Miguel de Cervantes

As the recipient of Portuguese expeditions in Africa, Seville became one of the most significant slave markets of its time, with a black population accounting for 10%. Cervantes had lived in Seville, so it is no coincidence that he chose it as the setting for his novella The Jealous Extremaduran, published in the Exemplary Novels (1613). The story revolves around the marriage between an old colonial returnee (Carrizales) and his teenage wife (Leonora), whom he confines in a fortress-like house to safeguard his honour. The household staff includes the servant Marialonso, two maidservants, four white slaves with branded faces (presumably Moriscas), two black slaves (one of whom is Guiomar), and a black eunuch (Luis). A suitor (Loaysa) completes the cast. This lecture will examine Cervantes’s portrayal of women in this novella, focusing particularly on the black slave Guiomar, while also analysing the character of Leonora. Finally, we will explore the question of the novella’s moral lesson.