Carmesina

Material:

Alicante red marble

Dimensions:

45 x 36 x 16 cm

Year:

2019

Carmesina is one of the protagonists of Tirant lo Blanc, a novel written by Joanot Martorell and published in 1490, which is considered one of the greatest exponents of the Valencian chivalric romance novel.

The first encounter with Carmesina - virtuous and beauty - leaves Tirant dazed and in a state of melancholy that follows all the clichés of courtly love. And just as in the war it is Tirant who dominates the situations, in the palace it is the women who are in control. Tirant does not escape this new scenario and all his will will be subordinated to the will of women.

If, in general, courtly love has presented the woman as a passive subject, who cannot freely dispose of her own body and who must be given to the one who celebrates her as a reward for loyal service, Martorell's characterization of the women in Tirant lo Blanc, according to Marín, represents an important change in the treatment that literature had given to the female universe up to that point: "From representing a role of mere observers of the hero's exploits, they pass to to be characters with an inner life of their own and independent of the protagonist's vicissitudes".

Marín Sala, Carme (2013): Les dones prenen la paraula Una alenada femenina per la narrativa medieval des de Tirant lo Blanc (Treball Final de carrera). Universitat Oberta de Catalunya