2. Away from reality
• The plot in the novel follows a pattern that
may represent some kind of refuge for the 2
main characters: a escape from ordinary
society
• Rinconete and Cortadillo seem rather distant
from both the «cofradia» and the rest of the
society
3. Social criticism: satire
• Social satire
• Ridicule of Seville
• Innkeeper’s wife: condones the boys’
behaviors for her own amusement (card trick)
• The two boys also fail to denounce the
confraternity of thieves and eventually
become part of it
4. The narrator
• No character within Rinconete and Cortadillo
actually narrates the text
• BUT several appear as being observing the
action.
• Series of intermediaries who collide with the
main characters throughout the story (conflict
of interests)
5. The main characters: satire
• Manipulators of their reality and
manipulators of the reader: “señor
gentilhombre” and “señor caballero”
• The types themselves —thieves,
prostitutes, cutthroats— are real, but
the words they utter are completely
out of place
• Monipodio’s house = microcosms that
mirrors the real society
• Monipodio acts as a judge and uses
sophisticated language
• Good social norms at Monipodio’s
house = satire
6. Personal experience
• Maybe Cervantes is criticizing the city in which
he lived and suffered for some time
• But may also be exalting the rectitude of the
rest of his homeland
• Is Cervantes Rinconete?
7. • La Sevilla que no vemos…
http://www.galeon.com/juliodominguez/2004b/
acce1.html
