This Catalan romance of chivalry may have been conceived in accordance with the taste of Martorell’s times, but conditions have changed. The standards by which we measure the actions of men now are not the same as they were then. If an author wishes us to become enthusiastic in our admiration for his hero, the latter must conform to our standards. We insist that the protagonist be, above all, heroic from a moral standpoint. If he lacks that attribute we cannot give him a full measure of appreciation. An immoral hero is a paradox, an impossibility with us of the present day; consequently we shall never be able to regard Tirant lo Blanch as a great hero. But from the foregoing study it may perhaps appear that the “cura’s” estimate, composed both of enthusiasm and reprobation (as set forth in the passage quoted in the opening paragraph), is not unworthy of the good sense and critical acumen of the great Cervantes.
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CERVANTES DE SAAVEDRA, MIGUEL DE, _El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha_, with commentaries by Diego Clemencín, annotated by Miguel de Toro Gómez, Paris, 1910.
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