Revista Canadiense de Estudios Hispnicos

La gitanilla: A Model of Cervantes's Subversion of Romance

Author(s): JONATHAN BURGOYNE
Reviewed work(s):
Source: Revista Canadiense de Estudios Hispnicos, Vol. 25, No. 3 (Primavera 2001), pp. 373-395
Published by: Revista Canadiense de Estudios Hispnicos
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BURGOYNE
JONATHAN

La gitanilla: A Model of Cervantes's

Subversion of Romance

En este art?culo se examinar? la manipulaci?n de los recursosconvencionales del

"romance" tantoformales como ideol?gicos, en La gitanilla, con el prop?sito de

descubrir la subversi?n sistem?tica de losmismos por Cervantes. Espec?ficamente,

demostraremos

los mismos

que

lugares

comunes

del

"romance,"

muchas

veces

citadas para comprobar el convencionalismo art?sticoe ideol?gico de lasNovelas

una

ejemplares,

con cuidado,

vez examinados

se revelan

como

formas

de subversi?n

de lasmodalidades convencionales del g?nero que s?lo superficialmenterepresentan.

Los conceptos de realismo e idealismo, o la hibridaci?n gen?rica que podr?an
producir relatosherm?ticosen lo que a su interpretaci?nse refiere,son insuficientes
para explicary comprender elproducto subversivofinal del autor. Postulamos que
Cervantes ense?a a sus lectoresla conexi?n ?ntimaque hay entreforma literaria e
ideolog?a,y que el "romance," art?stica y moralmente hablando, es un c?digo
narrativo exhausto. Esperamos que esta lecturade lamanipulaci?n
recursos

del

"romance"

en La

gitanilla

suscite

una

reconsideraci?n

ir?nica de los

de

las Novelas

ejemplares como obra unitaria. Us?ndola comopunto de partida, concluiremosque

Cervantes

desarrolla

en su novela

introductoria

un modelo

de subversi?n

sistem?tica

de las convenciones literariase ideol?gicasde "romance" que sepuede emplear como

r?bricapara la interpretaci?nde toda la colecci?n.

The topic ofCervantes's manipulation of generic literarystylesand forms in the

Novelas ejemplares is a seemingly endless source of critical discussion. Scholars
writing about them have pointed to the pastoral, chivalric, Byzantine, picar
esque, and the Italian novella as basic structural, thematic, and stylisticpatterns
resonating throughout them. JosephRicapito has argued in favourof the Italian
model,1 but other authors have reminded us that Cervantes favoured the
Byzantine narrative amore obvious point,made by citingCervantes's prologue

to theNovelas ejemplares inwhich he writes thathis Persileswill compete with

Heliodorus - while some criticshave attempted to categorize Cervantes's novelas
in the more

generic

revista canadiense

terms

de estudios

of romance.

hisp?nicos

Vol XXV, 3 Primavera 2001

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374
Understood in the lightofNorthrop Frye'swork, theword romance is often
used to identifynot only structuralcommonplaces and motifs, but also tone and
ideology.Applying the term to theNovelas ejemplares, JenniferLowe wrote in
1971 that "romance is potentially misleading in view of some of its popular
modern connotations," but that "as a critical term it adequately defines the
essential atmosphere of the chivalresque and pastoral works" (8). Her remark
points to another source of confusion; namely,what type of romance served as
a general literarymodel for Cervantes, or what exactly is the "essential
atmosphere" of romance that authors such as JenniferLowe have identified in

the tales that appear to be "chivalresque" or "pastoral"?

Daniel Eisenberg suggests in "The Romance as Seen by Cervantes," that
Cervantes's notion of romance was more in linewith the librode caballer?a (178),
and as this essaywill demonstrate furtheron, Cervantes does indeed invoke, for
his own ironic intentions,many characteristics of the romance of chivalry that
Eisenberg outlines inhis book Romances ofChivalry in theSpanish Golden Age.
The debates surrounding this subject are verywell-known among Cervantine
scholars, and they involve the opinions of a long listof respected criticswho have
attempted to clarifyCervantes's engagement with his literaryenvironment.2
Another authorwho has recentlywritten on Cervantes's engagementwith the

available literarygenres of his time, in particular the picaresque, isManuel

Dur?n. In his essay "Picaresque Elements inCervantes's Work," Dur?n revisits
the subject ofCervantes's combination of idealism and realism, linking it to the
historically parallel developments of Italian Renaissance idealism in the plastic
arts (especiallypainting), and the realism ofGerman and Flemish schools. Dur?n
states that "the struggle between Platonic idealization and realistic caricature
took place in themind of Cervantes not once but throughout his career as a

writer" (233).As the comments byDur?n suggest, the search for literarymodels
at work in Cervantes's Novelas ejemplares often leads to a discussion of the
notions of idealism, realism, or combinations of both.
This essaywill probe the extent towhich Cervantes engages the common

places of romance in La gitanilla, and the idealism associated with its literary
tradition, in order to uncover his deliberate subversion of those same conven
tions.More particularly, itwill demonstrate thatCervantes's manipulation of the
commonplaces associated with the tradition of romance, both structural and
thematic, so often pointed to as examples ofCervantes's ideological and artistic
conventionalism, are themselves subversions of the very literary conventions
they appear to represent. The conclusions of this studywill demonstrate that
notions of idealism and realism are only partially satisfactoryas heuristic devices
when approaching La gitanilla, as well as theNovelas ejemplares as a whole.
Furthermore, a close reading of Cervantes's manipulation of the expectations
associated with romance will show thathe develops more than a simple series of
experiments with different literarymodalities

resulting in tales that resist

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375
interpretation; rather, the author systematically subverts the artistic viability of
romance, and its potential to conveymoral exemplarity. It is hoped that this
essaywill trigger retrospective readings of theNovelas ejemplares, especially of
those tales that, on the surface, appear to follow convention, in light of the
bankruptcies of romance thatCervantes exposes in his introductory novela.
Alban Forcione wrote in his ground-breaking book, Cervantes and the
Humanist Vision, that each of Cervantes's novelas is, to some degree, defective
with regard to the traditional expectations ofwhat a novelawas considered tobe
by his contemporaries. What is evenmore provocative about Forcione's study
is the suggestion that the author is aware ofmanipulating those expectations by
producing narratives thatmay seem to follow convention (28). Summarizing the
entire collection, Forcione believes thatCervantes's tales, on the structural level,
are "elusive," and that beneath the surface they demonstrate a "radical"
deviation fromwhat theymay firstappear to be (28).
Cervantes opens his collection of exemplary taleswith this trademark play on
appearances

and

expectations.

"Parece

que"

Cervantes

writes

to

begin

La

- "los
gitanilla
gitanos y gitanas solamente nacieron en el mundo para ser
ladrones" (1, 61).With these first twowords Cervantes makes an important, if
not exactly "radical," departure from a ubiquitous structural component of the

shortprose narrative tradition in Spain and the restof Europe: the frame story.
Rather than attempting to frame his novelawithin another discourse that could
affordan authoritative interpretation and closure to his story,or superscribing
a summary of his tale at the beginning that summarizes thed?nouement, as in the

case of JuanTimoneda's El patra?uelo, Cervantes chooses to begin his tale on the

unstable grounds of appearances, without providing, at leastnot rightaway, an
attempt at guiding the reader.3
The structuralelements thatproduce a closed symbolic return to order, or the
authoritative interpretation of an impliedmoral, in a conventional short story,
romance, or novella are often developed from theverybeginning of the text.This

kind of narrative closure isbuilt on the creation of reader expectation, especially

in a collection of short narratives that displays similar, or even identical,
structuring

agents,

as in the case

of Juan Manuel's

El

conde

Lucanor.

Cervantes's

La gitanilla seems to depart from that tradition by undermining the textual

foundations upon which closure isbuilt, but the disorientation caused by this
beginning does not last.
Once Preciosa is introduced, the readerwho is familiarwith tales such as
Patient Griselda, Apollonius of Tyre, or any number of conventional romances
with exemplary female characters, isback on steadyground. She is a recognizable
player in theworld of romance, and Cervantes makes no attempt at disguising
the fact that she belongs to a long line of heroes, and heroines, whose true
identity is temporarily unknown. From the first indirect mention of her,
Cervantes clarifies that Preciosa is not a true gypsy: "Una, pues, desta naci?n,

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376
gitana vieja, que pod?a ser jubilada en la ciencia de Caco, cri? una muchacha en
nombre de nieta suya" (i, 61). Her identityat thismoment in the text remains
amystery,but it is certain that she isnot the old woman's granddaughter. In two
words, "desta naci?n," Cervantes sets up the beginning of a series of contrasts
between Preciosa and her foster family,but she is not simply the opposite of

what shemay appear to be.

The description of Preciosa that follows is as deceptive as Cervantes's
introductorycomments on gypsies. The narrator explains that shewas instructed
in theways of the gypsies, and thather nefarious grandmother taught Preciosa
all of her "gitaner?as" and "modos de embelecos, y trazas de hurtar" (1, 61);
therefore,Preciosa is a gypsy by trade,but is no ordinary gypsy girl. She stands
out among her peers, and even her elders, for her dancing and singing, her
wisdom, and especially her beauty. Building on his readers' expectations and
familiaritywith the conventions of romance, Cervantes points to these signs in
order to show that she is not of the same "naci?n" as her step-brothers and
sisters,but of amuch more noble heritage: "Y lo que esm?s, que la crianza tosca
en que se criaba no descubr?a en ella sino ser nacida de mayores prendas que de
gitana, porque era en extremo cort?s y bien razonada" (1, 62).
The contrast made here between the two classes and theirmanners is
expressed in a particularly formulaic fashion, so much so that it cannot be
overlooked as a conscious attempt on the part of the author to inscribe the

trappings of romance into his novela. This way of describing the protagonist
conspicuously hints at her hidden identity.As a point of comparison, Juan
Timoneda used a similar narrative device in his refashioning of the famous

tale when Griselda is suddenly placed in the halls of the

Marqu?s's palace: "Mostr? en poco tiempo despu?s en la pobre hecha nueva
Marquesa tanta gracia y divinal favor, que no mostraba en alguna cosa ser
nascida ni doctrinada en la aspereza del monte, sino en palacios de grandes
Patient Griselda

se?ores" (54).
The patent contrasts between Preciosas character and her surroundings
would be sufficientto begin a typical romance, endingwith a recognition scene,
and theheroine's return to society,which is indeedwhat happens in this novela,
at least on the surface,but Cervantes does not allow his characters, or his plot,
to be reduced tomere convention. Immediately following the description of
Preciosa's virtues, Cervantes introduces an unconventional quality into his
would-be exemplary female character. Given all the noble qualities of a

formulaic female character of romance, the author then subtly distorts that
traditional image: "Y, con todo esto, era algo desenvuelta; pero no de modo que
descubriese alg?n g?nero de deshonestidad" (1,62). Once again the image of the
gypsy girl is allusive, resisting conventional categorization.
As isoften cited, Preciosa is "algo desenvuelta," but not to the extent of being
unchaste. She is clever and modest at the same time,both "aguda" and "honesta"

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377
(i, 62), and she is treatedwith a special courtesy not expected among gypsy
thieves: "Que en su presencia no osaba alguna gitana, vieja ni moza, cantar
cantares lascivos ni decir palabras no buenas" (1, 62). These allusions to her
modesty and discretion will laterbe contrasted with her lusty style of singing,
dancing, and fortune telling thatwill highlight the character'smore subversive
nature.

In these firstpages of the novela, Preciosa is verymuch an enigma. She is

more noble than her surroundings; prudent, beautiful, and modest, and yet
Cervantes suggests that she has also been successfully trained in themore
nefarious arts of the gypsies by her eagle-eyed grandmother: "Y, finalmente, la
abuela conoci? el tesoro que en la nieta ten?a,y as? determin? el ?guila vieja sacar

a volar su aguilucho y ense?arle a vivir por sus u?as" (1, 62). She will be an
unconventional and complicated figureuntil the end of the talewhen she returns
to her predetermined status in structured Spanish society. Cervantes's preco
cious female protagonist appears all themore subversive in theworld of romance

she is compared to other female characters typical of the genre; in

particular, the humble and innocent victim, La Truhanilla, from JuanTimone
da's version of theApollonius of Tyre tale inEl patra?uelo. Like La Truhanilla,
Preciosa is famous forher beauty and her voice, with which she earns her keep,
but this iswhere the similarities end.
Keeping inmind the characters and motifs of romance thatmake up what
most critics referto as the idealistic elements of La gitanilla, the attentive reader
discovers that these aspects of romance are simultaneously subvertedwith irony,
when

eroticism, and glimpses of corrupt Spanish society.One of themost idealistic

elements that is often cited is the intercalation of lyric texts, the first two of
which deal with exemplary female characters, praised as paragons ofmotherly
virtue: Saint Anne andMargarita de Austria.4 Preciosa begins with a pious ballad

singing the praises of Saint Anne, mother of theVirgin conceived without sin.
Once the ballad is cited, there follow comments on how the ballad was
performed, painting amore provocative image of a live streetperformance that
combines the eroticwith the sacred:
El cantar de Preciosa
bendiga
verdad

modorro,
amores,

la muchacha!"
que merec?a
vi?ndola
y pisad

yo at?n menudo."

fue para

admirar

Otros:

a cuantos
es que

la escuchaban.
esta mozuela

Unos
sea

dec?an:

"?Dios

En verdad,

te
en

"?L?stima
gitana!
... Otro m?s humano, m?s basto
un gran se?or"
y m?s
hija de
andar tan ligera en el baile, le dijo: "?A ello, hija, a ello! ?Andad,
ser

el polvito

at?n menudito!"

Y ella respondi?,

sin dejar

el baile:

"Y pis?relo

(1, 65-66)

Again Cervantes conspicuously flags the anticipated commonplaces that

surround Preciosa from thebeginning. Her beauty and ability are the common
currencyof female characters that testifyto her noble heritage, but, just as in the

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378
beginning of the textwhere the reader is told thatPreciosa is "algo desenvuelta"
(i, 62), Cervantes complicates his character in this scene with a display of her
more

licentious

side.

The double meanings in this passage surrounding the phrase "pisad el

polvito" and theword "polvo" in general have not been lost on many critics.
Among them, one of themost notable is Francisco Marquez Villanueva, who
clarifies in his essay "La buenaventura de Preciosa" that this is an allusion to a

popular dance, the baile del polvico. More importantly,he calls attention to the
obvious double meaning of "polvo" which is associated with fornication (755).
Cervantes will allude to Preciosas provocative and sensual styleof dance in later
scenes,but thisfirstperformance isparticularly interestingbecause it is a symbol

of non-conformity that resonates through to the end of the text.

Cervantes provides enough evidence for the imaginative reader to picture the
entireperformance of thisballad, rather than simply focusing on the textof the
What this spectacle amounts to is an erotic dance performed to a
poem itself.
about
the Immaculate Conception. It is a performance that embodies two
song
one profane, the another orthodox.While the textof the
discourses:
competing
ballad tells of themiracle of the Virgin s birth, born free from original sin,
Preciosa tantalizes her audience, especially themale members who cheer her on.
Unlike Timoneda s Truhanilla character who is passive and subservient to her

pimp, rarely speaking at all to her audiences, Preciosa is patently flirtatious,

drawing inher patronswith suggestivedance and coquettish repartee, employing
her sexuality to gain profit while manipulating the discourse of Catholic
orthodoxy in order to entertain. She is mistress of her own body, and
empowered with the ability to appropriate dominant ideologies into her
performance.

Not only does Preciosa captivate the audience with her beauty, a predictable
characteristic of any heroine of romance, she also displays a superior intellect
that astonishes all those who come into contact with her. Furthermore,
Cervantes has created a character who is fullyaware of her superiority, and on
several occasions states in no uncertain termsher unwillingness to enter into a
societygoverned by established norms, although she has no fearof entering itfor
her own personal gain.
One of the firstencounters inwhich Preciosa demonstrates control over her
environment occurs after theperformance of the allegorical ballad dedicated to
the royal family,when she and her entourage pass a gaming house inwhich a
number of gentlemen arewagering. The space is clearlymasculine and, when the
gypsy girls are invited to enter, they are noticeably concerned about the
gentlemen's intentions: "Entren, entren las gitanillas, que aqui les daremos
barato" - the gentlemen exclaim as the girls pass by thewindow grating (1, 72).
Preciosa informsthemen that theywill not tolerateany uninvited advances, and
they are assured by one who bears the insignia of the order of Calatrava that

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379
none of themwill be touched. Even with these assurances, Preciosa s compan
ions are afraid to enter where women are usually prohibited: "Si t? quieres
entrar,Preciosa? dijo una de las tresgitanillas que iba con ella?entra enhora

buena, que yo no pienso entrar adonde hay tantos hombres" (i, 73).
Within the precincts of structured society, the space of the gaming house is
clearly off limits to women, among so many other public spheres, and this
particular gaming house seems to belong to a higher class ofmen, but Preciosa

isby no means intimidated. She assures her companion that there isno danger
in entering, since it is a public space, and thatmore harm can be done to a
woman's reputation in private situations: an apparent reversal of commonly
accepted practice for young Spanish ladies who wish to protect their good
reputations. But Preciosa isnot, at this time, a typical Spanish lady.

Like many of Cervantes's liminal characters in theNovelas ejemplareswho

find themselves on the fringesof societydue to theirmadness, jealousy, criminal
life-style,or animal family (as in the case of two talking dogs), Preciosa-the
gypsy is also a marginal characterwho can be made to unmask the hypocrisies

and double standards of societywithout fearof censorship, precisely because she

speaks from themargins of society as amember of an outcast group,much like
the slave in the Emperor's New Clothes. On the other hand, Cervantes has
already hinted to his readerswho are accustomed to romance that she isnot a
gypsy girl,but probably a person of noble heritage, and thereforeher comments
and criticismsbecome more threatening in themind of the reader as shemoves

closer tomainstream society.Preciosas code of behaviour foryoung ladies is, in

this case, the opposite of proper behaviour in Spanish society,as the explanation
given to her companion demonstrates: "La mujer que se determina a ser
honrada, entreun ej?rcito de soldados lo puede ser.Verdad es que es bueno huir
de las ocasiones; pero han de ser de las secretas, y no de las p?blicas" (1, 73).

Preciosas notion of feminine virtue, and how to preserve it, flies in the face
of the common practice of cloistering and silencing the female subject in order
to protect her honour frommalicious gossip - a practice outlined by JuanLuis
Vives in La formaci?n de lamujer cristiana, inwhich the author advises young
ladies to rarely,ifever, leave the safetyof theirhome: "Rara ha de ser la salida de
la doncella" - Vives instructs- "puesto que poco es lo que tiene que hacer fuera
de casa y corre peligro su honestidad, riqueza de muy subido precio" (1026). As
Alison Weber points out, Preciosas conspicuousness in public spaces is linked
to her liberated sexuality, since visibility bears "the symbolic imprint of sexual
availability" (63). Rather than amodel of feminine virtue, Preciosa becomes, as

Weber

argues,

"

contra-exemple?

(63).

Once inside thismasculine space, Preciosa astonishes allwith her intellectual

prowess, evenmore thanwith her beauty. After reading the ballad given to her
by the anonymous poet who will return to the storyas Clemente, the gentlemen
are impressedby her precociousness and maturity regarding the courtly subjects

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380
of love and poetrywhen she finds fault in the conclusion of Clemente's ballad:
"?En pobre acaba el ?ltimo verso? dijo a esta saz?n Preciosa?:
?mala se?al!
Nunca los enamorados han de decir que son pobres, porque a los principios, a
mi parecer, la pobreza esmuy enemiga del amor" (i, 76).When asked how she
knows all this,Preciosa explains that gypsy girls are, by necessity,wise beyond
their years.

What appeared to be a typical female character like somany who inhabit the
world of romance at the beginning of the tale has turned out to be much more
subversive.What makes this character all themore surprising, especially as a
female character, is her ability to successfullymanoeuvre within a variety of

social spaces: themarginal gypsyworld, the open urban setting in the streetsof
Madrid, and even themost male-dominated environments. In episodes such as
this one, and in others to come before the end of the tale, Preciosa is not just a
marginal character, nor can such an enigmatic figure be reduced to a mere
symbolic representation of an historicallymarginalized ethnic group.

The encounter with the gamblers is a prelude to another, much more

symbolically dense episode inwhich Preciosa again demonstrates the ability to
control her environment, as well as express her contempt forordered society and
its hierarchies. This is the "Buenaventura" scene, inwhich Preciosa and her
companions are invited to a courtier'shome to perform and tell fortunes,but the
family isunable to pay for the services.From themoment thegypsies realize that
theyarewasting their time, the scene becomes chargedwith tension and double
entendre.

In his provocative reading of this scene,M?rquez Villanueva convincingly

interprets the subversive discourse thinly disguised in a series of double
meanings and erotic allusions from the image of the thimble, through the entire
poetic textof Preciosa's palm reading thatbegins with "Hermosita, hermosita"
(1,79).M?rquez Villanueva concludes that the entire reading amounts to a pulla,
or slanderous joke played on theunsuspecting family,alluding to the nobleman's

impotence, the lady Clara's infidelities, and the family's tainted bloodline,
among other lampoons (747).M?rquez Villanueva also concludes that this satire
is indicative of Preciosa's general attitude toward thewhole culture represented
by the family,where nothing is what it appears to be, and corruption and
hypocrisy rule the day (756).
To conclude this scene, Cervantes places in the mouth of Preciosa the
contemptuous and sarcastic words and undertones thatM?rquez Villanueva
uncovers inher palm reading, leaving no doubt or double meanings to coat her

animosity toward theLieutenant Governor and his aristocraticworld. When the

lord of the house returns, and Preciosa discovers that shewill not be paid, she
takes itupon herself to advise the Lieutenant Governor on how to best perform
his office: "Coheche vuesa merced, se?or tiniente; coheche, y tendr? dineros ...
que de los oficios se ha de sacar dineros para pagar las condenaciones de las

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381
residencias y para pretender otros cargos" (i, 81). Here Cervantes brings to the
surfaceof the textthehypocrisies and corruption of thehierarchical courtly and
bureaucratic society in which the Lieutenant Governor lives, and when he
suggests that there are honest judges among the corrupt, Preciosa sarcastically
tellshim thathe isna?ve: "Habla vuesa merced muy a lo santo, se?or teniente
respondi? Preciosa?; ?ndese a eso y cortar?mosle de los harapos para reliquias"
(1, 82).
The scene becomes increasingly complex as it turns into a battle ofwits: a

battle Preciosa wins hands down. The Lieutenant Governor is silenced by her
comments on the judiciary system,and can only suggest thatwith suchwit and
knowledge she should go to court. Preciosa makes it clear that she will have
nothing to do with his corruptworld where fools have more authority than the
wise: "Querr?nme para truhana ... y no lo sabr? ser,y todo ir?perdido. Si me
quisiesen para discreta, a?n llevarmeh?an; pero en algunos palacios m?s median
los truhanes que los discretos. Yo me hallo bien con ser gitana y pobre" (1, 82).
Preciosa emerges from this scene as not just a subversively sexual female subject,
but also as "a forcefulverbal presence" (Weber 64), challenging the ideals of
feminine virtue by being publicly visible, precocious, and outspoken. Not only
is she a paradoxical character who challenges humanist notions of feminine
virtue, but she also undermines the reader's expectations of romance, and its

conventionally idealisticworld view.

The image of the typical aristocratic Spanish familypresented to the reader
in theLieutenant Governor's home, alongwith itsurban setting,does not appear
to be a "site of order and reason" (Sears 41), nor can this familybe interpreted
as amodel of the ideal home towhich Cervantes's protagonists must ultimately

return in order to "create social order at itsmost fundamental level" (Sears 42).
On the contrary, this family,and theworld it inhabits, is a sign of the injustice,
corruption, bankruptcy and impotence of the society that fashioned it.The
author patently satirizes the values of the Lieutenant Governor's class, and will
continue to do so to the end of the novela.
This episode is particularly important to any reading of La gitanilla, since it

is one of the firstglimpses, among many others, of structured Spanish society

depicted as thieving, cheating, and corrupt; an ironic allusion back to the
introductory comments made with regard to gypsies. It is also of great interest,
since it is an example of the conspicuous language of money in this novela.
Preciosa is often compared with precious gems, gold and silver,and money is
also wrapped up (literally and figuratively)with the language of love in the
poems she receives from the anonymous page. William Clamurro has recently
written in Beneath theFiction: The ContraryWorlds ofCervantes, thatmoney
operates in this tale as a "plot device," and must be read as a "carefullyallusive
language" (16). Yet other critics have attempted to dismiss the subversive
element of this "allusive language." Thomas Hart does not see that the image of

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382
money arises very often in the text and, when itdoes, he writes that it "almost
always appears in an unfavourable light" (23). Hart will then argue that the
absence of money in the Lieutenant's home is an idealistic element that
Cervantes's aristocratic readers would have appreciated, since it is in keeping
with the petty nobility's self image of existing in a world freeof currency (23).
Hart does not acknowledge the pervasive presence of the language ofmoney in
La gitanilla, stating that "one of the few glimpses of it ... comes near the
beginning,when a group of gypsies is invited into a nobleman's house" (23). This
episode isby no means the only one inwhich the subject ofmoney appears in
the text,but Hart's reading is of interesthere, since it follows a tradition of
viewing La gitanilla in terms of idealism and romance.

Daniel Eisenberg points out inRomances ofChivalry in theSpanish Golden Age

thatmoney is conspicuously absent from romances of chivalry, and that
Cervantes was well aware of thisunique characteristic: "The knight never seeks
money; indeed,money is so seldommentioned, as Don Quijote correctlypoints
out to Sancho, that it seems that the protagonists of the romances live in a
primitive era, outside the money economy altogether" (63). The "money
economy," contrary toHart's reading, is omnipresent in La gitanilla; it opens
and closes the text, and is one of the elements most subversive to romance
inscribed in the tale.This plot device appears no more clearly in the novela than
when don Juande C?rcamo, soon to be Andr?s Caballero, approaches the gypsy
band

to court

Preciosa.

One of theways Cervantes speaks this "allusive language" ofmoney to his

readers, is by encoding it into the discourse of romance and, in particular,
chivalric romance. When Juan leaves his home to join the gypsies, he is
completely aware of his identityand noble heritage, unlikemany typicalknights
of romance whose true identities are unknown when theyfirstventure out of

their courts. Going against Preciosas advice, he claims to be willing to abandon

his lifeof privilege in order to comply with Preciosa's demands, and as a final
proof of his sincerity,he offersher hismoney: "Cien escudos traigo aqu? en oro
para daros en arra y se?al de lo que pienso daros; porque no ha de negar la
hacienda el que da el alma" (1, 84). Love, identity,and money, according to this
nobleman, are intimatelylinkedwith each other, and it is the function ofmoney
in this tale to keep Juan connected to his aristocratic world. This is not, as is
often claimed, an idealistic element of the novela. Rather than a symbol of his
noble character, Juan'suse ofmoney is a sign of his coercive powers, cultivated
in a world of privilege.
Preciosa, on the other hand, is a free individual as long as she liveswith the
gypsies,

set

apart,

or

above,

the

social

structure

that

programmes

Juan's

behaviour and social mores. Her often cited replymakes her superiority plain:
"Yo, se?or caballero, aunque soy gitana pobre y humildemente nacida, tengo un
cierto espiritillo fant?stico ac? dentro, que a grandes cosas me lleva.A m? nime

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383
mueven

ni me

promesas,

desmoronan

d?divas,

ni me

inclinan

ni me

sumisiones,

espantan finezas enamoradas" (i, 85).While the gypsy girl is incorruptible,

abiding by her own noble code of behaviour, the gentleman must return to the
vernacular code ofmoney to define his identityand desires.
Juan iswilling to lie and steal fromhis family in order to join the gypsyband
and live according to their laws, and again, as a final gesture of his authentic

affection and unimpeachable intentions,he offers the gypsies his hundred gold
escudos. Here it is Preciosa who, going against her usual economic sagacity,
displays more chivalricmanners by refusinghis money. It is then up to a real

gypsy to remind her of the importance of cash for the gypsyband, particularly
when they come into contact with theministers, scribes and judges of Spanish
society.What makes the old grandmother's rebuke all themore amusingly
satirical, isCervantes's inscription of the imageryof chivalric romance intoher

argument.

Cervantes begins the discourse with a direct association between arms and
money: "Calla, ni?a; que lamejor se?al que este se?or ha dado de estar rendido
es haber entregado las armas en se?al de rendimiento" (1, 88). Justas a knight
might hand over his sword to his new lord as a symbol of loyal service, the arms
that once stood for the honour and identity of a knight are here ironically

substituted for gold, but symbolically fulfil the same function. The wise
grandmother concludes her argument with another allusion to the idyllic
chivalricworld inwhich money ideally has no place: "Mira ni?a, que andamos
en oficio muy peligroso y lleno de tropiezos y ocasiones forzosas, y no hay

defensas

que m?s

presto

nos

amparen

y socorran

como

las armas

invencibles

del

gran Filipo: no hay pasar adelante de su plus ultra" (1, 89).

The ironic treatmentof the language of chivalry here is a patent attempt at
subverting the idealisticworld view recreated in romance. Cervantes seems to be
elaborating on theold jaded Spanish saying, "poderoso caballero es don Dinero."

In this case, themagicians, monsters, and giants thatmust be vanquished are

scribes and judges, and with a concluding ironic allusion to the ever-presentpaso
motif of so many romances of chivalry,Cervantes tells his readers that the
currencyof theday can defend the gypsies' nefarious byways better than any Sir
Lancelot.5

The conclusion that the readermust draw from scenes such as thisone, and
the "Buenaventura" episode, is that Juan and his whole social class, as itwas
expressed in theworld of romance, ismarked only by the ephemeral appearances
of order, justice, honour and nobility. This is accomplished by calling tomind
the whole literary tradition of romance, including its ideology, through
Cervantes's ironic duplication of those same literary conventions. These
- female sexual
appearances are then checked by less idealistic elements
aggressiveness

and

precocity,

the market

economy,

aristocratic

moral

laziness,

and political corruption - that are foreign to the idealism of romance, and the

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384
affected aristocratic world presented within it. The combination of what
traditionallyhas be called idealism and realism ismore than an experimentwith
narrativemodalities, and what the reader uncovers by paying close attention to
Cervantes's manipulation of generic discourses is a systematic subversion of the

form and ideology of romance, since it is clear that Cervantes deliberately

inscribeselements thatpromise to be conventional, but turnout to be subverted
with ironyfrom the very beginning. This reversalof expectations will continue
to the troubled happy ending of the tale, but before moving on to the closing
scenes, the encounter between Juan and the old gypsy leader deserves a close re

examination here in order to furtherdemonstrate the point made above.

The world of the gypsies, as described by the gypsy chieftain, is a space set
apart, and in opposition to,mainstream Spanish society.Cervantes shapes this
marginal space in his short storywith an acute awareness of its potential to
illuminate social values, as well as tensions arising out of a conflict between a
society'sworld view, itsview of how theirculture actuallyworks as a system,and

its ethos. In this phase of the tale, Juanmust abandon his identity,and, like
many neophyte heroes, the high must be made low in order to be tested and
enlightened. Don Juan de C?rcamo, the high-born noble knight, becomes
Andr?s Caballero the gypsy, but Cervantes will not allow this neophyte to
complete his right of passage honestly. Andr?s is never entirelydisconnected

fromhis true identity.The symbolic umbilical cord that linkshim to his society,
and his privileged place within it, ismoney.
Andr?s does use hismoney to avoid the stealing involved inhis new gypsy life
- an
aspect of the narrativemany critics have focused on in order to emphasize
Andr?s's distance from themorality of the gypsyband.6 Here again, the role of
money highlights the linkbetween currency and class identity in the text, and
an
just as in the "Buenaventura" episode, there is ample evidence to suspect
ironic treatment of this relationship. As part of his private agreement with
Preciosa towin her hand, Juan agrees to live by the laws and customs of the
gypsies explained to him by the elder of the group. This includes participating
in theirnotorious thievery,but Juanplots to undermine those laws through the
use of his financial advantages: "De todo lo que hab?a visto y o?do, y de los
ingenios de los gitanos, qued? admirado Andr?s y con prop?sito de seguir y
conseguir

su empresa

sin entremeterse

exentarse de la jurisdiction
mandasen,

a costa

de

su dinero"

nada

en

de obedecellos

sus costumbres

...

pensando

en las cosas injustas que

le

(i, 106).

Cervantes saturates the encounter between Juan and the gypsies with the
language of law.The old gypsy leader refersto the "ley de amistad" (1,101) that
theyall abide by, and he explains that theyare all the judges of theirown affairs,
abiding by theirown statuteswillingly: "Con estas y con otras leyesy estatutos
nos conservamos y vivimos alegres" (1,101). Juan ismade aware of the jurisdic
tion he is entering into, and in an ironic twist,money exerts the same power of

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385
corruption in this new world as itdoes in structured society alluded to in the
"Buenaventura"

episode.

In Juan'snatural environment,money can persuade a judge and spare a thief

frompunishment. In this strange gypsyworld, stealing is the law; it iswhat all
gypsiesmust do and, just as in theworld Juan comes from, economic privilege
can shield him from the law of the gypsies. This is an entertaining parody, but
the insight into law-governed Spanish society remains clear:money buys off the
law and breaks jurisdictions. More than a simple inversion of Spanish society,
the author creates a complex manifestation of social anti-structure in the gypsy
camp that is not a reversal of order, but a comic distortion of existing social

practices.7Once placed in thisnew world, Andr?s's surname,Caballero, acquires

a distinctly ironic valance, and cannot be interpreted as a badge of chivalric
idealism; on the contrary, itmust be see as another source of subversion in the
text.

In light of this re-reading of Andr?s and the gypsy band, the gypsyworld
depicted by the old leader warrants further examination, since it is the first
manifestation, ofmany more to come in theNovelas ejemplares,ofwhat has been
referred

to above

as

As

anti-structure.

many

critics

have

acknowledged,

Cervantes's writings reveal a fascination with worlds set apart from ordered
society.Whether it is called freedom, lawlessness, alterity, or marginality,
Cervantes seems constantly preoccupied with the narrative possibilities and
insights that can arise from these fictionalmanifestations of anti-structure.8
The community of gypsies, although it is certainly an expression of anti

structure, isby no means a Utopian space, especially if the reader considers the
cruel and dehumanizing treatment that gypsywomen receive. The gypsies do
live, however, in a commune where all possessions are shared (except for
women), and there is no hierarchy based on class distinctions. They are not
plagued by thenotion of honour, nor do they sufferfrom jealousy and envy,and

all theirdisputes are settled according tomutually-accepted laws.As such, they

live completely separated from ordered Spanish society and itsdraconian codes
of acceptable social practices: "En conclusi?n" - the gypsy chief explains "somos gente que vivimos por nuestra industria y pico, y sin entremeternos en
el antiguo
contentamos

refr?n:
con

'Iglesia,

o mar,

lo que

tenemos"

o casa

real,' tenemos

lo que

queremos,

pues

nos

(i, 102).

The world described above stands in opposition to ordered society, and

Cervantes draws on the contrasts between the twoworlds in order tomap out
theirboundaries. In these examples the gypsyworld is indeed the opposite of
mainstream society,and the old gypsy's description of his culture in contrast to
itsopposite provides a fictional gridwith which the imperfectionsof theworld
fromwhich Juan comes can be marked. On the other hand, with regard to the
treatmentofwomen, the gypsyworld can be read again as an exaggeration of
actual Spanish society inwhich women are verymuch oppressed by a patriarchal

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386
society,not always free to choose theirhusbands, and are exchanged much like
material commodities in themarket place ofmatrimony.
What is important about all the manifestations of anti-structure in the
Novelas ejemplares,from the gypsies' camp, to thepicaresque worlds inRinconete
y Cortadillo and La ilustrefregona, or theTurkish setting inEl amante liberal,or
even themicrocosm

inhabited by one mad licentiatewho sees through the

of
his
surroundings in El Licenciado Vidriera, is that they are
hypocrisies
fictionalized liminal spaces that afford insights into a culture's ethos. Since they
are spaces that allow for an examination of a culture'smost basic values, they
create the potential to legitimate those values, or to serve as a template upon
which a new, re-adjusted world view might be conformed.
The old gypsy's speech stands at the centre of an opposition of discourses that
has been followed fromPreciosas firstencounters with ordered Spanish society.
One discourse recreates a symbol of order and traditional cultural authority
fashioned in the familiar commonplaces of romance, and the other is an
expression of anti-structure, inherentlysubversive to traditional order.
Carroll Johnson offers a similar reading of Cervantes's exploitation of this
structural aspect of the short prose narrative inMonipodio's picaresque world
fromRinconete y Cortadillo. Justas the gypsies'world isnot a complete inversion
of symbolic order, as discussed above, Johnson writes in "The Old Order
Passeth, or Does It?" thatMonipodio's patio is another parody of order that
provides the same kind of insights into Spanish society: "It [Monipodio's patio]
presents not a grotesque deformation, which would valorize the official
institutionspositively by contrast,but a caricaturesque exaggeration that throws
the salient featuresof those institutions intoprominence and invitesour critical
on

meditation

them"

(94).

Cervantes

creates

a similar

"caricaturesque

exagger

ation" of Spanish society in the gypsies'world, and more specifically,he satirizes

the idea of a chivalric world that Juan and his class traditionally represent in
romance by subverting the very literaryconventions associated with the genre.
In another parody of the ideals of chivalry and the codes of class distinction
based on blood lines,Cervantes humorously exposes the absurdityof the gypsy's
law-governed society by inscribing the language of chivalry intoAndr?s's reply
to the gypsy leader, while at the same time the author highlights the
impetuousness of Juan'sdecision to become a common citizen in that society:
de haber sabido tan loables estatutos, y que ?l
dijo que se holgaba mucho
en
tan puesta en raz?n y en pol?ticos fundamentos,
hacer
orden
pensaba
profesi?n
aquella
no
s?lo
le
venido
m?s
haber
de tan alegre vida, y
y que
presto en conocimiento
pesaba
El novicio

que desde

aquel

punto

linage, y lo pon?a
ellos viv?an.

renunciaba

todo debajo

la profesi?n

de caballero

del yugo, o, por mejor

y la vanagloria

decir, debajo

(1,103)

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de su ilustre

de las leyes con que

387
The tone here ispatently ironic, but Cervantes does not leave the burden of
interpretingthe absurdity of Juan'sdecision up to the reader.Once the initiation
is complete, the narrator interjectsan apostrophe beginning with "?Oh poderosa

fuerza deste que llaman dulce dios de la amargura" (i, 106), that is directed at
Juan'sfoolishness, subtly insinuating that it stems from themoral laziness of his
class and its idealistic notions of courtly love:
Caballero

es Andr?s,

y mozo

de muy

buen

entendimiento,

criado

casi toda su vida

en la

corte y con

el regalo de sus ricos padres, y desde ayer ac? ha hecho tal mudanza,
que
a sus criados y a sus amigos, defraud?
las esperanzas
que sus padres en ?l ten?an,
enga??
la
dej? el camino de Flandes, donde hab?a de ejercitar el valor de su persona y acrecentar
honra de su linaje, y se vino a postrarse a los pies de una muchacha
en fin, era
puesto que hermos?sima,
gitana. (1,106)

y a ser su lacayo, que,

Juan theknight has become Andr?s the "gallardo escudero" (1,106), all to the
great pleasure of Preciosa, who is now thementor of this nobleman, in spite of
the fact that she is still just a simple gypsy girl. It isAndr?s who is the novice

here, and at every encounter with Preciosa before entering her world, his
character is less than heroic. It is at best puny and na?ve, ifnot self-indulgentand
reckless, and it is not possible to divorce his imperfectcharacter from the class
and social structure inwhich itwas fashioned.

The moral and spiritual transformationofAndr?s has been the focus ofmuch
critical attention given to La gitanilla, somuch so thatAlban Forcione considers
it to be the central humanist argument of the text. By becoming the gypsy

Andr?s Caballero, Juan the foolish gentleman with his gossamer sentimentality
rises above the corruption of both his world and that of the gypsies to sit at
Preciosas side. A close reading ofwhat happens to these free spiritsby the end
of the tale, however, shifts the interpretation of the novela away from the
idealism of romance, and orients itagain towards a critical examination of the
shortcomings

On

of mainstream

society.

the surface, the ending of La gitanilla displays all the traditional

commonplaces of the anticipated happy ending typicalof romance, concluding
with the discovery of Preciosa's true identity,
Andr?s's return tohis proper social
status, and, of course, the inevitable nuptials. This is completed with secret
lettersregardingConstanza de Azevedo y de Meneses's disappearance and the
final examination of Preciosa's hidden birthmark that signal the character's re
entry into society. But the events surrounding this ending complicate the
potential closure that such a formulaic ending could provide, leading the reader
to suspect disingenuousness on the part of the author regardinghis opinion of
the artistic and ethical viability of romance.
The beginning of the d?nouement ismarked by events that echo thebeginning
of the text,dealing with the themes of theft,corruption, and class identity.In yet

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388
another reversalof expectations, it turnsout that themembers of honour-bound
Spanish society are once again the corrupted ones, while the gypsies are

manipulated and victimized. The tensions between the twoworld views rise
again in the episode where theyoung, unrequited Carducha framesAndres as a
thiefwhile the gypsy band is staying at her mother's boarding house. Andr?s's
innocence will not be revealed until afterhis true identity isdiscovered and he
is automatically pardoned, a point that re-introduces the ironic treatment of
appearances,

class

identity,

and

the commonplaces

of romance.

While he is imprisoned, and Preciosa isbrought before theCorregidor and his

wife, the distinctions between social classes are invoked on several occasions in
defense ofAndr?s's behaviour. Twice the subservient Constanza argueswith her
parents thatAndr?s is not a gypsy, and thereforehe cannot be amurderer. On
these grounds Constanza states thatAndr?s is innocent, not because he didn't
kill aman, but because he is not a gypsy: "Se?ores m?os" - Constanza pleads -

"que ni es gitano ni ladr?n, puesto que esmatador. Pues fuelo del que le quit?
la honra, y no pudo hacer menos de mostrar qui?n era ymatarle" (i, 129).
The double standard implied here cannot be overlooked, since the author
continually draws attention to these reversals, and indeed he has primed an
ironic interpretationof the text from the firstwords of the story.Here a gypsy
who kills a man is a murderer, since he has no honour to defend, and he must
be sentenced to death, but a nobleman who kills is the embodiment of the
highest chivalric ideals of honour. Nevertheless, a dramatic shift in social

will not be enough to completely close off the tensions caused

standing by itself
this
The Corregidor and his wife must take advantage of their
murder.
by
financial advantages in order to release Andr?s and complete his return to Juan
the "caballero." The topic of the coercive nature of cash thatwas introduced
earlier by Preciosas gypsy grandmother, arises again to end the narrative.
Once Preciosa is brought before the judge, but before her true identity is
established, she offers to buy Andr?s's freedom in a statement that points the
reader back to her grandmother's explanation of the powers ofmoney when
facedwith the judicial system: "Si dineros fuerenmenester para alcanzar perd?n
de la parte, todo nuestro aduar se vender? en p?blica almoneda, y se dar? a?n
m?s de lo que pidieren" (1,126). In fact, the same use ofmoney that Preciosa's
grandmother outlined earlier in the tale is exercised here at the end of the novela
in order to secure Andr?s's acquittal: "Recibi? el t?odel muerto la promesa de
dos mil ducados, que lehicieron por que bajase de la querella y perdonase a don
Juan" (1,133).Once again, Spanish society is not a symbol of ideal order, nor is
ita wholesome and "right" society inwhich a reconstructed Spanish family can
be resurrected,and where "things are not stolen; theyare bought and paid for"
(Sears 46). A more accurate description of the image of Spanish society in La
gitanillamight be that it is a place where things, and people, are bought offand
paid for.

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389
The reader is at once struck by the abruptness of Andr?s's return to his
privileged position, and thematter-of-fact manner inwhich all charges are
dropped. Andr?s literallymoves in the text from thedarkest of dungeons to the
lightof his publicly celebrated marriage with Constanza. The exposure ofwhat
must be read as expressions of the abuse of power associated with ordered
society thathave already been exposed in the text continue to subvert both the
form and the ideology associated with romance. Although the two do return to
society,and thewedding does take place, these tensions, once exposed, are not
satisfactorilyclosed off; they lie justbeneath the surfaceof the commonplaces of
romance, eliminating any possibility of validating existing social structure by

breaking through the surface in the last lines of the novela.

Cervantes chooses to end the tale not with a wedding ceremony, but with an
aside to the reader, added after the official ending of a second poetic narrative
created by the Licentiate Pozo, inwhose verse,we are told, the fame of Preciosa

liveson forever.Even the poetic ending alluded to is incomplete, since it is not

even present, but our author suggests that the implied reader should accept it,
and indeed itwould be a fitting ending for any traditional romance, but
Cervantes includes an addendum to this ending in order to tie up one lastdetail

thathas no place in the idyllicworld of romance: "Olvid?baseme de decir c?mo

la enamorada mesonera descubri? a la justicia no ser verdad lo del hurto de
Andr?s el gitano" (i, 134).
As if to make the insignificance of thematter in relation to the official
representation of order that has sealed the ending of the narrative more
apparent, Cervantes reminds the reader one last time that these endings are too
formulaic to resolve all the tensions created in the text, thus exposing the
artificial and even oppressive qualities of romance. This is achieved by re
introducing at the very lastmoment the subversive discourses developed from
the beginning of the tale that are, in the end, associated with Juan s reckless
adventure with Preciosa and the gypsies. The fact that Juan the gentleman and
his entire class are above the law is here ironically added as if the readermight
have overlooked a point that the author will not let slip by unnoticed.
What may appear on the surface to be an idyllichappy ending to a typical

romance that ratifiessymbolic order, has been successfullyundermined bywhat

William Clamurro calls "ironies, inequalities, and inconsistencies of the same
order that the author affirms" (6). But towhat extent thisproblematic ending
corroborates

Clamurro's

argument

that Cervantes's

"view

of

society

and

... is conservative and

orderly" (5), isverymuch open to debate.
morality
Michael Gerli writes in "Romance and Novel: Idealism and Irony in La
gitanilla" that Cervantes leaves "any judgment of values up to the reader"
through "the juxtaposition of the ideal and the real" in the structuring of La
gitanilla (30). Following the ironies that subvert the idealism of romance, Gerli
concludes that the central theme of La gitanilla is "neither love,marriage nor

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390
constancy" (31). Gerli argues convincingly that the tale exposes and subverts
"society's acceptance of a nobility based solely on birth and ratification in
romance" (35), and that itpushes "ceremony into ostentatious absurdity," thus
allowing the reader to "perceive ironically themoral emptiness of the trappings
of authority" (36). Preciosa stands in opposition to thismoral emptiness,
symbolizing a notion of honour that is "the result of the interaction of
conscience, will, and a natural disposition toward good which all men must

discover within themselves" (Gerli 34-35).

Although Preciosa does indeed represent these humanist idealswhile she is
a gypsy,what happens to her "espiritillo fant?stico" and freewill once she

returns to ordered societyprovides another glimpse of the "moral emptiness" of

thatworld. Rather than the empowered and autonomous subject that transcends
both the laws of the gypsyband, and the corrupt codes of structured society,her

will is completely subservient and ultimately silenced by the oppressiveness of

her rediscovered identity.
When asked by her mother if she loves Andr?s, the
obedient Constanza replies humbly, "con verg?enza y con los ojos en el suelo"
(1,131), that she did entertain the advantages ofmarrying such awell-mannered
noblemen, but that she no longer has any freedom of her own to choose: "Le
hab?a mirado con ojos aficionados; pero que, en resoluci?n, ya hab?a dicho que
no ten?aotra voluntad que aquella que ellos quisiesen" (1,131).
The silencing of Preciosa exemplifiesCervantes's "interplay of idealism and
irony,"thathas been studied here beginning with thefirstlines of the novela and
Preciosas firstpublic performance, but it is also clear that this "interplay" goes
beyond experimentation. There is a discernable method and consistency to the

subversion of form and ideology throughout the tale, and therefore the
"judgment of values" thatGerli speaks of is not entirely subjective. Cervantes
does guide his readers to a conclusion thatgoes beyond theplot of his tale. In La
gitanilla, the author demonstrates that there is an ideological world view
associated with literaryform,and that in the case of romance, both itsform and
ideology are bankrupt. Cervantes provides a tale that invites his readers to
contemplate the oppressiveness and artificial nature of conventional modes of

expression and behaviour, including the idealized, aristocratic, and absolutist

ideologies of his time.
Cervantes provides the clues necessary for a careful reading that penetrates
the surface of appearances in the first lines of the novela, as well as in the
prologue, where he writes, "ser? forzoso valerme por mi pico, que aunque
tartamudo, no lo ser? para decir verdades, que, dichas por se?as, suelen ser
entendidas" (1, 51).Nevertheless, critics continue to insist thatCervantes does
indeed believe in the symbolic order associated with these formulaic endings,
and thathe attempts to harmonize the realistic elements that subvert theworld

view of romance, with its traditional idealistic ideology.

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391
"For some" - Gerli writes - "La gitanilla remains an inspirational tale fullof
moral idealism" (38), and to some extent,William Clamurro's reading of the
Novelas ejemplares, expresses the common belief thatCervantes's novelas display
a faith in "the ultimate Tightness of the given social order and the orthodox
Christian beliefs and values of his epoch" (Clamurro 10). By no means does
Clamurro suggest thatCervantes's novelas are uncomplicated, and he does not
deny that there is an irony in them that subverts "many of the romance genre's
expectations" (16). Clamurro's book is, in fact, based on a study of these
inconsistencies, stating thatCervantes's tales "reveal the complex, slightlygrim,
and perhaps melancholy structuresof social prejudices of amost repressed and
repressive culture" (8), and Theresa Ann Sears also acknowledges thatmany of
the tensions uncovered in Cervantes's tales are reintroduced in their endings
(54-55). Although these studies do pay close critical attention to theunresolved

contradictions between various artistic discourses in theNovelas ejemplares,

moving away from the use of simplistic dichotomies as heuristic devices for
interpretingCervantes's narratives, in the final analysis, these critics seem to
favour a conservative reading of La gitanilla despite the overwhelming
"doubleness and irony" they successfullyuncover (Clamurro 2).
Clamurro argues thatCervantes's conservatism is "openly affirmed in those
novelas that seem to end happily" (11),but at the same time the author recognizes
that the ending of La gitanilla is "darkly ironic" (39). Rather than following the
consistency of this irony as a consciously inscribed subversive element that
denies ordered society's claim tomoral exemplarity,Clamurro concludes that
Preciosa and the "seeming celebration of freedom" she represents isbut a "con
game" (39), and that the character "masks a deeper reaffirmationof rigidvalues
and of class-conscious 'identityas conformity'" (40). It isConstanza who stands
for conformity, and her disturbing silence serves to highlight, by contrast,
Preciosa's nonconformity as a female character of romance. The question is,why

should Constanza (instead of "la gitanilla"), and thisunsettling ending be given

more weight as an expression of Cervantes's conservatism, and faith in "the
ultimate Tightnessof the given social order,"when there is ample evidence that
the entire novela is designed to subvert that conservatism through the ironic
manipulation of one of itsmost recognizable literaryvehicles?
Nowhere in the novela are the reader's expectations met, although it is clear
thatCervantes inscribesmany of the commonplaces of romance intohis tale to
structure it,and tomove from one phase of the narrative to the next. To begin
with, Preciosa appears tobe a typical female character of romance, but she turns
out to be an extraordinarily subversivefigure. She is intelligent,outspoken, and
confrontational. She is also a lowly gypsy girlwho turns out to be the spiritual
mentor of a nobleman, but not according to an idealized notion of courtly love
where the feminine figure is passive, and the gentleman's spirit is ennobled

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392
throughhis actions, and his sufferings.Preciosa assumes complete control over
Juan's tutelage, and she determines all the conditions of theiragreement.
Juan isnot a conventional character either,although Cervantes evokes images
of chivalric romance inmany of the passages where Juanmust interactwith
Preciosa, the gypsies, and the officerwho arrests him. He is at all times aware of
his true identity,and he fails to complete his rite of passage honestly. Further

more, Cervantes makes everyeffortto satirize the aristocratic ideology associated

with Juan and his class, through the language of money interwovenwith the
language of chivalric romance.

Finally, the so-called happy ending does not complete its function, since it
cannot successfully resolve all the tensions created in the novela, and Cervantes
draws attention to this failure in the last lines of his tale. It should be clear that
this textual evidence suggests a systematic process of subversion that far

outweighs any suspicion of conservatism, and that the true con game is
Constanzas conformity,and the entire aristocratic ideology she conforms to as
expressed

in romance.

These differenttypes of endings in theNovelas ejemplares - especially those

that "seem to end happily," and those that appear to be more "open" - are

another aspect of the collection that critics point towhen reading Cervantes's
novelas in terms of idealism and realism, and Cervantes does include "open"
novelas in his collection that are far from conventional in terms of romance

(Rinconete y Cortadillo, El coloquio de los perros). It isworth reconsidering,

however, to what extent the novelas that seem to end happily are more
problematic than one would expect. Using La gitanilla as a model, one might
look for the subversion of romance in the superficiallyhappy ending of La ilustre
fregonawhere a young girl is returned to the nobleman who raped hermother,
or the exclamation in the last line of that novela, "?Asturiano, daca la cola!" that
reintroduces a picaresque theme at the very lastmoment (n, 198). To what
extent is the ending of La fuerza de la sangre a satisfactorilyhappy one? Or that
of El amante liberal?
What kind of ordered society or symbolic familydo these

endings evoke, inwhich the characters themselves are less than ideal, or even
unredeemable. Each of these tales, as Alban Forcione has suggested, does not
meet entirelywith our expectations of romance, and it is hoped that this essay
will triggercareful re-readings of those that appear to follow the commonplaces
of romance in order to arrive at a more complete understanding of Cervantes's
deliberately subversive engagementwith its ideological and formal conventions.
Pennsylvania State University

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393
NOTES
1

was "the
only truly worthy vessel into
Ricapito writes that the Italian model
since
and the Italianate
"Boccaccio
creatio"
his
which Cervantes
poured
tradition were at the literary forefront and created an ideal of literature with
which

The

Cervantes
obviously
search for Cervantes's

wished

to be

literary models
and La gitanilla

identified"

(2).
can be seen inmost

all of the criti

is no exception. Writing
specifically
an influence of the romances of chivalry
on La
Hart
notices
Thomas
gitanilla,
a connection with the
(25), while Juan Bautista Avalle-Arce
picar
points out
cism written

on his works,

(11). Still others, such as Frank Pierce, identify elements of the

as does Stanislav Zimic
(Zimic 46). Pierce also favours a more generic
pastoral,
on notions of verisimilitude
romance
and the triumph
that
focuses
of
concept
La gitanilla with Joaqu?n Casalduero's
of love (283), thus associating
category of
esque

novel

a novela

"de amor"

(11), and with Ruth El Saffar's reading of the text as "transi

of realism associated with the modern
novel,

from notions

tional," moving
toward the idealism
with

associated

of romance

romance

(El Saffar 87). With

regard to the idealism
in La gitanilla, Michael
Gerli views

often discussed

the

as only superficially idealistic (30), and representative

of E.C. Riley's
that Cervantes worked with both realism and idealism at the same
argument
novela

time (6).

The mention

of Juan Timoneda's

El patra?uelo

brings

up the important

point

thatLa gitanilla isverypossibly inspiredinTimoneda's versionof theLibrode

reminds us (Cervantes
and his Truhanilla
character, as Alban Forcione
Apolonio
Preciosa will be contrasted with this character, and La
and theHumanist^).
in (the eleventh in
she appears
gitanilla will be compared with the patra?a
since it is a good example, among others, of a conven
Timoneda's
collection),
for Cervantes.
tional romance that could have served as a model
4

and theHumanist
Vision that
Forcione persuasively
argues in Cervantes
"the vision of perfection
in La gitanilla promote
the content of the poems
ideal" (137). Uncovering
toward which Preciosa would
aspire in her marriage
what he believes to be an Erasmian
concept of the ideal Christian marriage,
Alban

that these songs help forge the "imaginative

proposes
unity" of the
entire novela (137), which he views as essentially an idealistic "tale of courtship
and rational wedded
love," as well as a portrait of an ideal family (95).
romances of
this
Daniel
study of the Spanish
Eisenberg's
chivalry corroborates
Forcione

the Spanish romances, and is

"That this type of adventure antedated
- is
itself a reflection of literature
in the fifteenth-century Passo honroso
to mention
so well known as almost to make
here" (69).
it unnecessary

statement:
found
6

as one
for example, points to Andr?s's
trickery
example of role
comments
with
author's
chime
in
La
the
and
many others
playing
gitanilla (25),
readers
who read his experience with the gypsies in a very idealistic light.Many
Thomas

have

Hart,

insisted

is a sincere attempt
that Juan's new symbolic surname, Caballero,
true nobility and honest
to highlight the character's

on the part of the author

nature.

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394
term anti-structure

The

Structure

notion

author's
social

from Victor

inwhich

Turner's

he explains

The Ritual Process:

that anti-structure,

is a utopian-like
state, inwhich
are obliterated,
and private possessions

of communitas,

class distinctions
as in a monastic

much

is borrowed

and Anti-Structure,

order or modern

like the

all traditional

are
given up,
It is also a social conscious

commune.

ness

tomainstream
to the author,
that is antithetical
social structure. According
it is in such expressions
of anti-structure
that a society often discovers and
confirms itsmost basic values. For preliterate
societies, Turner specifies this

as "normative
communitas'
(134), among other
type of anti-structure
is expressed
inmore complex and literate
communitas
modalities. When
"a positive torrent of explicitly formulated views on how
societies, it becomes
men may

in comradely harmony"
(134). Turner refers to this
as
communitas'
(134), and it is a
"ideological
to work with when attempting
to interpret Cervantes's

best live together

of anti-structure

expression

helpful concept
set apart from society in the Novelas
mysterious worlds
ejemplares.
the many critics who have addressed
this narrative technique
Among

Cervantes's

Novelas

Forcione,
Cervantes

among
was, more

alteridad

colectiva"

terwith

lawlessness

ejemplares,
others, come

Johnson,

tomind

here. Hutchinson

than any other author

has
(134), and Forcione
in nearly

Steven Hutchinson,

Carroll

every novella"

believes

in
and Alban

that

of his time, fascinated with

suggested
(Cervantes

that "there
and

"la

is an encoun

theMystery

61).

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62 1