Cervantes's Quixote and the Arbitrista Reform Project

Abstract

This article examines the representation of peasant women in the Quixote, specifically Aldonza Lorenzo, and its relationship to the discourses that argued for a return to an agrarian economy made by many of the reformers or arbitristas of the period. The article considers the ways in which the relationship Aldonza-Dulcinea has been studied in order to propose a new avenue for the interpretation of the labradora turned idealized princess upon which Alonso Quijano constructs his medieval knight fantasy. I conclude that what has typically been seen as a humorous parody of courtly love conventions can also be read as a textual space where the productivity and dignity of those who work are given their due.

Keywords:

• arbitristas
• Aldonza Lorenzo
• Don Quixote
• Dulcinea del Toboso
• relationship of history to fiction

Notes

1. Johnson and Forcione, for example, are at odds when it comes interpreting the relationship of the Quixote to its historical context. Their visions of history and ideology in the Quixote take us to radically different readings. Whereas Johnson makes the case that Cervantes's materialist consciousness constitutes the backbone of the Quixote, Forcione counters that the specificity of human experience exceeds any sociohistorical categories that may frame the text. See Forcione's review of Johnson's Cervantes and the Material World.

2. Thompson and Casililla's collection of essays offers a variety of perspectives on the subject of the Castilian crisis.

3. These references are spread throughout Johnson's study. Please see Johnson's index for specific pages.

4. See Perdices Blas, esp. ch. 3, “Arbitrios para restaurar la riqueza de Castilla,” and ch. 4, “Obstáculos morales al crecimiento económico.”

5. Forcione has also referred to this incongruity as relevant to his criticism of Johnson's Material World.

6. Redondo observes that some historians have found a relative prosperity in southern La Mancha between 1570 and 1600, making part 1 at least partially historically accurate (66–67). Still, for Redondo, the text reads as inconsistent given the general sense of economic weakness that the Castilian cortes and arbitristas sensed was fast spreading through the land.

7. The eight entries are numbered 603, 604, 608, 758, 940, 987, 1129, and 1324. Entries 603, 604, and 608 address the problem of delinquency. Entry 1324 talks exclusively about prostitution.

8. For a detailed account of the inclusion of women's work in early modern moralist and arbitrista treatises, see Pérez-Toribio, esp. ch. 1, “El concepto del trabajo en la España de Siglo de Oro: el mundo laboral de la mujer trabajadora renacentista y barroca.”

9. Perdices Blas's offers an overview of their propositions in ch. 3, “Arbitrios para restaurar la riqueza de Castilla.”

10. See Bucolic Metaphors, which examines the effect of parody in the pastoral genre, including the pastoral interludes in the Quixote.

11. For an in-depth analysis of other women workers in the Quixote, see Pérez-Toribio, ch. 3, “Las mujeres materialistas de Cervantes: Gestiones empresariales dentro y fuera de la casa.”