Cervantes’s Novelas ejemplares by Clamurro William H.;

Author:Clamurro, William H.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: undefined
Publisher: Lexington Books
Published: 2012-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

In this first declaration, the core of Leocadia’s argument clearly presents the conundrum of honra as it is understood, first, in its reality as the actual loss of virginity (the dishonor falls upon the woman, even though the crime has been the man’s action), and then, the quite distinct problem of the woman’s loss of sexual purity becoming known within the community. As Leocadia puts it so precisely, this is the greater fear, that is, the deshonra might come to be known and thus that her own and her family’s honra might be “puesta en opinión de las gentes.”[13]

Leocadia is the innocent victim of a vile act, and given her condition of total unconsciousness, she cannot be faulted with an insufficiency of effort in her self-defense. Her innocence and inherent virtue are underscored by her actions when she regains consciousness.[14] In Rodolfo’s attempt at a second act of forced intercourse, she does in fact fight him off successfully. As the story continues, Rodolfo basically loses interest and leaves Leocadia alone in the room. When he returns, it is for the purpose of taking her from his family’s home in order to abandon her in the streets of Toledo. Leocadia is able to make her way back to her own home, where she recounts the story—as much as she consciously knows of it—to her parents. In effect, Leocadia is trapped and submerged into a condition of silence and defensive secrecy, both as a result of the loss of her virginity and then as a consequence of the fact that she becomes pregnant from Rodolfo’s act. She subsequently bears the son who, in turn, will be the point of connection and, by his injury, the catalyst of recognition, the vehicle of what will be a return and a resolution of the profound problem created by Rodolfo’s sinful act.[15]

In the first moments of Leocadia’s return to her family, the dilemma of honra is further addressed in the consoling words of her father. After he dissuades his daughter from her first plan—which is to use the silver crucifix that she took from Rodolfo’s room as a way of possibly determining the identity of her assailant or his family—her father says the following:

Lo que has de hacer, hija, es guardarla [the crucifix] y encomendarte a ella, que pues ella fue testigo de tu desgracia, permitirá que haya juez que vuelva por tu justicia. Y advierte, hija, que más lastima una onza de deshonra pública que una arroba de infamia secreta. Y pues puedes vivir honrada con Dios en público, no te pene de estar deshonrada contigo en secreto: la verdadera deshonra está en el pecado y la verdadera honra en la virtud. Con el dicho, con el deseo y con la obra se ofende a Dios; y pues tú, ni en dicho, ni en pensamiento, ni en hecho le has ofendido, tente por honrada, que yo por tal tendré, sin que jamás te mire sino como verdadero padre tuyo. (II, 84)

[What you must do, child,

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