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Neophilologus (2007) 91:439444
DOI 10.1007/s11061-007-9032-5
Clark Colahan
Received: 7 April 2006 / Accepted: 1 November 2006 / Published online: 27 March 2007 Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2007
Abstract Cardenio, a central gure in Part One of Don Quixote suffering from love madness, has frequently been studied, but little attention has been given to the impact of his story on the novels protagonist. As the result of listening to Cardenios narration of his inhibited and maddening love affair, Don Quixote resolves to follow his example to the extent of imitating a form of amorous derangement typical of chivalric and sentimental novels. But in justifying this decision he reveals for the rst time that his Dulcinea is in fact the peasant Aldonza Lorenzo, transformed into an ideal lady only in his imagination, and to whom he has never summoned the courage to speak. He then takes a second step, also unprecedented for him, of sending Sancho to Aldonza in order to declare his love, and in so doing he dares to open the possibility of a real relationship.
Keywords Cardenio Don Quijote Aldonza Lorenzo Locura Cobarda
Cardenio, entre todos los personajes del Quijote de 1605, ha sido ltimamente uno de los ms estudiados.1Pero a pesar de esta riqueza crtica los anlisis realizados hasta el momento no llegan a satisfacer una curiosidad pertinente por dos motivos. Por un lado la gran mayora de los cervantistas han aceptado la interpretacin de Madariaga, segn la cual es Cardenio ejemplo de la
1 Para la voluminosa bibliografa que se ha producido alrededor de este personaje cervantino en los tres cuartos de siglo desde que escribi sobre el tema Salvador Madariaga, con una notable intensidad dentro de estos ltimos diez aos, consulte, entre otros, los siguientes estudios: Fajardo (2005); Nuez-Rivera (2005); Zimic (2003); Hathaway (1999); y Percas de Ponseti (1999).
C. Colahan (&)
Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA 99362, USAe-mail: [email protected]
Desde la cobarda de Cardenio a la timidez de Alonso Quijano
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440 C. Colahan
cobarda por una defensa extraordinariamente cohibida de su amor por Luscinda, mientras que a la vez al menos dos, Zimic y Satake, lo consideran digno de alabanza por su prudencia en las relaciones sociales y su rechazo de la violencia....