| My dissertation examines the development of the women in the Quijote I, using the females Cervantes cites in his prologue--Guevara's prostitutes, Lamia, Laida and Flora, Ovid's Medea, Virgil's Circe and Homer's Calypso--as initial points of reference. I explore their influence on the characterization, discourse, and thematic significance of the women in the main part of the text. This close textual analysis is anchored in the Renaissance notions of imitation theory and informed by Thomas Greene's seminal work, The Light in Troy. In chapter one, I review the literature on Renaissance imitation theory, then discuss the prologue to the Quijote, and raise questions of why Cervantes chose to cite these women in his prologue.;In chapter two I examine how Cervantes rewrites salient characteristics of the prostitutes from Guevara's text. I examine the duality of Dulcinea and Maritornes, their prostitute-princess opposition, the similarities of Flora's business deals and Luscinda and Zoriada's negotiated marriages, and the differences between the "public" speakers, Marcela and Dorotea, whose defenses are either rejected or accepted by their respective audiences.;In the next chapter I turn to Medea's conflict of passion for her lover and loyalty for her family as presented by Ovid. Her decision to follow her passion is inscribed in Dorotea and Zoriada. While the women in Cervantes's text share a similar structure with Ovid's interpretations of Medea's history, they are able to overcome the obstacles they confront in order to restore harmony within their Christian context.;The first half of chapter four distinguishes the different types of sorcery and witchcraft in the Quijote. I then review the history of Circe and Calypso, particularly in terms of the Greek hero Odysseus, and explore the sorceresses' function in the text, most importantly in the figures Maritornes and Dulcinea.;In the conclusion I argue that Cervantes's imitation strategy supports a new freedom for writers that distances the writer from past traditions and emphasizes greater authorial responsibility. The women of the text are also defined by a greater freedom with which they affect the outcome of the male characters' lives. |
