A Shepherdess in Don Quixote: Beauty, Virtue, and Independence

I am reading Don Quixote in my Comparative Literature Class, and I came across this wonderful part about a shepherdess named Marcela.  Marcela is the most beautiful woman any man has ever seen, and men leave their careers to pursue her.  One of her suitors dies in his grief, and the people begin blame her for his death. She comes to his funeral to defend herself.  She beautifully preaches that a truly beautiful woman is one who is chaste and pure, not one who flaunts her external beauty.  She asserts her independence as a shepherdess — this is who she wants to be, and her male suitors will not change her mind.  I love this random incident in Don Quixote, because it contradicts a common societal thought at the time: a woman’s value is in her beauty.  Marcela preaches the true virtuous woman; the true value of a virtuous woman. Marcela is virtuous, chaste, beautiful, intelligent, and independent.   (I rejoice when I find this stuff in literature. It’s my favorite :))

This is what Marcela says:

You all say that heaven made me beautiful, so much so that this beauty of mine, with a force you can’t resist, makes you love me; and you say and even demand that, in return for the love you show me, I must love you.  By the natural understanding which God has granted me I know that whatever is beautiful is lovable; but I can’t conceive why, for this reason alone, a woman who’s loved for her beauty should be obliged to love whoever loves her.  What’s more, it could happen that the lover of beauty is ugly, and since that which is ugly is loathsome, it isn’t very fitting for him to say: “I love you because you’re beautiful; you must love me even though I’m ugly.”  And even if they are well-matched as far as beauty goes, that doesn’t mean that the attraction’s going to be mutual, because not all beauty inspires love.  Some beauties delight the eye but don’t captivate the heart; just as well, because if all beauty did inspire love and conquer hearts, people’s affections would be forever wandering this way and that without knowing where to come to rest – there’s an infinite number of beautiful people, so the affections would be infinite, too.  And, according to what I’ve heard, true love can’t be divided, and must be voluntary, not forced on you.  If this is so, as I believe it is, why do you think I should be obliged to give in to you, just because you say you love me dearly?  Or else tell me this: of heaven had made me ugly instead of beautiful, would I have been right to complain about you for not loving me?  What’s more, you must remember that I didn’t choose this beauty of mine – heaven gave it to me, exactly as you see it, quite freely, without my asking for it or picking it. And just as the viper doesn’t deserve to be blamed for her poison, even though she kills with it, because nature gave it to her, so I don’t deserve to be blamed for being beautiful; because beauty in a  virtuous woman is like a distant fire or sharp sword, which don’t burn or cut anyone who doesn’t come too close.  Honor and virtue are ornaments of the soul, and without them the body, even if it is beautiful, shouldn’t seem beautiful.  Well then, if chastity is one of the virtues that most embellish the soul and the body, why should the woman who’s loved for her beauty lose her chastity by responding to the advances of the man who, merely for his own pleasure, employs all his strength and cunning to make her lose it?
I was born free, and to live free I chose the solitude of the countryside….I am the distant fire and the far-off sword….If I’d encouraged him, I should have been false; if I’d gratified him, I should have been acting against my own intentions, better than his…Because a woman who doesn’t love any man can’t make any man jealous, and disabuse must not be confused with disdain.  He who calls me fierce and a basilisk can leave me alone, as something evil and dangerous; he who calls me an ingrate can stop courting me; he who calls me distant can keep his distance; he who calls me cruel can stop following me: because this fierce basilisk, this ingrate, this cruel and distant woman is most certainly not going to seek, court, approach or follow any of them.

I love this 🙂 I should have used it in my Senior Thesis.

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