of this exaltation of sexual abnegation, Christian mothers did provide Christian children for the rapidly expanding and increasingly politically powerful Christian church — a fact 52 that did not escape the notice of Christian rulers any more than it had pagan rulers.

Therein can be found highlighted the problem of the contradictory image of the virgin-mother that has plagued Christian women for centuries. That virginity was so highly praised is due to a combination of political and theological factors. It must be remembered that two of the main aims of early Christian leaders were: For many, virginity had the best potential for fulfilling both those goals. In regard to the first, any disruption in the system of sexual traditions of a society including any unaccepted deviations such as prostitution, transvestitism, pederasty, etc.

In the words of Bullough, these disruptions are "a way of denying the validity of current societal standards" Sex, Society and History An organized disruption on a mass scale which denies the call of human sexuality threatens "to bring marriage and childbirth to an end. With marriage at an end, the huge fabric of organized society would crumble Many of the new Christians saw the crumbling of non- Christian societies as a goal within their power to achieve; and John Chrysostom, the "golden tongued" preacher of Antioch, was one of the most fervently in favor of the 53 collapse of the old order.

Ironically, his aims are not wholly unlike the beliefs of courtly lovers who would have found little to disagree with in Chrysostom's statement that "where death is, there is marriage" which calls to mind Cervantes' Grisostomo who, rejected by the independent Marcela, chose death. Although marriage was considered a useful aid to curb lust in On Virginity , Chrysostom assured his listeners that virginity made "those who spend time on earth live like the angels dwelling in heaven.

Thus, it can be said that celibacy and denial of desire had political undertones as well as religious significance. And what of the religious motivations? In regard to the Christian goal of achieving entrance into the kingdom of heaven or, more specifically, of achieving unity or oneness with Christ, motherhood and sexual relations were quickly interpreted as rival interests to the divine union. Christ himself was said to be celibate.

Paul, in spite of his ambiguities, can be interpreted as favoring abstinence. Celibacy came to be viewed as the most desired state in a truly Christian existence, the surest path to unity with the 54 "Beloved" in eternal life. In the early Church, virgins of both sexes were valued, with Christian women being elevated to the status of "men" by their strength of will and dedication to "reason". Celibacy was so desired by the early leaders that Tertullian who was married declared that "a stain on one's chastity was even more dreadful 'than any punishment or any death'" Bullough, Women and Prostitution Origen had himself castrated.

Augustine was linked for many years to the Manichaeans, who advocated total abstinence for all members of the Elect. With such a degree of importance attached to abstinence, celibate men feared anything that might provoke feelings of desire, thus endangering their purity and ultimately, their salvation. They feared the reflection of their own most perilous weakness, and that reflection, was seen to be incarnate in woman.

Unlike the courtly lover who desired for the sake of desiring itself , and who loved the woman who mirrored his desire, what the Christian ascetics desired was to not desire. Women were feared and hated for reflecting men's own weakness for earthly pleasures — a weakness that could lead to the dissensions of hell and away from eternal life in unity with the Beloved Bridegroom in Paradise.

Desire had not been eradicated or overcome. Marriage, sex, and procreation had not been stopped. Among Christian men, the double standard that had existed in the Greek and Roman civilizations remained strong. And misogyny, formerly used as a aid to maintaining male celibacy, had become institutionalized in its own right. Debates centered on the question of the existence of a female soul.

In spite of a wave of feminist activity in the twelfth century, "Christianity turned out to be a male-centered, sex-negative religion with strong misogynistic tendencies and suspicion of female sexuality" Bullough, Women and Prostitution Previously, Augustine had emphasized woman's equality to man in terms of reason, and her inferiority in terms of body only, thus laying the ground for asserting that continence could mitigate her inferiority. However, in the thirteenth century, Thomas Aquinas, whose methods formed the base of Medieval Scholasticism, chose to return to Aristotle's conception of the female as a misbegotten male whose sole purpose was reproduction.

In his view, marriage was a sacrament designed specifically for women; but within the terms of that sacrament, they were obliged to meet their husband's demands even when those demands were immoral. The picture for women was not always totally bleak. Nevertheless, even as things seemed to improve, Christian women began to lose their influence as members of the Church hierarchy.

As indicated by Shulamith Shahar ; It is interesting to note that the phenomenon of both monks and nuns being ruled by a woman came to an end precisely in the period when the feminine element in divinity was elevated. This emphasis on the feminine element was not accompanied by elevation of the practical status of women in general, or even of the nun within the religious community.

Even in the Greek and Roman civilizations, women had been used as the scapegoats for the evils of the world. In Protestant countries Catholic nuns were persecuted and convents were closed. In Spain, nuns and prioresses begged for support from a government so busy with economic problems surrounding New World exploration that their pleas were often in vain.

One particularly poignant account from Madrid describes the frustration of desperate nuns who had 57 been told repeatedly by the king to look for some other remedy ; La priora y monxas de la conzepzion hieronima de Madrid dizen es tan muy nezeitadas [sic] y les falta mucha hazienda para sustentarse el convento y cumplir con obligacion por las grandes deudas que tienen y demas desto tienen un quarto que se les biene al suelo que a no remediarse el haria en mucho detrimento la guarda de la casa y se siguiria grande escandalo como otras vezes an si[g]nificado a Vuestra Majestad suplicandole por alguna merced y limosna[.

En hello se haza muy grande servic[i]o a nuestro Sehor. In in his El Criticon. Baltasar Grecian described women in scathing terms: Hacenle guerra al hombre diferentes tentaciones, en sus edades diferentes, unas en la mocedad y otras en la vejez, pero la mujer en todas. Nunca esta seguro de ellas ni mozo ni varon, ni viejo ni sabio, ni valiente ni aun santo. Siempre esta tocando al arma este enemigo comun. Moreover, they were frequently 58 likened to Eve rather than Mary. In modern terminology, "because women's nature was 'other,' it was a nature to be feared.

Although Humanism did not do away with the vision of the subservient female it did provide a fresh look at women as valuable flesh and blood beings with their own ideas and worthy intellects. Humanism suffered as a result of Counter Reformation restrictions which had been instituted to combat Protestant influence, but Humanist ideas were more liberal in some matters regarding women's responsibilities and rights than those of leading Prostestants , such as Luther and Calvin.

While they were advising absolute obedience to all husbands, even non-converted ones, at least one Humanist, Fray Luis de Leon, in La perfecta casada , encouraged women to disobey their Catholic husbands in small matters of charity, if the wives felt it was for the good of the husbands. In spite of the fact that he then all but renounced what he had just allowed "porque si el marido no quiere, esta obligado a querer; y su mujer, si no le obedece en su mal antojo. Unfortunately, for his suspicious ideas and teachings and for allegedly translating the Bible's Song of Songs , Fray Luis was imprisoned by the Inquisition It is even less surprising that the oppressors, in a struggle to maintain their position, should have resisted the infiltration of Erasmian ideas and humanist "liberalism" in general with every means at their disposal.

Since the interpreting of ideas, statements, actions out of context was in total conformity with the prevailing traditions of religion and education in Spain, the undermining of Humanism was possible in spite of the support of influential and powerful individuals within the system. Following the death of the Inquisitor Manrique, the Inquisition, which had originally been re-instituted by the enlightened and Humanist-educated Isabella to help maintain the purity of the Catholic faith, being bound by the stringent rules of its own system, was forced into service by the determined anti-Humanist clerics.

A "well-read" woman, she "had developed her own doctrine, a mixture of the dexamiento abandonment of the alumbrados and Erasmus' 'philosophy of Christ. Although acquitted in after almost three years of torture, humiliation, and deprivation, she serves as an excellent example of the dangers of being an educated woman with unorthodox ideas in the sixteenth-century. Although Erasmus ' Colloquies had been used as school texts, by , political pressure exerted by the outraged clerics resulted in Charles V declaring their use in schools a capital offense. Only some of Erasmus' works, including the Colloquies which, as noted by McKendrick 8 , contained a detailed exposition of his views on women, appeared on the Spanish Index.

More were included in , and a general prohibition against all of his works was published in the Index of Modern scholars, including Bataillon, Castro, and Forcione continue to find evidence of Humanist influence throughout Cervantes' works. La conversion de la Magdalena.

Clasicos Castellanos- Espasa-Calpe, Siglo XXI, See especially Green, Spain and the Western Tradition: Julio Cejador y Frauca, 2 vols. Clasicos Castellanos-Espasa-Calpe , 1: See for data on "autos de fe" in Seville. For example, in , 6 men and 9 women were burned in the town square. On April 26 of , 12 were burned as "Lutherans", including 2 clerics and 2 friars. In July of , six were burned and another six in , etc.

Alianza, 9- 41 and Edward T. Aylward, Tirant lo Blanch Chapel Hill: Julio Cejador y Frauca, ed. Schocken Books, Harper and Row, Biblioteca Contemporanea- Losada , Madrid; Ediciones Istmo, Francisco Lopez Estrada Madrid: For evidence of the continuity of thinking regarding women's nature and roles see: La Condesa de A.

Monataner y Simon, This book on etiquette shows how passive, frail, and submissive women in Spain were sometimes advised to be by "authorities" on female behavior. Bomli, La femme dans I'Espaane du siecle d'or. Martinus Nijhoff, La lozana andaluza , by Francisco Delicado Madrid: See Rey's introduction 10 , for a summary of Rojas' influence on Delicado. Vintage Books-Random House, Maimura, "Avicenna," The Encyclopedia of Philosophy. In this article, Annas discusses the various arguments for and against Plato's "feminism. Oxford University Press, University of Illinois Press, Benjamin Jowett Oxford University Press, qtd.

Columbia University Press, See also Vern L. Bullough's essays on homosexuality, particularly: Example from Mythology" Bullough, Sex. Society and History and Prometheus Books, Edwin Mellen Press, xiii-xiv. Lucas, Women in the Middle Ages; Religion. Marriage and Letters New York: Martin's Press, Sally Rieger Shore New York: Martin Luthers sammtliche Werke Erlangen and Frankfurt, Boxer, Mary and Misogyny. Women in the Middle Ages and Renaissance Detroit: Forms, and Legacy , ed. Fordone, Cervantes and the Humanist Vision: Forcione discusses Castro's evolution from the early days of the first 69 publication of El pensamiento de Cervantes through later essays, revisions, and works such as Cervantes v los casticismos espanoles Cambridge University Press, 8.

Indiana University Press, Coleccion Austral-Espasa-Calpe, Meridian-New American Library, Bruce Wardropper, in his essay "Cervantes' Don Quijote" assures his readers that "man, notwithstanding the catechism, does not in his heart believe truth to be categorical: In a minor confirmation of this, there is some evidence that, as far as religious ideals were concerned, the sensual, converted prostitute, Mary Magdalene, had been added to the Eve-Mary dichotomy as a third role model for women in Spain by the end of the sixteenth-century, reaching cult status by the seventeenth, "perhaps [as] a reaction to the puritanical tendencies of the sixteenth-century Counter Reformation.

In addition to these three models, women had, of course, the female saints and martyrs to emulate, although, as mentioned earlier, the numbers of new female saints added to the Church calendar after the start of the Counter Reformation 70 71 decreased dramatically Wiesner Even Humanism aimed for goals impractical and undesirable for the masses of everyday women. As stated by Vigil; seria un error de bulto el creer que las mujeres espanolas del siglo XVI eran como la perfecta casada de fray Luis de Leon o como la femina cristiana de Juan Luis Vives. En toda sociedad existen instituciones formales e instituciones latentes; y en toda sociedad hay una tension entre el sistema ideologico y las instituciones concretas.

Vigil 4 For these everyday women there were other earthly role models against which to measure themselves. The Role Models Although the seventeenth-century lacked the technological advances in mass communications enjoyed by today's world, just as today's movies stars and major political figures provide role models for modern youth, the most well-known of the Golden Age celebrities must have served as patterns for the young of that era. Tirso de Molina, the seventeenth-century playwright who is known for his outstanding female characters, had his young, independent and very intelligent heroine, Jeronima, in El amor medico , explain to her maid her admiration for both Queen Isabella and Isabella's Latin teacher, Beatriz Galindo, who founded the the convent and hospital "La Latina" in Madrid; La reina Dona Isabel, que a tanta hazana dio fin, empieza a estudiar latin.

Outside of fiction, both women had shown themselves to be outstanding role models and worthy of imitation. It is unfortunate that one of Isabella's best known and perhaps most lastingly influential legacies was her reinstitution of the dreaded Inquisition.

On the positive side, it is important to note that she believed not only in education for herself, as indicated by Tirso's Jeronima, but for her daughters as well. However, true to tradition, she did not question woman's inferior role in society in general. Isabella maintained and ruled her kingdom of Castile as a separate entity apart from Ferdinand's Aragon and claimed America for Castile's Crown alone.

Besides Isabella, other members of Spanish royalty provided highly visible figures. Isabella's erudite daughter, Catherine of Aragon, who was married for political purposes to Henry VIII of England, was such a magnetic figure that the English populace supported her against their own native-born king. Nor did the magnetism fade with time.

In his book Muieres espanolas. Isabella's daughter and Catherine's sister, Juana was known by the 73 sobriquet "la loca. Royalty surely provided a large number of opportunities for producing women of power, but educated women could also be found in other quarters. Ortega Costa relates the account of Isabel Ortiz, who was a servant in the house of Isabel de Aragon, the daughter of a silversmith, and the abandoned wife of another silversmith. In spite of her low social standing, Ortiz read, studied and eventually wrote her own book of devotions.

Her open sympathies with the "alumbrados" soon led to her arrest by the Inquisition. Although she was released, it is noteworthy that one of the main complaints of her accusers and the witnesses called to testify against her was that she, a woman, had dared to write a book. Convents were not generally the most luxurious of places in spite of some exceptions , but they did shelter some very capable intellectuals.

Her autobiography or Vida , written at the behest of her spiritual confessor. The New World brought new chances for women wishing to take a more active role in their society. There are some known instances of women who rebelled and succeeded, as in the case of Catalina de Erauso.

Unhappy with her life as a nun, she fled her convent for Seville and then embarked for the New World disguised as a man. There, for nearly twenty years, she lived a successful life as a soldier and a mule- driver. She only revealed her sex to save herself from execution for killing a man. Following her revelation, she was returned to Spain by the authorities. Her life was so exceptional that news of her exploits reached both the Spanish king and the Pope in Rome.

The Efemerides in the Municpal Archives in Seville records the ceremony performed in the Seville Cathedral there which permitted her legally to dress as a man. Modern sociologists recognize the importance of understanding everyday living and everyday people in our guest for knowledge of both the past and present.

As noted by Weigert, "everyday life is a rich source of evidence for, and genuine knowledge of, the processes and structures which make men and women tick as believable and authentic humans — or fail to do so. Thus an understanding of everyday role models in Golden Age Spain is essential to an understanding of Cervantes' women. Education and Occupations for Women According to Heller, "until very recently, the everyday knowledge which women were expected to appropriate was quite different from that incumbent upon men.

A report on statistics from the town of Andujar indicates that although all the clerics, public officials and gentlemen in the town could read and write, only half of their wives had the same skills. Of course, poorer citizens and rural citizens had fewer reading skills than city dwellers, but in any area, as would be expected, there were always far fewer women who could read than men. Foreign book importation was banned. Under Phillip II, study 76 at foreign universities was outlawed.

University enrollment plummetted with some universities closing down Dominguez Ortiz Women, who had been taught from birth to downplay their intelligence, who had been taught self abnegation and denial, who had been given an inferior position in their society and supposedly in their biological "gifts" from God, lost a great deal of ground during the Counter Reformation in the area of education just as in so many other areas.

Educated women were frequently suspected of unorthodox activities, particularly if they were imprudent enough to voice any original opinions concerning Church doctrine. The Inquisition was quick to question anyone with opinions, and outspoken or eccentric women throughout history have frequently suffered as scapegoats for their society's ills. Since women were already filling the scapegoat role created by Eve, their position was doubly dangerous.

Ortega Costa documents the abrupt change in attitudes towards education for women from one generation to the next in families of similar economic status and background wherein the earlier family's daughters were studying Erasmus in and the later family's daughters were not allowed to learn to read or write This change is also confirmed by the attitudes detectable in the literature and drama of the seventeenth-century, especially when contrasted with that of the relatively liberal sixteenth century McKendrick As was also the case with men, the subjects taught to 77 women, when they were allowed to learn, varied in content and depth according to their social class.

There existed both private and group education with priests sometimes serving as instructors. Convents often ran schools, as can be verified by the numerous notations to be found in archives, such as the Municipal Archive in Seville, regarding requests for aid, wills from school benefactors, and occasional complaints about unsuitable orphan girls being placed in the schools. In addition to women's traditional skills such as cooking, embroidery, weaving, and sometimes singing and dancing which Erasmus actually approved of for exercise purposes, if it were "decent" noble and wealthy daughters might learn a bit or more of Plato, Aristotle, and the philosophers, Latin, and Greek, in addition to the basic battery of reading, writing, arithmetic, and religious instruction.

Merchant daughters in the Golden Age, as in the Middle Ages, might be taught to do bookkeeping, take orders and do inventories.

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