The Great Chain of Being and Human Transformation in Cervantes's "Novelas ejemplares"

In his "Novelas ejemplares", Cervantes uses images from the natural world —a multitude of animals, rocks and plants— to reflect his protagonists’ educative processes. Similar to many of his contemporary writers, particularly humanists influenced by Neoplatonic thought, Cervantes represents the human potential for transformation in line with the prevailing model of the universe: the scala naturae or Great Chain of Being. In this article I aim to demonstrate that the Great Chain of Being forms an important part of the fabric of the "Novelas ejemplares", functioning as a framework through which Cervantes envisions his characters’ moral and spiritual transformation