Cervantes’s Camila, an Unorthodox Heiress to the Griselda Legacy Academic Article uri icon

Abstract

  • The aim of this study is to demonstrate how, and to explain why, Camila, the female protagonist of Cervantes’s El curioso impertinente, deviates from the lineage of tested wives, of which Boccaccio’s Griselda is the matriarch. Cervantes initially follows the Boccaccian template of the patient wife, with his Camila displaying at the outset an unwavering loyalty to her husband, Anselmo. Yet she eventually deviates from the Griselda model, first through her acquisition of agency and voice, and then through her adultery, as Cervantes innovatively presents her metamorphosis alongside an emphasis on Anselmo’s culpability. This analysis of Cervantes’s dialogue with Boccaccio centered on tested wives is incomplete, however, without also recognizing the previously overlooked influence of Petrarca on El curioso impertinente. Although Cervantes was likely familiar with the Griselda of Il Decameron, it was Petrarca’s standalone Latin rifacimento of Boccaccio’s tale that served as the basis for the popular 16th-century Spanish translations.

Publication Date

  • 2024-01-01