Cervantes' El Celoso Extremeno: Wealthy Man's Unexpected Opportunity - Essay Sample

Introduction

Miguel de Cervantes was one of the famous Spain literature writers (Ann &Edward 1). His work is dated between the mind 16th century and the early 17th century. Most of his literature books involved love, religious, and social life, among others. El Celoso extremeno (The jealousy older man from Extremadura) is one of the stories written by Cervantes and was publicized in 1610. The story is about Carrizales, a wealthy man. Carrizalles was born from a rich family, and he gets an opportunity to travel around the world. He spends most of his wealth on clubs as he goes and finally is poor. To his advantage, his parents dead, and they left him a fortune since he was the only son. Upon returning home, he had enough to spend for the rest of his life. He looked for his friends but found most of them dead. However, Carrizales was lonely since he had no wife or children. Therefore, he opted to marry a woman to give him an inheritor of his vast richness.

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One day when Carrizales was walking, he saw a beautiful girl who was aged 13 years. He was attracted by her, and so this as an opportunity to get a woman who she would direct and mound the way he wanted. He approached Leonora's low-income family, and he offered them a massive bride price for betrothing there daughter. After marrying Leonora, he was jealous and insecure that other men could snatch the innocent girl from him. Hence, to avoid this, he chooses to enclose her in the house where she could not be in contact with any other man. In the life of seclusion, Carrizales gave Leonora everything she wished for, "he encouraged her to ask for whatever came to her head" (Cervantes 1). However, young rake manages to win Leonora with flattery guile. When the older man found this, he was devastated. He finally died, leaving his properties to the widow, her parents, and the slaves.

Religion

One of the themes in the literature includes religion. Leonora could not find the outside of her husband's compound except when she was going to mass, and it was too early. Religion was a significant part of society in the 16th and 17th centuries, especially in Spain. During the mid and late 16th century, there was a religious war between Protestants and Catholics in Western Europe. For example, in the year 1578, thousands of Protestants were killed by Catholics in France (Herz 1). Therefore, explaining that mass showed the religious side of the author. Mass is always associated with Catholics; there were a majority of catholic followers in Spain during the 16th century and even today.

The author also used religion to show the taste of freedom for the people who believe. If Leonora did not think, then she could not have gotten a chance to see the outside of the castle. The author also showed how important religion was to the society, despite being jealousy Carrizales broke all his rules to worship. This instilled the power of God and the need for it to be respected despite how wealthy one is. Moreover, matrimonial was done between Carrizales and his bridegroom to officiate them as men and women. However, in some instances, religion is seen as a punishment for people. For example, after the death of her husband, Leonora opted to be a nun not because she wanted it but because she had no other option.

Social Class

Wealth is the other theme in the literature, an individual level of wealth made them decide what to do with it. Carrizales is depicted as a wealthy man who was born from a noble family. This has given him a chance to travel to any part of the world, including France, Italy, and Flanders. Historically in Europe, marriage was based on social class. A girl from a wealthy family could not be married by a poor man. On the other hand, a man from a wealthy background was allowed to marry whoever they want. The issue prompted old men to opt for poor girls due to the financial situation of their parents. The social class marriage was the culture of Spain people during the time. It was significantly considered to the extent that a poor man, specifically a slave, could be killed for wanting a hard in marriage from the noble family (Molloy 3). Moreover, the rich people lived the extravagant life surrounding themselves with slaves to work with them.

Family Setting

The family setting in the story is mainly monogamy. There are three monogamous families in the story. One of the family is Carrizales parent, though his father was wealthy, he had only one wife and one son. That explains why after they died with his wife, they left everything to their only son. On the other hand, Leonora's parents had a monogamous family though unfortunate. They also had the only daughter. Finally, Carrizales and Leonora married and stayed as a family; he did not look for another wife, nor did she look for a husband. Generally, every family in the story is a monogamous family, and people did not have to look for another relationship. The theme implies that the culture of Spain people mainly emphasized monogamy. With the introduction of religion in Spain, people practiced monogamy as the Catholic Church accepted matrimonial between a single wife and husband (Duby, 7). Generally, doctrine emphasized monogamy and chastity for the priesthood, and it soon became part of the culture of the community. Additionally, is marriage, a woman was expected to be submissive to the husband. That explains why Leonora did not question her husband's decision on why she was kept in a setting where there are no other men. Both religion and culture were against the women questioning the husband's decisions.

Slavery

Finally, slavery was the other culture of the European people. The story shows this by showing how Carrizales enslaved many women in his house to take care of his wife. The story also has Negros as part of slaves; for example, there existed Black eunuchs among the gatemen. In the 17th and 18th century slavery was popular in west Europe and was part of the culture of the people. People known as negriers were responsible for capturing slaves from Africa. In the early 17th century, there were both Indian and African slaves in Europe; some worked in farms while others worked as house assistants (Weiss 12).

Conclusion

In conclusion, the literature is used to show the culture of not only Spain but Western Europe. Themes such as Religion, Marriage, social class, and slavery align with the historical facts of the community during the time. Generally, Carrizales used his literature to show and address various social issues. For example, in this story, the primary concern is the wealthy and women's freedom.

Work Cited

Ann &Edward. Miguel de. Cervantes Biography., Britannica (2011) https://www.britannica.com/biography/Miguel-de-Cervantes

Cervantes, Miguel de. "The Jealous Estramaduran." Exemplary Novels of Cervantes (1610). http://www.online-literature.com/cervantes/exemplary-novels/9/Duby, Georges. The knight, the lady, and the priest: the making of modern marriage in medieval Spain. University of Chicago Press, 1993.

Herz, Alexandra. "Vasari's" Massacre" Series in the Sala Regia: The Political, Juristic, and Religious Background." Zeitschrift fur Kunstgeschichte 49.H. 1 (1986): 41-54.

Molloy, Maureen. "Considered Affinity: Kinship, Marriage, and Social Class in Spain, 1640-1729." Social Science History 14.1 (1990): 1-26.

Weiss, Gillian. Captives and corsairs: Spain and slavery in the early modern Mediterranean. Stanford University Press, 2011.