“¡Oh cielo santo!¡Oh dulce, amada patria!¡Oh Silvia!”: the reflection of "Los tratos de Argel" by Miguel de Cervantes

Abstract

Los tratos de Argel is a comedy by Miguel de Cervantes in which the dangerous captivity of Christians held by the Turks is represented, something that worried the Spanish monarchy in the last quarter of the 16th century. Cervantes had treated this topic in other works, such as Historia del cautivo, El amante liberal or Los baños de Argel. The great writer develops in Los tratos de Argel the three fundamental subjects that explain the problem of the captivity: the religious component, the political component and, finally, the loving component. In this way, the autor of Don Quijote offers us in Los tratos de Argel an approximate portrait of the conflict and its consequences.