"The Spanish Student" y "La Gitanilla" : del convencionalismo a la rebeldía

Abstract

The Spanish Student (1843) by Henry Wadswprth Longfellow is a play based on Miguel de Cervantes's novel La gitanilla (1612). Both works present a Gypsy girl who stniggles for surviving in a non-Gypsy male-dominated society. Two ideas are going to be developed throughout the texts: the young Gypsy's honour and the Gypsies'role in Spanish society. On the one hand, Cervantes portrays a self-confident Gypsy girl who wants to be respected by men, and a proud Gypsy community whose only goal is to be accepted by society. On the other hand, Longfellow depicts a very insecure girl,concemed about pubiic judgement on her virtue and a Gypsy community devoted to stealing and plundering. Consequently, two attitudes are observed in these authors: Cervantes's nonconservative and challenging position vs. Longfellow's conventional romantic view of the Gypsies in Spain.