El mito de la Edad de Oro en el Quijote y en La tempestad de William Shakespeare

Abstract

The myth of the Golden Age, a Renaissance topic originated in the Classic culture, is recreated in Don Quixote (1605) as well in The Tempest, performed for the first time in 1611. This paper explores nearby and remote literary sources of Don Quixote’s discourse before the goatherds (Q I, 11) and Gonzalo’s before the nobles who were shipwrecked on an unknown island (Tmp. 2, 1). It also highlights the function of the characters’ speeches, the role of the listeners to whom they are addressed and the relation of the myth to Renaissance utopian thinking.