Don Quixote

First Part, Chapter XIV, pg. 99

"Moreover, you must consider that I did not choose the beauty I have, and, such as it is, heaven gave it to me freely, without my requesting or choosing it. And just as the viper does not deserve to be blamed for its venom, although it kills, since it was gven the venom by nature, I do not deserve to be reproved for being beautiful, for beauty in the chaste woman is like a distant fire or sharp-edged sword: they do not burn or cut the person who does not approach them."

I love this entire page, and only relayed a small part of Marcela's self-defense. But, for it's early publication, this is a profoundly feminist argument that doesn't seem to be mocked or satirized by Cervantes or the other characters. This is another example of the low-mimetic in Don Quixote: the chaste virgins, the beautiful damsels, they can be victims, but they can also be criminizlied just as Marcela is because of their beauty. Beauty was considered a curse, a test, in the more strict Christian sects, and it was a woman's fault to be beautiful. In the low-mimetic, life-like version of the story, men are held accountable for their lusts. Even Don Quixote...