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RESEARCH PRODUCT

'Flipping the Script' : The Not-So-Distressed Damsel and the Shirking of the Blame in Curial e Guelfa

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Abstract: This article explores the ways in which motifs of feminine culpability, typically articulated by the male courtly lover to his beloved lady in the Spanish sentimental novel, are subverted in the anonymous fifteenth-century Catalan chivalric novel Curial e Guelfa. This subversion of culpability motifs is facilitated in Curial e Guelfa since there is also a subversion of gender roles within the amorous relationship of the novel’s protagonists: a female lover, Guelfa, who courts her male beloved, Curial. I demonstrate how the same tactics used by the male courtly lover in the sentimental novel to blame the beloved lady for his suffering and the demise of the relationship are employed by the female characters of Curial e Guelfa toward the beloved man. However, feminine blame still occurs in Curial e Guelfa, manifested as feminine self-blame and blame between women, while the male characters engage in self-absolution, absolution of other men, and utter shirking of the blame. Keywords: Curial e Guelfa, sentimental novel, culpability, blame, absolution. Resum: Aquest article explora les formes en que els motius de la culpabilitat femenina, tipicament articulats per l’amant cortesa masculi a la seua estimada, en la novel·la sentimental espanyola, es canvien en la novel·la cavalleresca catalana del segle XV Curial e Guelfa. La subversio dels motius de culpabilitat es facilita en Curial e Guelfa, perque tambe existeix una subversio dels rols de genere dins la relacio amorosa dels protagonistes de la novel·la: una amant femenina, Guelfa, que corteja al seu estimat masculi, Curial. Demostre com les mateixes tactiques utilitzades per l’enamorat cortesa en la novel·la sentimental  per culpar a l’estimada pel seu patiment i la desaparicio de la relacio son emprades pels personatges femenins del Curial e Guelfa cap a l’estimat. Tanmateix, la culpa femenina encara es troba al Curial e Guelfa, manifestada com l’autoinculpacio  i la culpa femenina entre les dones, mentre que els personatges masculins practiquen l’autoabsolucio, l’absolucio dels altres homes i l’elusio completa de la culpa. Keywords: Curial e Guelfa, novel·la sentimental novel, culpabilitat, pecat, absolucio.