Rewriting Sayings about Appearence and Reality in El Criticón by Baltasar Gracián

Abstract

This paper aims to study a selection of proverbs that appear in El Criticón by Baltasar Gracián. In this work Andrenio and Critilo perform an allegorical journey that meets marvels and monstrosities. By avoiding the “çancones men” and the “earwigs women”, the characters observe critically the world around them, where nothing is what it seems. After selecting a number of sayings that refer to the medieval paremiological tradition, we shall examine them in context in order to see how each element points to a target previously established by the author, within a witty and exemplary work.