Baltasar Gracián o la egolatría heroica disfrazada de heroísmo (Baltasar Gracián or heroic egomania disguised as heroism)

Abstract

Hegemonic groups perceive changes, political, economical or social unrest as a direct threat to their status quo. One way to confront the dangers of loosing old privileges is through the redefinition and revival of old codes of conduct and behavior that in the past set them apart from the rest. In the process, old heroes considered instrumental in establishing and shaping their power are retrieved and glorified, and their heroic deeds offered as examples to emulate in the present. During the XVII Century, and in analogous circumstances, the Spanish Baroque writer Baltasar Gracián observes with trepidation the rapid changes in his own society, the breaking down of the social and political order of Imperial Spain. To protect his interests as member of the hegemonic group: —male, Catholic, noble and scholar—, he looks back in history and constructs heroic paradigms utilizing old heroes whose values embody his own. Since the heroic figures incarnate the ideals of the elite, there are neither heroes nor heroism outside the hegemonic class. This dissertation studies three texts by Baltasar Gracián (1601-1658): El Héroe (1637), El Discreto (1646), and El Criticón (Part I, 1651, Part II, 1653, Part III, 1657), that are centered on the heroic male, analyzing changes in the consecutive male heroic prototypes in light of the author's social and historical experience. Gracián's evolving heroic models respond to transformations in the hegemonic position of the Spanish state, moving from profuse optimism and idealism in his first text to disillusion and abandonment in the last one. The Jesuit's work is a crucible in which he tests Occidental values and heroics over his lifetime, adapting each heroic prescription to satisfy the political, historical, social and religious necessities of his present. Although Gracián's heroic formula changes over time, the connecting thread remains: the blood nobility of Castile/Aragón will save the hegemony of the nation. This elitism verbalizes a reactionary anachronism that negates the heroic essence, which is to act in the world on behalf of others. Gracián's texts are progressive, specular images of the author and his society. In all cases, the heroic figure functions as metonym of the Empire in which the strength of the hero confirms the power of the State.