The most ingenious example is La gran sultana, a play on the subject of the nature of truth which stresses the subjectivity of judgment and thus of verisimilitude, and whose main theme is the gullibility of mosqueteros (intellectually inferior spectators). The main theme is internalized to the limited extent that the comedia contains an ingenious kind of mise en abyme in which Madrigal and the Kadi, who are minor characters viewed simply in the context of the plot, are stage embodiments of Cervantes and the duped spectator. See Paul Lewis-Smith, «La gran sultana doña Catalina de Oviedo: A Cervantine Practical joke», FMLS, 17 (1981), 68-82.

The most pertinent example is the disbelieving admiratio of Marfisa, a stranger in the drama's miraculous world (the Forest of Arden) who is unable to come to terms with her new experiences. See Lewis-Smith, «Cervantes and Inverisimilar Fiction», pp. 128-29.

This airing of the theme is concentrated in Act I: 47, 342, 437, 463, 504, 629, and 714.

The futility of Malgesí's efforts is primarily a reflection of the power of passion but also involves a subtle criticism of allegory as a method of moral persuasion, aimed, perhaps, at allegorical drama. See Lewis-Smith, «Cervantes and Inverisimilar Fiction», pp. 133-34.

Lauso and Corinto are nevertheless differentiated, Lauso being more absurd than Corinto in as much he is incapable of resigning himself to Clori's disdainful attitude. Corinto condemns him accordingly (III, pp. 160-61).

A. Navarro, El Quijote español del siglo XVII (Madrid: Rialp, 1964), pp. 255-321.

Opúsculo anónimo, probablemente escrito por encargo del conde-duque de Olivares por el libelista Alonso Guillén de la Carrera. Puede verse en Memorial Histórico Español, XVI, pp. 7-14. También en Follets Bonsoms nº 5.248, Biblioteca de Cataluña.

Novelas ejemplares, II, ed. M. Baquero Goyanes (Madrid: Editora Nacional, 1976), p. 199.

Cervantes en Barcelona (Barcelona: Sirmio, 1989).

Historia delle querre civili di questi tempi (Bolonia, 1653), p. 229.