Greens

In Miguel de Cervantes’ El Celoso Extremeño, the protagonist Felipe Carrizales, marries a very young girl. Before marrying her, he puts in place a great deal of precautions to forestall being deceived, going as far as to isolate her from the world by making her live in a home with no windows facing the street. Nevertheless, a bold youth manages to penetrate the fortress and one day Carrizales finds his wife in the arms of the youth. Carrizales forgives the adulterers, blaming himself for what has happened, and dies of sorrow over the error he has committed. Literary tradition is deviated from here as it would dictate that the adulterers die but instead Cervantes overrides the social ideal of honour in favour of a criticism of the responsibility of the individuality.

El Casamiento Engañoso, El Licenciado Vidriera, Rinconete y Cortadillo, and El Coloquio de los Perros form another group of Cervantes’ exemplary novels. These particular tales are concerned more with the personalities of the characters as opposed to the subject matter. El Colloquio de los Perros features wonderfully sardonic observations on Spanish society at the time. Whilst the tales do not concern g4 led, they are still worth a read.