Abstract
In Cervantes's works there are many cases of women who attempt to exercise “freedom of choice.” These women, without obtaining paternal consent, consummate a clandestine marriage —a love match— which they accomplish thanks to a deft alternation of silence and word: a silence that hides, and a word that comes to represent an irrevocable state of affairs. I have reached these conclusions through the analysis of some feminine figures, such as the protagonists of El laberinto de amor, La gran sultana, or some of the characters in Persiles who, even today, surprise the reader with their impressive decisiveness when it comes to choosing a lover and taking pleasure with him. Hence, it is not sufficient to explain these situations by labeling these women varoniles, as has often been done.
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