The Colloquy of the Dogs

### Introduction

"And this miracle amounts to something even greater in that we not only speak, but speak rationally, as if we were capable of reasoning; whereas we are so deprived of this faculty that the difference between the brute animal and man is that man is a rational animal, while the brute is irrational" (Cervantes, 452).

This Fandom page is dedicated to 'The Colloquy of Dogs' by Miguel de Cervantes. In this page, we will discuss the Dogs and their reasonings with Cervantes' commentary, Cervantes' commentary on hierarchies of species and race, and the Irony present with Berganza and how Cervantes uses that irony to make his commentary. This all will be done through uses of external sources along with intext citations. Please look around and have fun!

### The Dogs and their Reason: Cervantes' Commentary on Filtered Reason and The Modern Reader's Takeaway

In Cervantes’ *Colloquy of the Dogs*, Cervantes portrays the titular dogs with the ability to “reason,” but while this has a touch of humor to it, of two dogs discussing the human world and their gripes, there is a certain underlying point to it: The dogs and their reason are “pure,” in the sense that their view is “unfiltered” and “untainted” by human society; they do not perceive concepts of right or wrong, rather they perceive events and happenings, the bustling of the world around them, through the lens of those who are unbound by our societal constructs and conditioning. Victoria Wilson aptly puts it: “Cultural conditioning is a process through which we absorb and interpret the influences, norms, and messaging from our environment and translate them into what we believe to be acceptable behaviors” (Wilson). Scipio and Berganza know no such conditioning other than what their unfiltered, unbiased experiences have provided for them. Such, when Berganza relates to Scipio that he had assaulted a black slave girl whom wanted to be with her lover, his attacks were not born of malice, rather, as Berganza states: “… However, to make a long story short, I decided in the end, moved by my better nature, to honor my duty with regard to my master, seeing that I accepted wages from him and ate his bread—a response to be expected not only of honorable dogs … but also of all those who serve” (Cervantes, 472). Berganza’s assault was not based in true malice, rather it was out of a desire to uphold his “better nature.” He did not attack the black slave because she was a black slave where she should not have been, he did so because he felt, at the basest level, loyalty to his “master,” and so he was “obligated” to attack. R. Jay Wallace delves into the concept of “Practical Reason,” noting: “In practical reasoning agents attempt to assess and weigh their reasons for action, the considerations that speak for and against alternative courses of action that are open to them. Moreover, they do this from a distinctively first-personal point of view, one that is defined in terms of a practical predicament in which they find themselves…” (Wallace, 2020). Berganza, as a dog, does not weigh his actions beyond the admittedly limited, albeit very *pure* scope of “practical reason.” Right and wrong are perceived regardless of whom commits the act, and for what reason, and they react accordingly. It is also worth noting that the dogs, Scipio in particular, are disgusted with a world bound by their societal constructs: “That’s the way of the world, and there’s no reason for you to begin exaggerating the ups and downs of fortune… I cannot endure or patiently put up with listening to the way some people complain about fortune when their greatest hope and aspiration is to become some nobleman’s page. How they curse their fortune to the high heavens! How they denigrate and dishonor it!” (Cervantes, 476).

This setup by Cervantes serves to establish a sort of commentary; through establishing the dogs’ reason as “pure” and “unfiltered,” he is stepping away from the “lens” of an insider, and into the role of an “outsider,” Scipio and Berganza, which he utilized to comment upon 17th century Spain . To preface and contextualize Cervantes’ commentary, Alison Krueger notes: “Cervantes, born into a dominant and wealthy Spain, witnessed, throughout his lifetime, the decadence and decline of the Spanish state and the disillusionment of its people.” Cervantes’ great work, *Don Quixote*, was conceived during such time, and Krueger further states: “Cervantes’ great work reflects its author’s reservations about Spanish culture and values in an era of empire.” Indeed, Cervantes had much reservations about 17th century Spain, and it can be observed in the commentary present in Scipio and Berganza’s unfiltered view of the world around them, through such notable lines when Scipio states: “I’m not surprised, Berganza, for since doing evil is a thing that comes natural, it’s easy to learn how to do it” (Cervantes, 454), or Berganza’s outrage in this instance: “That’s what I say, and I’d like to put such people in a wine press, and by repeatedly turning the screw extract from them the juice of what they actually know, so they won’t go around deceiving everybody with their fake Hellenisms, like gold leaf on threadbare breeches…” (Cervantes, 472). Scipio believes “evil” an easy thing to come by, and Berganza detests the “deceiving nature” of man; their unfiltered lenses grant them glimpses into the world unbiased, and they find disgust with it. Such a commentary by the dogs is one Cervantes could not so easily establish were he to use human characters, and as Tajae Pyrce puts it when discussing the poet Berganza meets: “…the poet is described as deeply enthralled in the particulars of his play, striving to make it as historically accurate and poetically sound as possible, only to be ridiculed… Cervantes seems to illustrate his own frustrations with a society focused more on sensational and entertaining works of art as opposed to literal contributions that serve to challenge societal inconsistencies and provide historical and rational insight on social issues” (Pryce, 2015). Cervantes’ commentary is one aimed towards observing the world as the dogs do; as objectively, and as pure as possible, and his commentary invites the reader to do the same.

The biggest takeaway from Cervantes’ work and his commentary, is the way in which this value placed upon observing the world through an “unfiltered” lens holds weight in today’s contemporary society: Though Cervantes commented upon the issues of *his* time, he did so by establishing a narrative that invited the reader to “fill in the blanks for themselves,” as it were, to come to their own conclusions. Arthur F. Kinney argued that the subject matter of Berganza and Scipio’s dialogue was one which raised several questions and paradoxes about human nature, and human use of reason, before clarifying that it brings the reader to “stabilize the text,” noting: “Such an observation, though, puts the reader into his or her own dialectic: the exemplary tale as one which puts the reader in a bind” (Kinney, 1996). Cervantes, through merely deploying the dogs and their reason, does nothing else except pose to the reader the unspoken question of what the *reader* garners from these observations. The dogs seem to go back and forth with one another, and there’s no answer given as to their colloquy beyond expressing their “thoughts,” and what this means is for the reader to decide. And to do so, they are consequently invited to step out of the filtered lenses for a moment, and consider the dogs’ position as it exists in Cervantes’ work, and consider what it means towards a larger whole. Upon the subject of “reason,” it is prudent to note René Descartes’ views upon “Rationalism,” and the phrase: “Cogito, ergo sum,” or “I think, therefore I am.” The School of Life’s informative video for Descartes and his philosophy informs that: “One can, in his eyes, solve the most profound problems by searching deep within oneself” (The School of Life, 6:53). The dogs, in Cervantes’ work, epitomize the “rationalism” that is present in Descartes’ philosophy, Berganza noting: “Everything you’re saying, Scipio, I understand, and your saying it and my understanding… we have, to some ineffable degree, a degree of understanding that makes us capable of reason” (Cervantes, 452). In essence, because Berganza and Scipio “think,” they therefore “are.” Their understanding allows them to converse as they do, and think as they do, and it is a notion that Cervantes extends to the reader, to think as the dogs do, or to, as Descartes believed, “search deep within oneself,” so as to answer the question that only the reader can: “What is reason?” It brings even the modern reader outside of their normal lens, to observe the world unfiltered by the constructs that surround their time, and to come to their own conclusions; while Cervantes’ goal was to comment upon the society of his time, his exemplary novella’s structure allows readers beyond his time to step back and comment upon their own society, with a fresh viewpoint that encourages freedom of thought.

### Cervantes’ takes on hierarchies amongst species and races

       At the time of writing *The Dialogue of the Dogs*, Cervantes' home country, Spain, was experiencing the height of the slave trade in the middle and late sixteenth century. Cervantes himself was not left unscathed by slavery. He was enslaved in 1575 by Algerian pirates for five years, along with his brother, and held for ransom. Cervantes' life was far from that of the wealthy and successful conquistadors many people think of when studying sixteenth-century Spain. As William Byron puts it in a biography about Cervantes, "Finally redeemed and at home again in Spain after 11 years of exile, crippled, penniless and 33 years old, Cervantes had to set about making a living" (464). This is all to say; it is natural for readers to be inclined to question how Cervantes felt about concepts like inequality or freedom. The *"Colloquy of the Dogs"* offers modern readers a nuanced and complex take on the hierarchies amongst humans and animals, in race and species, and offers the chance for modern readers to interpret a message about oppression and prejudices written almost five centuries ago.

         It is worth noting that "The Colloquy of the Dogs" is a novella published along with several other stories in a volume Cervantes titled *Exemplary Novels*. This title's meaning, however, comes into question when analyzing the behavior of characters like Berganza through a modern lens. Although the story's general plot and premise of two dogs discussing life and displaying rational, reasoning behavior like humans may seem innocent enough at first glance, a closer look at the so-called "exemplary" characters of these novels may raise a few questions. Berganza's treatment of others he deems lesser than himself in character—namely, the enslaved black woman who works for his master—is the most obvious example of his negative characteristics.

There is little context given for the black woman's character. The only thing Berganza seems to care enough to disclose—or perhaps, the only knowledge he has on her—is that she is sneaking down into the room of her lover (a black man who is also enslaved by Berganza's and the woman's master) at night. Despite the fact that the woman was the one providing food for Berganza while his master was starving him, Berganza—for reasons that are not entirely clear—takes it upon himself to act as a watchdog and intervene in these nightly meetings between the two lovers. While Berganza claims to align himself with his morals, almost stubbornly so, this behavior completely contradicts that claim.

While Cervantes has publicly claimed that his *Exemplary Novels* are meant to serve as a form of contemporary fables of their time, in *Cervantes' Exemplary Fiction,* Thomas Hart disputes, "Scholars have been reluctant to accept Cervantes' claim that the *Novelas Ejemplares* are morally edifying" (11). This certainly seems reasonable, especially for readers of the Western world today, who understand that discrimination based on the color of people's skin is morally reprehensible. Some scholars, including Annalisa Federici, have even pointed out the animalization of the black woman's character in contrast with Berganza's personified self; "Not only does this episode attribute animal features to a human character, but it also reverses the initial depiction of the dog as an *exemplum* the reader should strive to imitate" (93). The question still asked is, what did Cervantes mean by including such barbaric behavior towards an already oppressed character in his novel? Was this a critique of the general attitude towards oppressed populations at the time, or was this simply a perpetuation of those prejudices?

To jump back to modern times, it seems that at least a small population of individuals believe that Miguel de Cervantes is a man representative of a group of people who caused and perpetuated the suffering of many cultures through means of conquest and colonization. In 2020, a bust of Cervantes was vandalized in the wake of the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement after the death of George Floyd. Catalina Arango Correa does not choose to speculate too deeply about the exact cause of the attack on Cervantes' statue in her article *A Legacy That Privileges Whiteness and Excludes Blackness*, but according to two renaissance scholars whom she interviewed, this attack—if intended to reprimand the celebration of a privileged white man who probably owned slaves—it was sorely misguided. "Cervantes' work expresses a dissident position with respect to the hierarchies of his time, including racial hierarchies, even in spite of his commitment to imperial ideologies," says Chad Leady (Arango Correa). Although that point may be debatable, it is worth taking into consideration when remembering the fact that Cervantes himself suffered from slavery and very likely empathized with the black enslaved people he saw suffering from the same bondage he found himself in at one point.

There is still room for skepticism on whether or not Cervantes could be considered "anti-racist," especially when looking at his treatment of other ethnic groups and cultures in his writing, such as the Romani, who were often subject to hatred by many societies and regarded as thieves by default. In "Colloquy of the Dogs," Berganza describes the Romani group he followed for a short period of time as rogues and vagabonds, saying of the women: "The only thoughts of their mind are how to cheat and steal (Cervantes 396). Another story from *Exemplary Novels*, "La Gitanilla," begins with a frank and unflattering description of the Romani people, the first line of the story stating, "It would almost seem that the Gitanos and Gitanas, or male and female gispies, had been sent into the world for the sole purpose of thieving" (422). Both narratives portray Romani culture in a negative, stereotypical light. For modern readers, it can be difficult to see the nuance in using such language to describe an entire ethnic group. At least for the case in "Colloquy of the Dogs," the narrator of most of the story is Berganza, which gives the reader enough liberty to assume that Berganza may just be an unreliable narrator. "Cervantes can invite the reader to consider not just the dog's adventures but the way he integrates them," Hart explains (100).

Cervantes' *Exemplary Novels* cannot be said to lean one way or another objectively, and Cervantes almost masterfully avoids taking any hard stances in his writing, leaving the work up to the reader to extract what they will from the novels. Hart attempts to explain the possibly misleading title of Cervantes' *Exemplary Novels* by considering that the "exemplary" nature of his novels was not in relation to the characters' actions but instead, in relation to the aesthetics of the stories themselves (Hart 11). In an age when novels were still in the early stages, Cervantes was one of the first Spanish authors to publish novellas and novels. Looking back at Cervantes' writing, although it may be unclear where exactly he stands on the topic of racism towards specific ethnicities, he is clearly aware of hierarchies between different races and between animals and humans, and he chooses to highlight these issues using his characters.

### Berganza and Irony in *Colloquy of the Dogs*

‘Satire’ is the use of exaggeration, humor, irony, or ridicule to criticize. (Tale Foundry).  In Colloquy of the dogs, Berganza’s introduction is one of complete irony and satire. He is a dog that gains the ability to speak and think rationally, along with his other dog friend Scipio. They engage in conversation like normal people would and they revel in the idea they can speak their minds. Scipio goes even as far as saying “That’s the truth, Berganza. And this miracle amounts to something even greater in that we not only speak, but speak rationally, as if we were capable of reasoning; whereas we are so deprived of this faculty that the difference between the brute animal and man is that man is a rational animal, while the brute is irrational.” (452) Their rationality and sudden consciousness is used as an effective use of irony throughout the novel.

Cervantes is using this irony to create a meta fiction basis in ‘Colloquy of the dogs’. This meta fiction has the possibility to be used in different ways in the novel. A prime example of this is when Berganza gets confronted by Scipio as a hypocrite. In this scene, Breganza reveals that he would take the food given to him by the slave girl, despite knowing that It was an action he wasn’t supposed to do. Over time though, Berganza becomes ‘moved’ by his ‘good nature’ and decides to attack the women. This attack and retroactive defense by Berganza highlight Cervantes’s use of Meta fiction as he is using Berganza’s actions as a critique of the hypocrisy in treatment of slaves. The slave’s actions were that of pure love for her boyfriend and Berganza took willingly from her and then used her trust against her. To quote Luis Rodríguez-Rincón and her article ‘Berganza’s “Buen natural” and the theriophily of El Casamiento Enganoso and Coloquio de los Perros’, "Berganza and Cipión are not in fact much like dogs, but rather are the creation of a human who wanted to make the characters seem like dogs but who didn't have enough distance from his own sight-dominant conceptual understanding, and thus ended up portraying them as barking, four-legged humans". Berganza’s actions towards the Slave woman highlights the society that they live in as slaves were seen as less then human.

Berganza being represented as a dog is an ironic choice by Cervantes. Dogs are considered as some of the most loyal beings to man and his actions reflect that on the surface level. But, ironically, Berganza acts in ways that undermine and criticize the surface stance being made by Cervantes. A prime example of this is how Berganza treats the slave girl. In his interactions with her, she offers him meats and cheeses in exchange for his silence. She wants him silent because she is secretly seeing her slave lover behind their masters back. This scene becomes ironic in the fact that bergnza himself is a loyal creature that lashes out to the hand that feeds it. He attacks the woman and rips her dress apart. Furthermore, he goes as far as biting her thigh which renders her bedridden for over a week. His actions were that of selfish desire, as Scipio points out. His actions have a deeper meaning, as Spain at the time saw slavery like animal husbandry. “Likewise, Spaniards were concerned about the “*casta*,” or lineage, of both livestock and humans. Prejudicial concerns about racial mixtures arose along these lines, as breeders of merino sheep judged the wool of newly born lambs to determine whether they were to be culled or not.” (Alves) Cervantes is essentially creating a scenario where, in the historical context of Spain, berganza attacks another animal for his own gain. He worked with them until he wasn’t satisfied and got the Master involved. “From a meta-perspective, Berganza is neither portrayed as an utterly deprived, all but depraved, and then (partially) reformed ‘pícaro’—nor as an idealized sage in canine skin. Rather, he is presented in terms of a conceivable ‘errare caninum est’: a flawed, ultimately considerate animal quasi rationale, concurrently capable of aggressive and gentle conduct” (Mayfield) Berganza is a being that has flaws and biases, despite being portrayed as a rational and loyal servant of man. We see here through his actions that he express major irony in his actions.

    For its application on the modern reader, it invites them to read a fiction that has a deeper level of understanding and nuance. Cervantes doesn’t want to tell the reader what to think, but what to think deeper about. We need this in a modern context as in this very politized society there is little room for criticism. Individuals take their political stances and base their personality and lifestyle around them. If we take from Cervantes we can create an environment that allows both freedom of speech and criticism on a deeper level then what is present now. We can create a society that accepts criticisms and uses them to better itself.

### References

Alves, Abel. “The Spanish Empire: Adaptive Animals in the Natural World.” *Metanexus*, 30 Nov. -1, https://metanexus.net/spanish-empire-adaptive-animals-natural-world/#\_edn35.

Arango Correa, Catalina. “‘A Legacy That Privileges Whiteness and Excludes Blackness.’” *C& AMÉRICA LATINA*, 16 Aug. 2020, amlatina.contemporaryand.com/editorial/black-lives-matter-cervantes-estatuas/. Accessed 25 Apr. 2023.

Byron, William “Cervantes: A Biography.” America 1978: 462–462. Print. Accessed 3 May 2023.

Federici, Annalisa. “From Animal Anthropomorphism to Human Animality in Ulysses: Joyce After Cervantes.” *James Joyce quarterly* 58.1 (2021): 81–99. Web. Accessed 25 Apr. 2023.

Hart, Thomas R., *Cervantes’ Exemplary Fictions: A Study of the Novelas ejemplares*. Lexington, KY, University Press of Kentucky, 1994.

Kinney, Arthur F. “One Witch, Two Dogs, and a Game of Ninepins: Cervantes’ Use of Renaissance Dialectic in the ‘Coloquio de Los Perros.’” *International Journal of the Classical Tradition*, vol. 2, no. 4, 1996, pp. 487–98.

Krueger, Alison. “Historical Context for Don Quixote by Miguel De Cervantes.” *The Core Curriculum*, https://www.college.columbia.edu/core/node/1764.

Mayfield, DS. “‘Against the Dog Only a Dog’. Talking Canines Civilizing Cynicism in Cervantes' ‘Coloquio De Los Perros’ (with Tentative Remarks on the Discourse and Method of Animal Studies).” *MDPI*, Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute, 13 May 2017, https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/6/2/28.

“PHILOSOPHY - René Descartes” *Youtube*, uploaded by The School of Life, 11 Sept. 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAjWUrwvxs4

Pryce, Tajae. “Miguel De Cervantes' ‘The Dialogue of the Dogs’ as Social Commentary.” *Blogger*, 1 May 2015, http://tajaepryce.blogspot.com/2015/10/miguel-de-cervantes-dialogue-of-dogs-as.html.

Rodríguez-Rincón, Luis. "BERGANZA'S "BUEN NATURAL" AND THE THERIOPHILY OF EL CASAMIENTO ENGAÑOSO AND COLOQUIO DE LOS PERROS." *Hispanic Review*, vol. 90, no. 1, 2022, pp. 107-129*. ProQuest*, https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/berganzas-buen-natural-theriophily-el-casamiento/docview/2737173134/se-2.

“3 Satire Styles Miguel De Cervantes Used in Don Quixote — Don Quixote Series.” *YouTube*, YouTube, 3 Aug. 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wr76lAo59Es. Accessed 4 May 2023.

Wallace, R. Jay, "Practical Reason", *The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy* (Spring 2020 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.),https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2020/entries/practical-reason/

Wilson, Victoria. “Cultural Conditioning: How the World Influences Our Beliefs.” *Exceptional Futures*, https://www.exceptionalfutures.com/cultural-conditioning/.

1. ↑ John Buckler, 1770-1851, British; after George Stubbs, 1724-1806, British. The Spanish Pointer. ca. 1799. Artstor, library.artstor.org/asset/AYCBAIG\_10313604028
2. ↑ John Buckler, 1770-1851, British; after George Stubbs, 1724-1806, British. The Spanish Pointer. ca. 1799. Artstor, library.artstor.org/asset/AYCBAIG\_10313604028