Is Truth Relative for Cervantes?

Abstract

The Hispanist is likely to assume almost automatically that Truth is relative for Cervantes. Some facile arguments are at his disposal. In chapter 44 of Part I: in the midst of the argument between Don Quixote and a barber over a brass object which Don Quixote has called, Mambrino's Helmet. and the barber has named a basin, Sancho speaks of a baciyelmo. The object, when first seen, served as an improvised rain-hat. This should suffice to show that an object has no absolute designation simply because some man has named it. Earlier, the use of an account book and a stable instead of a manual of chivalry and a chapel did not render invalid the knighting of Don Quixote. In Don Quixote's own eyes he was knighted, and so Cervantes' purpose was served. Sancho's one-word compromise was a willingness to accept, at least for diplomatic purposes, the premise that truth is expressed through mankind's subjective reaction to his universe. If the Truth could not be ascertained absolutely, then one would be less likely to suffer if he accepted multiple versions of truth simultaneously or sought a reconcilable middle point. Thus, in a world colored, perhaps even ruled, by differences of opinions and personal whims, the establishment of a moderate approach to problems of human relations would seem advisable. Cervantes seemed to look for a sensible mean, fleeing from extreme positions. Of course he had Don Quixote behave very brashly, assuming that he could ignore all odds that might be arrayed against him, but even our perfectionist knight-errant twice allowed discretion or inertia to keep him from rushing to rescue his squire when Sancho was in less than mortal danger. Where Don Quixote did act from an extremist position, he usually fared rather badly. In the moral realm, Cervantes seemed to oppose the perfectionism of Amadis de Gaula as unattainable in his world. All people were both good and bad. Noble and base impulses fought in the souls of people as diverse as Maritornes and the Duchess. The lessons he draws are thus lessons of tolerance and a democratic spirit. One should be slow to condemn and quick to forgive, because any man's pride, seeking perfection, may find humiliation; seeking to chastize the wicked, he will find chagrin upon seeing his own shortcomings. Cervantes did not sit in judgment upon his own characters nor upon his fellow men. This lesson from Cervantes was a timely one for the people of Spain, unless, perhaps it came too late. Spain was full of absolutes: one nation, one faith, one destiny. A sincere and dedicated sovereign had sapped much of Spain's strength in a holy war against England because of a faith in one absolute, now symbolized in the expression invincible armada. It is certainly easy to draw a picture of Cervantes, prophet of Hapsburg Spain, warning his countrymen against placing their faith upon their possession of Absolute Truth. Spain was full of self-righteous men, confident in their ability both to find and right the wrongs which they encountered. We can scarcely think of Cervantine Spain without having the twin tyrants of pundonor and the Inquisition come to mind, nor find a more effective answer than Cervantes' solution to these problems. They are the more effective in that neither problem is mentioned specifically by Cervantes and almost never does he seem to be preaching to his reader. It is rather as