WEBVTT 00:00.500 --> 00:05.910 Prof: As I said in my last lecture, 00:05.910 --> 00:09.660 and as you have already--I'm sure--seen, 00:09.660 --> 00:19.050 the Quixote has two overarching plots. 00:19.050 --> 00:25.170 One is the story of the mad hidalgo and his squire, 00:25.168 --> 00:30.918 and the story about the writing of the novel. 00:30.920 --> 00:36.070 The one about the insane Don Quixote will acquire coherence 00:36.067 --> 00:39.437 after the fight with the Biscainer, 00:39.440 --> 00:42.370 as Jarvis calls it in your translation, 00:42.370 --> 00:48.240 because he and his squire will now be pursued by the Holy 00:48.238 --> 00:51.528 Brotherhood-- I'll explain what the Holy 00:51.533 --> 00:55.893 Brotherhood is-- and by the priest and the 00:55.887 --> 00:56.917 barber. 00:56.920 --> 01:00.450 His neighbors, the priest and the barber, 01:00.450 --> 01:05.390 want to return Alonso Quijano to his home in that unnamed 01:05.393 --> 01:07.603 village in La Mancha. 01:07.599 --> 01:12.099 The episode about the lost manuscript and the search for 01:12.099 --> 01:16.739 the balance of the story, the manuscript found and its 01:16.736 --> 01:20.736 translation, follow themes mentioned in the 01:20.736 --> 01:24.316 prologue about the book's authorship. 01:24.319 --> 01:29.419 You will also have noticed how Cervantes plays with the 01:29.423 --> 01:34.363 divisions of the chapters; they seem to be arbitrary, 01:34.355 --> 01:37.165 they seem to be very whimsical. 01:37.170 --> 01:43.170 These are all winks at the reader, telling him that this is 01:43.168 --> 01:48.028 a very artful, artificial and fictional work. 01:48.030 --> 01:53.130 Obviously, also many of these divisions were made after the 01:53.132 --> 01:58.542 manuscript was finished; scholars have worked on this 01:58.544 --> 02:01.784 and come to that conclusion. 02:01.780 --> 02:07.630 In the context of the business of finding the manuscript, 02:07.629 --> 02:11.289 and the balance of the story and all of that, 02:11.288 --> 02:14.788 one could ask, who is the second most 02:14.786 --> 02:19.056 important character in the Quixote? 02:19.060 --> 02:21.580 Is it Sancho? 02:21.580 --> 02:26.510 I think that it is the narrator, the narrator and his 02:26.512 --> 02:31.162 various agents who appear throughout the novel. 02:31.158 --> 02:35.318 That would be, to my mind, the second most 02:35.317 --> 02:39.777 important character in the Quixote. 02:39.780 --> 02:46.250 Now, in this playing with the manuscript, 02:46.250 --> 02:49.980 and the lost manuscript, and all of that, 02:49.979 --> 02:53.309 Cervantes is parodying the romances of chivalry, 02:53.310 --> 02:56.280 where such devices appear: Oh! 02:56.275 --> 03:02.405 This manuscript of this novel was found in a vault somewhere, 03:02.411 --> 03:06.601 it was written by some sage, and so forth, 03:06.604 --> 03:10.494 and Cervantes is parodying that. 03:10.490 --> 03:16.500 Remember, a parody is a mocking imitation of the style of a 03:16.497 --> 03:21.877 literary work or works ridiculing stylistic practices 03:21.883 --> 03:24.683 by exaggerated mimicry. 03:24.680 --> 03:28.020 In that sense, a parody is both a criticism 03:28.020 --> 03:32.000 and an homage because it is a copy of something; 03:32.000 --> 03:36.050 it is a distorted copy, but it is still a copy. 03:36.050 --> 03:40.760 So the business of the unfinished manuscript and its 03:40.764 --> 03:46.224 translation rekindles questions and issues that the narrator 03:46.221 --> 03:51.521 opened in the prologue, that prologue that we discussed 03:51.515 --> 03:53.695 a number of classes ago. 03:53.699 --> 03:59.959 I will talk a little bit today about why all of these games of 03:59.964 --> 04:01.304 authorship. 04:01.300 --> 04:06.820 But let us sort of recapitulate how many texts or virtual texts 04:06.817 --> 04:08.327 we have so far. 04:08.330 --> 04:14.840 We have the original text that was supposedly written in Arabic 04:14.844 --> 04:21.154 by a lying Moorish historian called Cide Hamete Benengeli. 04:21.149 --> 04:30.159 The second is the text of the translation that the narrator 04:30.161 --> 04:31.871 pays for. 04:31.870 --> 04:38.040 Then, a further text is the one that this narrator presumably 04:38.036 --> 04:43.786 corrects and copies and rewrites and comments upon in the 04:43.793 --> 04:47.673 margins, as you will see in several 04:47.672 --> 04:50.022 episodes in the future. 04:50.019 --> 04:56.139 But what about the manuscript up to chapter VIII and that 04:56.137 --> 04:57.337 narrator? 04:57.339 --> 05:02.819 We have no idea how the narrator came about that 05:02.817 --> 05:10.037 manuscript, so the text of those first eight chapters it is not 05:10.043 --> 05:13.893 explained where it came from. 05:13.889 --> 05:21.499 Now, this whole collection of manuscripts do not make a 05:21.502 --> 05:25.862 coherent system; you can't reduce it to a 05:25.860 --> 05:27.150 coherent system. 05:27.149 --> 05:29.089 Yes, we have the first one, the second one, 05:29.089 --> 05:34.439 the third one; it all remains vague and a 05:34.444 --> 05:37.464 mystery, and besides, 05:37.459 --> 05:43.759 we know that the whole thing is a joke beginning with the name 05:43.761 --> 05:48.411 Cide Hamete Benengeli or berenjena. 05:48.410 --> 05:50.550 What's a berenjena? 05:50.550 --> 05:51.850 Student: Eggplant. 05:51.850 --> 05:52.960 Prof: Eggplant. 05:52.956 --> 05:54.816 That is to say, his last name could be 05:54.815 --> 05:55.515 'eggplant.' 05:55.519 --> 05:58.609 So it is a joke. 05:58.610 --> 06:02.050 Now, why are Cervantes and his narrator establishing this 06:02.047 --> 06:03.947 distance from their own text? 06:03.949 --> 06:08.339 How does this distancing mesh with the authorial willfulness 06:08.336 --> 06:12.316 we found in that first sentence, where the narrator says 06:12.317 --> 06:15.307 "de cuyo nombre quiero acordarme," 06:15.312 --> 06:17.832 the name of which I purposefully omit, 06:17.829 --> 06:20.429 referring to the village in La Mancha, 06:20.430 --> 06:24.640 where Don Quixote or Alonso Quijano lives. 06:24.639 --> 06:28.329 It is as if this modern author, Cervantes, 06:28.329 --> 06:32.089 could not posit his own existence without radical 06:32.086 --> 06:34.846 reservations, self doubts, 06:34.851 --> 06:39.641 self doubts about himself as creator. 06:39.639 --> 06:44.859 I have emphasized that this kind of ironic distancing has 06:44.863 --> 06:49.343 echoes of Montaigne's self deprecatory irony, 06:49.339 --> 06:55.129 also echoes of Erasmus's irony--I have only mentioned 06:55.129 --> 07:00.829 Erasmus in passing, the great humanist Erasmus of 07:00.826 --> 07:04.366 Rotterdam, who had many followers in Spain 07:04.367 --> 07:08.627 and who wrote a book that may be one of the sources of the 07:08.625 --> 07:13.025 Quixote, called In Praise of 07:13.026 --> 07:14.656 Folly. 07:14.660 --> 07:16.830 It's a very, very ironic book, 07:16.834 --> 07:22.044 it's not praising folly, it is doing so in a mocking 07:22.036 --> 07:28.506 way, but it is that sort of mocking way that you find in 07:28.509 --> 07:30.039 Cervantes. 07:30.040 --> 07:37.730 Now, it is as if Cervantes were removing the origin of the text, 07:37.730 --> 07:45.220 were leaving it in a sort of cloud of mystery, 07:45.220 --> 07:50.810 and that this is part both of the irony and of the joke. 07:56.415 --> 08:02.625 first lecture about this first modern novel emerging at a time 08:02.632 --> 08:07.832 when the Christian God has abandoned the world. 08:07.829 --> 08:10.989 You do not have the centeredness that you had in 08:10.990 --> 08:14.420 the Divine Comedy, if you have read Dante. 08:14.420 --> 08:19.200 In the Divine Comedy everything coheres because there 08:19.202 --> 08:23.742 is a cosmological system and with the attendant symbolism 08:23.740 --> 08:28.770 provided by the Catholic Church, by Catholic doctrine, 08:28.769 --> 08:33.589 and so the self of Dante, the pilgrim is very much--even 08:33.592 --> 08:36.252 though he's also like Don Quixote-- 08:36.250 --> 08:41.450 travelling within a coherent universe, 08:41.450 --> 08:43.820 and, in fact, in the very middle of the 08:43.817 --> 08:46.757 Divine Comedy the central verse of the Divine 08:46.761 --> 08:48.611 Comedy alludes to Dante. 08:48.610 --> 08:51.950 So Dante is at the center of this coherent universe. 08:51.950 --> 08:56.490 This is not the case in the Quixote, and these authorial 08:56.490 --> 08:58.250 games underscore that. 08:58.250 --> 09:01.000 This is no longer the case. 09:01.000 --> 09:05.080 Remember that this is, as I've been saying, 09:05.080 --> 09:08.750 a post-Copernican world, a world in which the earth is 09:08.750 --> 09:12.890 no longer at the center, therefore, "man," 09:12.894 --> 09:16.944 "mankind" is no longer at the center. 09:16.940 --> 09:23.820 So this is what is at stake, as it were, in all of these 09:23.818 --> 09:24.818 games. 09:24.820 --> 09:27.110 Again, these are very serious issues, 09:27.110 --> 09:33.970 but Cervantes always presents them in a light humorous tone, 09:33.970 --> 09:37.440 which is part of the irony itself, the humor, 09:37.440 --> 09:41.410 the laughing at one self and the laughing at others. 09:41.408 --> 09:48.778 So this is a very important element of the Quixote, 09:48.779 --> 09:56.669 and one that it has in common with a very famous painting by 10:03.607 --> 10:06.617 about whom most of you must have heard. 10:06.620 --> 10:11.230 And that painting--oh, oh, it's not very well 10:11.231 --> 10:15.541 represented; it's kind of blurry--is Las 10:15.538 --> 10:18.658 Meninas, The Maids of Honor. 10:18.658 --> 10:22.838 Can we improve a little bit on the quality of that? 10:22.840 --> 10:23.910 Maybe if we turn off the lights? 10:23.909 --> 10:30.019 10:30.019 --> 10:30.779 Well, that will help, too. 10:30.779 --> 10:39.009 10:39.009 --> 10:39.449 It's out of focus? 10:39.450 --> 10:45.790 10:45.789 --> 10:47.359 Is it better now? 10:47.360 --> 10:48.600 It's better, but it's out of focus. 10:48.600 --> 10:50.380 Can it be improved at all? 10:50.379 --> 10:53.439 Student: I can see it clearly here, 10:53.438 --> 10:55.768 so I don't know what to say... 10:55.769 --> 10:59.899 Student: The lens of the projector might be out of 10:59.899 --> 11:00.479 focus. 11:00.480 --> 11:02.030 Prof: Oh, but it is way up there, 11:02.034 --> 11:03.714 so we can't do anything with it, can we? 11:03.710 --> 11:08.120 So I have brought both my pointer and, if you will excuse 11:08.119 --> 11:12.449 me, this little flashlight so I can look at my notes. 11:12.450 --> 11:15.950 I hope it's not distracting to you. 11:15.950 --> 11:19.530 As I have perhaps mentioned before, I am a pilot, 11:19.532 --> 11:22.222 and this is my pilot's flashlight. 11:22.220 --> 11:26.270 You use it in the cockpit at night to look at charts and 11:26.267 --> 11:29.357 stuff like that, and I thought that I could 11:29.357 --> 11:31.857 improvise and use it for this. 11:31.860 --> 11:36.020 Now, as you look at the painting--and I apologize for 11:36.019 --> 11:40.419 the poor technology and I promise we will bring a better 11:40.418 --> 11:44.658 one the next time or maybe I'll make a copy that I can 11:44.658 --> 11:46.018 distribute. 11:46.019 --> 11:48.889 First of all, as you look at it, 11:48.894 --> 11:53.814 think of what I mentioned before about Alberti's De 11:53.807 --> 11:57.977 Pictura, the treatise on perspective. 11:57.980 --> 12:02.490 Remember that I talked about Leon Alberti, 12:02.493 --> 12:08.333 Leon Battista Alberti, 1404-1472, an Italian who wrote 12:08.326 --> 12:11.956 this treatise on perspective. 12:11.960 --> 12:14.440 He was an architect and wrote on architecture, 12:14.440 --> 12:18.790 and I really encourage you to read this little treaty, 12:18.788 --> 12:23.268 it's very brief, but it's very influential 12:23.267 --> 12:29.927 because he laid down the basis for perspective in painting. 12:29.928 --> 12:32.668 As you can see, we do have perspective here 12:32.668 --> 12:36.578 because of the relative size of the figures as they move away 12:36.581 --> 12:37.821 from the front. 12:37.820 --> 12:41.310 So I just want you to take that into account. 12:41.308 --> 12:45.448 Now, the relevance of Las Meninas to the 12:45.453 --> 12:50.113 Quixote is essentially because of this issue of self 12:50.105 --> 12:51.455 reflexivity. 12:51.460 --> 12:54.430 In both works, the creator has been given a 12:54.433 --> 12:58.893 prominent place within the work and in both they appear in their 12:58.894 --> 13:02.724 function as creators of the very work in question. 13:06.570 --> 13:10.370 And he is, obviously, in the act of painting, 13:10.370 --> 13:15.470 as Cervantes appears within the Quixote in the act of 13:15.469 --> 13:17.369 writing the novel. 13:20.160 --> 13:24.450 little quizzical-- We will speak a little bit more 13:24.445 --> 13:29.545 about his figure–and you can recall the words of 13:29.549 --> 13:33.549 Cervantes in the prologue, when he wrote: 13:33.554 --> 13:38.264 "I often took pen in hand and as often laid it down not 13:38.256 --> 13:41.436 knowing what to say, and once upon a time, 13:41.441 --> 13:44.471 being in deep suspense with the paper before me, 13:44.470 --> 13:48.260 the pen behind my ear, my elbow on the table, 13:48.259 --> 13:52.129 and my cheek on my hand thinking what I should 13:52.125 --> 13:53.325 say..." 13:57.260 --> 14:02.210 similar way, as if thinking of what to paint 14:02.210 --> 14:06.300 next, and also actually comparing his 14:06.303 --> 14:09.533 models-- I'll speak about who the models 14:09.528 --> 14:13.578 are-- to what he's painting, 14:13.581 --> 14:23.601 but it's the same moment of doubt that we have in Cervantes. 14:23.600 --> 14:27.210 It is kind of a visual aporia--Aporia is 14:27.211 --> 14:29.871 a rhetorical figure to express doubt. 14:29.870 --> 14:34.620 A-P-O-R-I-A--and a visual aporia in that 14:40.615 --> 14:42.575 stroke will be. 14:42.580 --> 14:46.390 Now, Las Meninas seems to capture a moment, 14:46.393 --> 14:50.833 and not a very significant moment, and that is significant 14:50.830 --> 14:51.920 in itself. 14:51.918 --> 14:54.468 How do we know that it's not a very significant moment? 14:54.470 --> 14:58.120 Well, there are certain gestures, like this little girl 14:58.120 --> 15:01.630 that just put a foot on the dog; these figures back here, 15:01.625 --> 15:04.335 if we could see them more clearly you could see they're 15:04.340 --> 15:06.200 engaged in a trivial conversation. 15:06.200 --> 15:11.230 The princess is being offered, I think, 15:11.230 --> 15:14.560 a glass of water of something by this maid, 15:14.558 --> 15:19.348 and this man in the back is about to leave the room, 15:19.350 --> 15:22.960 so it's an insignificant moment, it's a moment like those 15:22.957 --> 15:26.137 in the Quixote, those many moments that are 15:26.142 --> 15:28.202 contingent, serendipitous, 15:28.201 --> 15:32.671 things just happened, not in a sequence, 15:32.668 --> 15:36.568 but just caught, like a snapshot, 15:36.565 --> 15:41.935 and that is what is important about this moment in which 15:47.030 --> 15:49.770 painting are caught up. 15:49.769 --> 15:55.399 Now, of the painting, we see only the back of the 15:55.404 --> 16:01.984 painting, and we see the easel, the paints, the brush. 16:01.980 --> 16:06.750 That is, we see the instruments to create the painting, 16:09.033 --> 16:10.453 studio, his workshop, 16:14.226 --> 16:17.536 within which the work of art is being created, 16:17.538 --> 16:23.788 as we read about the manuscript being copied, 16:23.788 --> 16:28.278 translated, and so forth, given the details about the 16:28.280 --> 16:33.810 composition and the creation of the novel that we are reading. 16:41.528 --> 16:49.118 library where he keeps the books that have turned him mad. 16:49.120 --> 16:54.060 Now, the other important element, and perhaps the most, 16:54.062 --> 16:58.092 is that the line between reality and fiction, 16:58.090 --> 17:02.210 between life and art, has been abolished. 17:02.210 --> 17:04.530 How so? 17:04.528 --> 17:08.078 Well, who is the model of the painting? 17:08.078 --> 17:10.548 Well, presumably the king and queen, 17:10.548 --> 17:14.868 who are reflected on the back on that mirror, 17:14.868 --> 17:19.238 but the models are truly ourselves as we position 17:19.240 --> 17:22.610 ourselves in front of the painting. 17:22.608 --> 17:27.038 In fact, the first time I saw this painting many years ago in 17:27.035 --> 17:30.665 1969 to be exact-- now it's in a large room and 17:30.673 --> 17:34.923 you can barely get to see the painting there are so many 17:34.923 --> 17:39.253 tourists looking at it and guides talking about it and so 17:39.251 --> 17:42.071 forth-- but when I saw it in 1969 at El 17:42.074 --> 17:45.824 Prado Museum it was in a room-- the painting is much larger 17:45.816 --> 17:49.956 than what you see here-- it was in a room for itself, 17:49.957 --> 17:55.197 and the dimensions of the room and the way that the painting 17:55.200 --> 17:59.110 was positioned the moment you walked in, 17:59.108 --> 18:03.488 you walked into the painting, you became the model. 18:03.490 --> 18:08.110 It was really uncanny the sensation that you had, 18:08.108 --> 18:12.508 you really had the sense that you had walked into the painting 18:12.509 --> 18:15.539 and you had become the painter's model, 18:15.538 --> 18:20.208 you had become that which he was in the process of painting. 18:20.210 --> 18:24.590 So here we are, becoming the model and there is 18:28.690 --> 18:32.540 He was a genius, vain, a little lazy, 18:32.541 --> 18:33.721 boastful. 18:33.720 --> 18:37.920 He's wearing the cross--I think it's of Calatrava--one of the 18:37.920 --> 18:39.180 military orders. 18:39.180 --> 18:44.360 You didn't become a member of the Calatrava just like that, 18:44.358 --> 18:48.108 so he's a bit boastful, and there he is. 18:48.108 --> 18:56.748 Now, all of the self-reflexive moves that we've seen in the 18:56.748 --> 19:01.278 Quixote are the same here. 19:01.278 --> 19:05.628 We see the painting as it were from behind, we see the 19:05.634 --> 19:10.404 preparation of the painting but not the painting itself. 19:10.400 --> 19:16.160 My late friend Severo Sarduy said that Las Meninas was 19:16.161 --> 19:20.291 within Las Meninas but backwards, 19:20.288 --> 19:25.118 the same way that in the Arabic manuscript of the Quixote, 19:25.118 --> 19:27.178 presumably the Quixote is backwards, 19:27.180 --> 19:29.810 because of course you write Arabic the other way-- 19:29.808 --> 19:31.938 It's a little bit too clever, perhaps, 19:31.940 --> 19:36.900 but you get the idea that the painting is within the painting, 19:36.900 --> 19:41.970 but you're not seeing the painting but how the painting 19:41.965 --> 19:43.275 comes about. 19:43.279 --> 19:49.219 We also have the issue of the multiple perspectives, 19:49.215 --> 19:52.005 none of them complete. 19:56.173 --> 19:58.903 he can see the rest of his studio. 19:58.900 --> 20:05.970 The man in the back is the one with the most complete view, 20:05.970 --> 20:10.120 because he can see the painting and he can see the model, 20:10.118 --> 20:13.848 if indeed the models are the king and queen. 20:13.848 --> 20:18.588 So, ironically, it is that man who is at that 20:18.588 --> 20:22.788 point who has the most complete view. 20:22.788 --> 20:27.138 I say ironically because I detect a pun on 20:32.980 --> 20:37.080 in terms of perspective, is more or less about the 20:37.077 --> 20:40.707 point de fuite, in French, the vanishing point, 20:40.714 --> 20:42.614 the punto de fuga in Spanish, 20:42.608 --> 20:46.568 that is, point at the center and the depth of the 20:46.570 --> 20:50.380 perspective, that is, the vanishing point, 20:50.375 --> 20:54.575 and, ironically, in that punto de fuga is 20:54.576 --> 20:57.596 a man about to leave, there is, I think, 20:57.603 --> 21:01.103 a pun involved there-- or perhaps I am being just too 21:01.095 --> 21:03.185 clever like my friend Sarduy. 21:03.190 --> 21:07.850 But the idea is that no one has a complete perspective; 21:07.848 --> 21:12.908 everything, everybody has a partial, incomplete perspective, 21:12.914 --> 21:14.894 including the artist. 21:14.890 --> 21:21.200 And this is fundamental because it makes for this ironic 21:21.202 --> 21:23.272 incomplete view. 21:23.269 --> 21:29.709 Remember, the greatest part of the irony in Cervantes is that 21:29.705 --> 21:35.495 we only have a partial view of this infinite world, 21:35.500 --> 21:39.070 this post-Copernican, now Galileo world-- 21:39.068 --> 21:42.388 Galileo who wrote around the same time, 21:42.390 --> 21:45.230 and Galileo discovered the use of the telescope, 21:45.230 --> 21:49.830 he discovered the infinite spaces--So our perspective is 21:49.827 --> 21:51.247 always limited. 21:51.250 --> 21:57.040 So in The Meninas the perspectives are all 21:57.040 --> 22:00.100 limited, partial, and in that, 22:00.095 --> 22:04.935 too, the painting and the novel are alike. 22:04.940 --> 22:07.900 Now, Galileo--I think, I quoted him in an earlier 22:07.896 --> 22:10.296 lecture, if not I'll quote him again. 22:10.298 --> 22:12.058 He said: "The more we know, 22:12.058 --> 22:15.688 the less we know," because he was discovering more 22:15.693 --> 22:18.603 stars, more space, and he knew then 22:18.602 --> 22:23.292 that it would be impossible to get to know all of space. 22:23.288 --> 22:26.678 We're still in that situation although we have improved our 22:26.676 --> 22:27.316 capacity. 22:27.318 --> 22:34.808 So what is the significance of all of this? 22:34.808 --> 22:40.928 What I have just said, I mean the limits of human 22:40.925 --> 22:48.185 knowledge, the limits of self knowledge, and what else? 22:48.190 --> 22:51.190 We are the models, we are the models of the 22:54.452 --> 22:59.102 himself a prominent position in a painting that should be a 22:59.096 --> 23:05.506 painting of the king and queen, so he has usurped the place of 23:05.506 --> 23:07.906 the king and queen. 23:07.910 --> 23:10.840 He has given himself a more prominent position. 23:10.838 --> 23:13.298 He has, as it were, erased them to put himself. 23:13.298 --> 23:20.648 This is this ambivalent position of the modern writer, 23:20.647 --> 23:27.027 or author, or painter, or artist, about his own 23:27.026 --> 23:29.796 creative powers. 23:29.798 --> 23:35.638 But he has put himself in the painting instead of those who 23:35.644 --> 23:39.984 should be the models, the king and queen. 23:39.980 --> 23:44.110 Furthermore, he has opened the space of the 23:44.105 --> 23:48.035 model so that we, as we see the painting, 23:48.036 --> 23:53.436 actually occupy the position of the king and queen. 23:53.440 --> 23:57.410 This has all kinds of political implications, 23:57.410 --> 24:00.070 you see, the king and queen have been removed, 24:00.068 --> 24:04.448 and we, who are commoners, can occupy instead that 24:04.454 --> 24:07.484 position, so in that sense this is a very 24:07.480 --> 24:08.990 revolutionary painting. 24:08.990 --> 24:13.140 This painting is saying: anybody can be king and queen; 24:13.140 --> 24:17.480 by just stepping in front of my painting and becoming my model, 24:17.480 --> 24:21.260 you become king and queen for that moment-- 24:21.259 --> 24:24.409 Remember, there was a show called 'Queen for a Day,' you 24:24.410 --> 24:26.930 become queen for a day or king for a day, 24:26.930 --> 24:33.840 you understand--So there has been a displacement of power 24:39.160 --> 24:44.330 by omitting the king and queen or by relegating them to the 24:44.327 --> 24:46.547 back, to a reflection, 24:46.554 --> 24:51.384 a very kind of blurry reflection made more blurry by 24:51.382 --> 24:56.112 our poor copy here, of the king and queen. 24:56.108 --> 24:59.918 So now, historically, if you will read your Elliott, 24:59.920 --> 25:03.700 you will see that this reflects a real political situation in 25:03.701 --> 25:05.461 Spain, meaning that, 25:05.461 --> 25:10.601 in fact, the power of the monarchy has been diminished. 25:10.599 --> 25:13.959 This painting is from 1656. 25:13.960 --> 25:17.260 Remember, it's later than the Quixote, 25:17.259 --> 25:21.489 but history didn't move that fast in the period, 25:21.490 --> 25:25.250 so 1605 first Quixote, 1656, 25:25.250 --> 25:28.410 fifty years give or take, but by the seventeenth century 25:28.405 --> 25:30.755 the Spanish monarchy has been weakened. 25:30.759 --> 25:36.949 It is in the hands of validos, 25:36.950 --> 25:42.500 noblemen who occupied positions of power, 25:42.500 --> 25:52.010 and the Hapsburgs were very disinterested in governance and 25:52.006 --> 25:57.576 more in luxury, and all of that. 26:00.541 --> 26:02.381 activities, hunting, and stuff like that, 26:02.375 --> 26:04.575 but here, in this painting he has 26:04.582 --> 26:08.112 eliminated them from the position of power, 26:08.108 --> 26:09.918 he has placed himself at the center, 26:09.920 --> 26:14.750 and he has allowed us commoners to occupy that position. 26:14.750 --> 26:17.060 So this is the significance. 26:17.058 --> 26:23.288 Now, the most important parallel to this will come in 26:23.287 --> 26:31.037 Part II of the Quixote, but I will anticipate it here, 26:31.038 --> 26:37.878 when Sancho Panza is made governor of a mock island, 26:37.880 --> 26:44.840 and Sancho, by the way, performs well as a ruler. 26:44.838 --> 26:49.738 So he, the commoner, has come to occupy the position 26:49.743 --> 26:55.423 of ruler, and this is something similar to what is happening 26:55.417 --> 26:58.397 here in Las Meninas. 26:58.400 --> 27:05.240 So this is why this painting is so important in relation to 27:05.241 --> 27:07.721 the Quixote. 27:07.720 --> 27:12.040 But I also want you too, in anticipation, 27:12.037 --> 27:15.057 look at this figure, here. 27:15.058 --> 27:21.988 The kings of Spain, like many others, 27:21.990 --> 27:27.620 including Aztec emperors, kept freaks in their court for 27:27.618 --> 27:32.018 entertainment and for amusement midgets, 27:32.019 --> 27:34.889 people deformed, and all of that. 27:34.890 --> 27:36.700 Of course, this is, from our perspective, 27:36.700 --> 27:41.220 horrendous, but it was practiced all over, 27:46.990 --> 27:51.430 peculiar features, irregular features. 27:51.430 --> 27:57.530 He painted midgets and so forth, and this is obviously a 27:57.532 --> 27:59.422 deformed woman. 27:59.420 --> 28:05.150 I think that she is important because Cervantes too was very 28:05.154 --> 28:10.214 much interested in depicting strange individuals, 28:10.210 --> 28:15.370 individuals who are not beautiful, but who have been 28:15.365 --> 28:22.925 scarred by time and by life, and by bad luck, and so forth. 28:22.930 --> 28:26.620 So when you get to the chapter in the inn, 28:26.618 --> 28:29.658 and you read the descriptions of Maritornes, 28:29.660 --> 28:36.600 the wenchy prostitute who creates that whole fracas at 28:36.602 --> 28:44.202 night in the inn think of the face of this figure here flat 28:44.199 --> 28:47.659 faced, deformed, and so forth, 28:47.660 --> 28:51.000 because it's another correspondence, 28:51.000 --> 28:53.360 a very important correspondence, 28:57.317 --> 28:58.457 aesthetics. 28:58.460 --> 29:02.090 So much for now for Las Meninas. 29:04.288 --> 29:08.778 quite soon, as a matter of fact, to look at another one of 29:08.775 --> 29:11.125 his masterpieces, but for now, 29:11.127 --> 29:16.127 so much for Las Meninas, so we will go back to having 29:16.132 --> 29:16.952 light, 29:16.950 --> 29:24.890 29:24.890 --> 29:28.480 both artificial and a little bit of natural light. 29:28.480 --> 29:51.170 29:51.170 --> 30:00.630 The one thing that I failed to mention is that, 30:00.630 --> 30:03.400 as you notice, in looking at the painting, 30:06.741 --> 30:10.291 within the painting, but it's not a central 30:10.287 --> 30:14.287 position, he is in an oblique position, 30:14.289 --> 30:17.759 as it were, a lateral position. 30:17.759 --> 30:23.709 This emphasizes his ambiguity of the power of creation of the 30:23.711 --> 30:28.971 modern author and at the same time the self doubt, 30:28.970 --> 30:36.070 the self doubt that the self reflexivity expresses. 30:36.068 --> 30:40.638 So it is, I think, noteworthy that he is on the 30:40.641 --> 30:47.361 side as it were, and the creator is looking 30:47.356 --> 30:54.896 obliquely at the model, in the same way that Cervantes 30:54.897 --> 30:59.727 says that he is father or stepfather of his work. 30:59.730 --> 31:05.420 Remember, what he said in the 1605 prologue that we talked 31:05.416 --> 31:09.106 about in one of the first classes, 31:12.303 --> 31:16.563 within the painting is similar to that obliqueness of whether 31:16.559 --> 31:20.009 he's father or stepfather, and so forth. 31:20.009 --> 31:27.649 So we go back now to the Quixote. 31:27.650 --> 31:35.350 Now, after the episode with the Biscainer, the Basque, 31:35.346 --> 31:42.166 when Don Quixote injures this man in this fight, 31:42.172 --> 31:46.822 Sancho is very apprehensive. 31:46.818 --> 31:51.478 He is sure that they're now going to be pursued by the Holy 31:51.483 --> 31:52.613 Brotherhood. 31:52.608 --> 31:59.098 They, Don Quixote and Sancho, move in a world of alienation, 31:59.098 --> 32:06.068 of madness, of unsociability and how can society deal with 32:06.070 --> 32:10.720 Don Quixote's madness, real society. 32:10.720 --> 32:18.110 Now, this issue is highlighted by the presence of civil law in 32:18.106 --> 32:19.436 the book. 32:19.440 --> 32:24.050 Sancho knows that they're being pursued by the Santa Hermandad, 32:24.047 --> 32:28.057 and who was the Santa Hermandad or Holy Brotherhood? 32:28.058 --> 32:31.218 This was a vigilante police force that the Catholic kings 32:31.224 --> 32:34.394 had created, Ferdinand and Isabella, if you remember your 32:34.391 --> 32:35.071 Elliott. 32:35.068 --> 32:35.638 Why? 32:35.635 --> 32:44.135 Remember they invested a lot of effort in trying to unify the 32:44.141 --> 32:49.041 Spanish peninsula, but, as I've mentioned, 32:49.041 --> 32:53.541 Spain is divided in several regions with different cultures 32:53.535 --> 32:57.095 and languages and exemptions from the law, 32:57.098 --> 33:00.468 where royal authority, just like the federal law in 33:00.471 --> 33:03.511 this country, could not reach because of 33:03.509 --> 33:06.599 those exemptions that these regions had. 33:06.598 --> 33:12.758 Therefore, the Catholic kings created a police that could go 33:12.761 --> 33:17.571 through those regional boundaries and apprehend 33:17.567 --> 33:19.027 fugitives. 33:19.028 --> 33:24.488 The Holy Brotherhood was in charge of the roads because the 33:24.491 --> 33:28.731 roads were under the purview of the crown, 33:28.730 --> 33:35.610 and they were parallel to another institution that the 33:35.605 --> 33:43.135 Catholic kings created, that also could police all of 33:43.144 --> 33:48.464 the peninsula; the Holy Inquisition. 33:48.460 --> 33:53.840 The Inquisition could police regions other than Castile; 33:53.838 --> 33:56.088 that is Galicia, the Basque countries, 33:56.085 --> 33:58.145 and so forth, and so could the Holy 33:58.147 --> 33:59.117 Brotherhood. 33:59.118 --> 34:02.518 The Holy Brotherhood were feared because they could not 34:02.516 --> 34:06.986 only apprehend you, but try you and execute you on 34:06.987 --> 34:10.487 the spot, and Sancho says that he all 34:10.494 --> 34:14.544 ready hears their arrows buzzing in his ears. 34:14.539 --> 34:14.789 Why? 34:14.791 --> 34:18.071 Because Sancho is vulnerable to the Holy Brotherhood, 34:18.067 --> 34:20.207 whereas Don Quixote, as an hidalgo, 34:20.208 --> 34:22.978 feels that he's protected from the law. 34:22.980 --> 34:26.490 So Sancho is the one, if you will notice, 34:26.489 --> 34:30.529 who insists that they are being pursued by the Holy Brotherhood, 34:30.530 --> 34:33.600 and that they have to hide in the hills, 34:33.599 --> 34:36.039 and so forth. 34:36.039 --> 34:41.719 The Holy Brotherhood--sorry to give away the plot--will 34:41.715 --> 34:47.915 eventually apprehend them but let them go at the end of Part 34:47.918 --> 34:48.548 I. 34:48.550 --> 34:53.820 Now, the members of the Holy Brotherhood were just ordinary 34:53.824 --> 34:58.104 people who were engaged in this police force. 34:58.099 --> 35:03.729 So we move now to the adventure with the goat herds and the 35:03.733 --> 35:09.073 speech on the golden age, that is one of the more famous 35:09.074 --> 35:11.314 episodes of Part I. 35:11.309 --> 35:17.619 Now, this is an episode like others, 35:17.619 --> 35:21.679 in which a contrast is established between what Don 35:21.677 --> 35:26.297 Quixote has in his head from having read so many books and 35:26.304 --> 35:28.744 the real world around him. 35:28.739 --> 35:33.559 He thinks that these goatherds are like shepherds of the 35:33.556 --> 35:37.356 classical tradition, and this is what makes him 35:37.358 --> 35:41.278 think of the golden age when there is now mine or thou, 35:41.280 --> 35:44.460 there is no private property, there is only goodness, 35:44.460 --> 35:48.280 and man lives at one with nature, and he delivers this 35:52.896 --> 35:56.716 from the classical tradition to these goatherds, 35:56.719 --> 36:00.269 who don't understand what he is talking about at all. 36:00.268 --> 36:11.688 What is the connecting thread between that idealized reality, 36:11.690 --> 36:16.130 that idealized world in Don Quixote's head, 36:16.130 --> 36:20.910 and the reality of these goatherds who are listening to 36:20.907 --> 36:26.127 the speech and not understanding a thing that Don Quixote is 36:26.126 --> 36:27.096 saying? 36:27.099 --> 36:31.679 The one thing that connects the two--and it goes back to one of 36:31.677 --> 36:35.367 the points that I've made before--is the goatherds' 36:35.369 --> 36:36.329 kindness. 36:36.329 --> 36:39.449 They are kind. 36:39.449 --> 36:43.149 That is, that which has not changed from those classical 36:43.152 --> 36:47.262 idealized times and the present, is the kindness of people. 36:47.260 --> 36:52.180 And remember that I said that Cervantes likes to depict people 36:52.181 --> 36:56.861 from the lowest classes being kind to each other and to Don 36:56.860 --> 36:57.830 Quixote. 36:57.829 --> 37:01.709 They have not reacted to Don Quixote's appearance, 37:01.710 --> 37:04.340 which is striking, to say the least, 37:04.340 --> 37:09.750 for this man to suddenly show up dressed in armor and speaking 37:09.753 --> 37:12.393 this way, and they have allowed him to 37:12.385 --> 37:15.175 sit with them, to share their food and their 37:15.184 --> 37:19.934 drink, and to be involved in their 37:19.931 --> 37:23.471 life; so there is a sharp contrast, 37:23.469 --> 37:28.599 but also a commonality here, the people, the goatherds are 37:28.596 --> 37:33.296 kind to Don Quixote and allow him to be what he wants, 37:33.300 --> 37:37.610 even if they did not understand what it is that he is talking 37:37.605 --> 37:38.175 about. 37:38.179 --> 37:44.609 Now, this is the first of several post-prandial speeches 37:44.605 --> 37:47.405 in the Quixote. 37:47.409 --> 37:51.649 This is another one of these words that I'm going to teach 37:51.652 --> 37:56.042 you in this class so that you can be very pedantic Yalies in 37:56.043 --> 38:01.603 the present and in the future, post-prandial simply means an 38:01.601 --> 38:03.741 after dinner speech. 38:03.739 --> 38:10.809 So, what is the significance of these post-prandial speeches and 38:10.811 --> 38:18.111 what do they have to do with the theme of Don Quixote's speech? 38:18.110 --> 38:24.110 Well, after dinner speeches celebrate the defeat of the 38:24.110 --> 38:27.940 world, that is, of animals and plants, 38:27.943 --> 38:32.293 and end of work, and there having been turned, 38:32.286 --> 38:35.166 plants and animals, into food. 38:35.170 --> 38:39.800 Here they're eating some meet, they're drinking some wine, 38:39.800 --> 38:42.080 which is like the blood of the earth, 38:42.079 --> 38:46.039 they're passing the wine around, and they are enjoying 38:46.039 --> 38:49.849 the fruits of their labor at the end of the day, 38:49.849 --> 38:52.649 they're celebrating the end of work and rest. 38:52.650 --> 38:56.150 And there is a connection, of course, 38:56.150 --> 38:58.880 between the eating, and the talking, 38:58.880 --> 39:02.010 and the speech, oral activities, 39:02.005 --> 39:07.105 both pleasurable activities, so this is the connection 39:07.106 --> 39:10.186 between these post-prandial speeches, 39:10.190 --> 39:14.510 between the food and the speaking, in others there will 39:14.510 --> 39:17.630 be much more merriment and so forth, 39:17.630 --> 39:25.320 but this is a reoccurring theme in the Quixote. 39:25.320 --> 39:29.020 There is a great deal about food in Don Quixote, 39:29.018 --> 39:34.178 and in some cases food and language actually coalesce, 39:34.179 --> 39:43.409 most memorably when Don Quixote and Sancho vomit on each other 39:43.413 --> 39:50.933 after the episode of the sheep, when they vomit on each other, 39:50.932 --> 39:55.282 and it is as if food and language have come one and they 39:55.282 --> 39:59.162 have a dialogue between them: I vomit on you, 39:59.159 --> 40:01.199 and you vomit on me, and that is a form of 40:01.202 --> 40:05.242 dialogue-- I know it's not very palatable 40:05.237 --> 40:09.887 to think about that, especially if you just had 40:09.889 --> 40:14.229 lunch--but this is the significance here of speech and 40:14.233 --> 40:14.893 food. 40:14.889 --> 40:21.019 But the most significant part, of course, 40:21.018 --> 40:24.808 is the contrast between Don Quixote's ideas and 40:29.835 --> 40:33.045 every day life of these goatherds, 40:33.050 --> 40:38.540 who also serve as a transition towards the Marcela and 40:46.619 --> 40:52.669 pastoral will be taken up at, you could say, 40:52.666 --> 40:54.406 a higher literary level. 40:58.382 --> 41:03.032 Marcela episode because, of course, the death has 41:03.025 --> 41:07.335 occurred and there is a real conflict. 41:07.340 --> 41:11.020 So I think that the transition here is smooth. 41:11.018 --> 41:13.568 The transition is made smoother by the figure of Vivaldo, 41:13.570 --> 41:16.900 who--I'm sure you remember--who's the man with 41:16.900 --> 41:21.270 whom Don Quixote engages in conversation about the nature of 41:21.266 --> 41:23.426 knighthood, and so forth, 41:23.429 --> 41:27.149 and they all anticipate, because they have been told by 41:27.150 --> 41:28.920 the goatherds, and so forth, 41:32.869 --> 41:40.759 So we move to that episode in which the main theme appears to 41:40.755 --> 41:43.775 be that of free will. 41:43.780 --> 41:49.600 The theme of free will is the main theme, 41:49.599 --> 41:53.969 but unattendant, a very important theme is also 41:53.969 --> 41:56.429 that, again, of literature, 41:56.431 --> 42:00.621 literature and its effects, because Marcela and 42:06.128 --> 42:10.768 Quixote in their relationship to literature, 42:13.900 --> 42:18.690 but mostly Marcela--want to play act a literary role. 42:18.690 --> 42:22.980 She wants to be a shepherdess and take to the hills, 42:30.309 --> 42:35.829 and in this he is also like Don Quixote, is a reader; 42:35.829 --> 42:38.909 not only a reader, he's a student from the 42:38.905 --> 42:41.975 University of Salamanca, a former student, 42:41.983 --> 42:44.013 a graduate, and a poet. 42:44.010 --> 42:48.130 So the stakes here, as I say, I repeat are much 42:48.126 --> 42:53.316 higher, and it is almost as if literature were on trial. 42:53.320 --> 42:56.400 We can remember what the scene is. 43:00.289 --> 43:05.719 It is not said straight forwardly because suicide is a 43:05.715 --> 43:09.785 mortal sin, and Cervantes is writing within 43:09.793 --> 43:14.913 the context of very Catholic Spain and he can't just write it 43:19.518 --> 43:23.208 but the words used in the text, 'desesperado,' he became 43:23.206 --> 43:25.266 desperate, he was desperate, 43:25.271 --> 43:29.381 all point out to the fact that he committed suicide, 43:29.380 --> 43:33.660 he committed suicide because Marcela spurned him. 43:33.659 --> 43:41.249 But what is amazing here is the very detailed socioeconomic 43:41.248 --> 43:44.518 context of the episode. 43:44.518 --> 43:48.248 In this sense, Cervantes is anticipating 43:48.251 --> 43:51.171 Balzac, the great nineteenth century 43:51.173 --> 43:56.553 French novelist who gave very, very specific details about the 43:56.550 --> 44:00.390 economic situation of his characters. 44:00.389 --> 44:06.119 And here we have that, because we learn that Marcela 44:06.123 --> 44:10.653 is very rich; she's the daughter of William 44:10.652 --> 44:14.202 the Rich, her mother died giving birth to 44:14.201 --> 44:18.021 her, and then William the Rich died 44:18.021 --> 44:22.591 and left Marcela entrusted to an uncle-- 44:22.590 --> 44:24.310 to a brother, I guess, of his--who's a 44:24.313 --> 44:27.433 priest, and who will administer her 44:27.427 --> 44:30.467 estate until she gets married. 44:30.469 --> 44:36.719 Women could not hold property out right, and the moment that 44:36.724 --> 44:42.664 she married the estate would pass over to her husband. 44:45.222 --> 44:49.472 who is no longer a youth, as we will meet later in the 44:49.469 --> 44:51.589 book; he's all ready thirty years old 44:51.590 --> 44:54.650 when he dies because, when Don Quixote leans over to 44:54.650 --> 44:59.610 look at the cadaver he says, "I saw a man of about 44:59.608 --> 45:01.188 thirty." 45:04.750 --> 45:11.380 He has inherited a great deal of property and lands and 45:11.375 --> 45:17.755 animals and so forth, and so it seems as if this were 45:17.755 --> 45:20.205 a perfect match. 45:20.210 --> 45:23.840 He is of noble lineage. 45:23.840 --> 45:29.010 She's not, but this would not be an impediment and it would 45:29.009 --> 45:34.449 not bring down the line as it were because nobility was passed 45:34.445 --> 45:38.185 on in Castilian laws through the male. 45:38.190 --> 45:42.250 So Cervantes has created a situation here for a perfect 45:42.248 --> 45:47.548 marriage in a small village, these two rich young people 45:47.552 --> 45:52.512 would marry and create a larger even estate. 45:52.510 --> 45:56.830 It could become a mayorazgo--a word that 45:56.833 --> 46:02.663 you will learn about a little more later--an entailed state. 46:02.659 --> 46:08.159 Now, what intervenes? 46:08.159 --> 46:13.059 What intervenes is Marcela's desire to become a shepherd, 46:17.956 --> 46:19.966 mad pursuit of her. 46:27.409 --> 46:32.809 We learn that because his poem is read at the funeral, 46:32.813 --> 46:36.693 a typical Petrarchan canzone. 46:36.690 --> 46:40.950 He is also the one who writes the autos sacramentales, 46:40.949 --> 46:44.069 the allegorical plays on Corpus Christi day, 46:44.070 --> 46:49.430 so he did a religious play that relates about the Eucharist. 46:49.429 --> 46:53.319 He's a cosmographer, he can tell what the weather is 46:53.315 --> 46:56.665 going to be or the future and all of that. 46:56.670 --> 47:01.590 He's a kind of a budding Faust--Goethe Faust, 47:01.594 --> 47:07.204 in the nineteenth century--in that he wants to foretell the 47:07.197 --> 47:08.257 future. 47:08.260 --> 47:10.770 He's madly in love, he's a poet, 47:10.771 --> 47:15.471 he has all of these qualities, all of these sort-of-demonic 47:15.469 --> 47:20.169 qualities that lead him to desperation and to suicide. 47:20.170 --> 47:29.170 In fact, he wants to be so much in control that he has prepared 47:29.172 --> 47:37.452 his burial in such a way that it is almost like a play. 47:37.449 --> 47:42.189 He wants to be buried where he met Marcela, not in consecrated 47:42.193 --> 47:46.783 ground, all of this raises the eyebrows of the church in the 47:46.782 --> 47:48.962 town, the narrator says. 47:48.960 --> 47:55.170 His whole burial and funeral is going to be like an auto 47:55.166 --> 47:58.416 sacramental, like one of these plays that he 47:58.423 --> 48:00.613 wrote, and his body would be the main 48:00.614 --> 48:02.244 prop and the protagonist. 48:02.239 --> 48:07.649 So we see other characteristics of these characters. 48:07.650 --> 48:14.590 Meanwhile, Marcela appears at the funeral and delivers a very 48:14.592 --> 48:20.692 spirited defense of herself, using very precise forensic 48:20.688 --> 48:23.298 rhetoric, that is legal rhetoric and 48:23.295 --> 48:28.205 legal terms to defend herself, and the issue becomes who is 48:28.213 --> 48:30.123 right at the end. 48:30.119 --> 48:35.599 The women characters in Cervantes are very active and 48:35.597 --> 48:40.757 want to take their own destiny in their own hands, 48:40.759 --> 48:43.919 and Marcela is an example. 48:43.920 --> 48:46.880 So one could say Marcela is right, and this is what Don 48:46.882 --> 48:49.962 Quixote determines, Don Quixote acts as a judge and 48:49.956 --> 48:52.276 he says: Wait, because when she leaves and 48:52.277 --> 48:54.687 runs into the hills people want to pursue her, 48:54.690 --> 48:56.200 he says, no, no, no, no; he says: 48:56.199 --> 48:58.039 I will defend her right to be free., 48:58.039 --> 49:03.259 she has proven beyond any doubt that she had no culpability 49:07.489 --> 49:09.809 and so she should be free. 49:09.809 --> 49:13.079 So, is she right? 49:13.079 --> 49:16.689 Is she right, or has Marcela also acted with 49:16.692 --> 49:21.142 a somewhat selfishness by wanting to become a literary 49:21.144 --> 49:22.494 shepherdess? 49:22.489 --> 49:25.529 To go around in the woods and playing at being a shepherdess, 49:25.530 --> 49:28.930 not marrying, these two have squandered-- 49:28.929 --> 49:31.069 their estates--have squandered this possibility... 49:31.070 --> 49:35.320 Well, it is not as clear as it would seem. 49:35.320 --> 49:39.610 The question, I think, remains open. 49:42.610 --> 49:48.510 Marcela has sort of suffered a civil death, 49:48.510 --> 49:51.900 a civil death in the sense that she has run into the woods, 49:51.900 --> 49:54.930 into the hills, into the thickest parts of the 49:54.925 --> 49:56.615 hills, the text says, 49:56.621 --> 50:01.461 and we don't know what's going to become of her there separated 50:01.461 --> 50:04.581 from society, playing this literary role. 50:04.579 --> 50:10.869 And so, I think, the end of the episode leaves 50:10.867 --> 50:16.617 us with a sense of ambiguity, we have to decide, 50:16.623 --> 50:19.053 as we did in the Andres episode, 50:19.050 --> 50:23.130 before but it's not clear as it seems. 50:23.130 --> 50:29.300 It also seems that the episode is inviting us to consider the 50:29.300 --> 50:31.770 effects of literature. 50:31.768 --> 50:35.088 That is, literature has given Marcela, 50:37.170 --> 50:41.350 the idea that absolute freedom is possible, 50:41.349 --> 50:46.249 that you can live your dreams, that you can live out your 50:46.246 --> 50:50.286 desires, and obviously this is a 50:50.291 --> 50:58.201 dangerous proposition which can lead to the kind of conflict 50:58.195 --> 51:01.005 that we have here. 51:01.010 --> 51:05.700 Remember, the one passing judgment at the end is a madman. 51:05.699 --> 51:09.579 Don Quixote has passed judgment because, in a way, 51:09.577 --> 51:13.847 he is like Marcela and he defends Marcela's right to be 51:13.849 --> 51:16.619 insane like him and to act out. 51:16.619 --> 51:19.789 Now, this whole episode, in a way, 51:19.789 --> 51:25.399 concludes on a very hilarious note which is the next episode, 51:25.400 --> 51:28.610 the next episode in which they're going to the woods, 51:28.610 --> 51:32.730 where Marcela has escaped, and they find a locus 51:32.733 --> 51:35.903 amoenus, which is a common place in 51:35.896 --> 51:41.326 literary art and literature, a very pleasant place that is 51:41.329 --> 51:44.579 with grass, with shade, with water, 51:44.577 --> 51:47.877 a running brook making a pleasant sound, 51:47.880 --> 51:49.180 and so forth. 51:49.179 --> 51:50.849 And what do we have, what happens here? 51:50.849 --> 51:57.159 We have here the translation sort of this amorous episode 51:57.164 --> 52:01.094 into animal love, when poor Rocinante, 52:01.085 --> 52:06.245 who doesn't seem to be strong enough to harbor such desires, 52:06.250 --> 52:13.650 meets some mares that are being also put there to graze, 52:13.650 --> 52:18.280 and have water by some men from Yanguas-- 52:18.280 --> 52:19.530 these are Galicians. 52:19.530 --> 52:23.400 We've met now people from various regions in Spain--and 52:23.402 --> 52:24.482 what happens? 52:24.480 --> 52:28.540 When poor Rocinante approaches the mares, 52:28.539 --> 52:32.079 as the text says, to communicate his desires to 52:32.083 --> 52:34.843 them, they meet him with hoofs, 52:34.840 --> 52:38.910 they kick him, and then their keepers come and 52:38.911 --> 52:42.661 beat the daylights out of poor Rocinante, 52:42.659 --> 52:46.739 and Don Quixote and Sancho try to intervene, 52:46.739 --> 52:51.309 and they are also beaten up by these people. 52:56.065 --> 52:59.365 Marcela episode, but in a humorous key. 52:59.369 --> 53:04.099 Cervantes likes to work with this contrast and with this 53:04.101 --> 53:09.521 transposition of something that was very serious and even somber 53:14.079 --> 53:19.409 slapstick comedy episode of poor Rocinante trying to seduce the 53:19.413 --> 53:22.943 mares and being kicked viciously. 53:22.940 --> 53:28.050 So I think that this is the end of the Marcela and 53:30.969 --> 53:34.679 The last comment on it as it were. 53:34.679 --> 53:40.909 Now, the knight and his squire themselves are about to enter 53:40.907 --> 53:46.437 into the thick of the novel, which will be a counterpoint 53:46.440 --> 53:51.220 between the Sierra Morena-- that is, these hills into which 53:51.224 --> 53:54.084 they go-- fleeing from the Holy 53:54.077 --> 53:59.897 Brotherhood, and also because Don Quixote wants to do penance 53:59.900 --> 54:04.520 for Dulcinea, a wilderness like the one in 54:04.523 --> 54:09.613 which Marcela was lost, a counterpoint between that and 54:09.608 --> 54:12.958 Juan Palomeque's inn, the inn where the fracas 54:12.960 --> 54:16.180 happened before with Maritornes, and so forth, 54:16.184 --> 54:19.684 which will become a temple, a courthouse, 54:19.679 --> 54:24.429 and where the complicated love stories in Part I, 54:24.429 --> 54:28.729 and you will see how many complicated love stories ensue 54:28.728 --> 54:34.308 will be resolved in that inn, and so that is what we are 54:34.309 --> 54:39.049 going to move into in the next classes. 54:39.050 --> 54:44.000