The Power of Women in Curial e Güelfa: A Literary Analysis

The Power of Women in Curial e Güelfa

Women: The Engine of the Action. Curial e Güelfa is a novel where Curial is the hero, and the play moves along socially and psychologically. However, Curial would not have existed without the intervention of women. Although Güelfa is a character who is not evolving, she allows Curial to begin his chivalric life by providing him with all the money he needs and offering him her love. Güelfa knows what she wants; she is an intelligent, beautiful, and cultured woman. Without Güelfa, Curial would have been a nobody.

Another woman who pushes the protagonist is Lachesis. She is the best-described woman in the novel, known for her great beauty that captivates Curial and provokes jealousy, anger, and contempt from Güelfa. Then there is the maid of Güelfa, who has a prominent role, accompanying Curial for a long time and establishing a very human friendship between them, a stark contrast to the distant relationship that Curial always maintains with Güelfa.

But the most decisive and sensual woman in the novel is Camera, Fàraig's daughter, who committed suicide because of Curial and allowed him to obtain the wealth he needed to advance socially without asking anything of Güelfa. Besides this important role of women, the male characters, except for the protagonist, are always in the background. This novel would not move without the vital role of women.

Ideologies in Conflict: Medieval vs. Modern

A Mentality Straddling Two Ideologies. Although Curial e Güelfa is a novel, the anonymous author included small items with a real, documented basis. In addition, there are real names of knights, kings, princes, and emperors from the history of the 13th century, which is when the events of the novel take place. Everything that happens in the novel almost never departs from logic or likelihood, and when it does, it is justifiable as a dream, a vision, or a literary technique. The author was influenced more by the weight of classical tradition than by contemporary Italian literature and the Catalan tradition of Lull.

One ideology is still medieval because the love affair that exists between Curial and Güelfa continues to be a covenant of vassalage, reflecting the troubadours of courtly love. In the play, there is a lack of the lausengiers figure, the envious old men. Alongside this, we have, for example, a very sincere friendship closing down with the very human protagonist. These are symptoms of modernity:

• Rise of the young gentleman
• Relaxation and sensuous atmosphere of the 15th century
• Curial's dream (Allegory)
• Characteristics of the chivalric novel: plausibility, time and geography known, limitations of the hero, and the absence of fantasy.