>>Date: Fri, 29 Apr 2005 19:20:54 -0700 >>From: [log in to unmask] >>Subject: Molinos >>To: [log in to unmask] >> >>Dear Colleagues, >> >>There is a metaphor at play in the adventure of the windmills that can be >>immediately verified in the culture of Cervantes’s time. Don Quixote >>perceives the windmills to be giants. Sebastián de Covarrubias tells us >>that “gigante”, among other things, means “hombre que tiene largas manos >>y estendidas, que a mi parecer, es lo mesmo que hombre poderoso…”. The >>concept of power is subsequently given a metaphorical rendering: “podemos >>llamar gigantes metafóricamente a los soverbios desalmados, blasfemos, >>tiranos y hombres sin Dios y sin conciencia…”. Pandafilando de la Fosca >>Vista immediately comes to mind, although, ironically, don Quixote never >>gets to confront this giant directly. Of course, Pandafilando is >>Dorotea´s metaphorical rendering of don Fernando, a powerful nobleman >>who, blinded by his lust, promises to marry Dorotea, consummates their >>relationship and, indifferent to both the social code and the laws of >>God, promptly abandons her. In brief, the windmill episode constitutes >>the opening salvo in a long series of confrontations with “gigantes” by >>means of which don Quixote will attempt to “address power”, to right the >>wrongs (personal, social, political) of 17th-century Spain. >> >> >>Dr. G. L. Gingras >>Associate Professor and Coordinator of Spanish >>Saint Mary's College >>Notre Dame, IN 46556 >>(574) 284-5378 >>