“…His non-conformity to traditional masculinity pervades the descriptions written of the madman, who has been defined as coward (Madariaga 1978, Hathaway 1999, Percas de Ponseti 1999, passive (Márquez-Villanueva 2011, Hathaway 1999, indecisive (Bandera 1995), timid (Márquez-Villanueva 2011, Rodríguez-Luis 1976, Hathaway 1999, Fajardo 2005, submissive (Feal 1993, Hathaway 1999, weak (Anderson 1988) and effeminate (Vallejo-Nágera 1950). These critiques rest on and perpetuate traditional notions of gender and reinforce normative masculinity by confining Cardenio within the deviant, effeminate category of the madman.…”