Cancer as Divine Punishment in «Doña Blanca de Navarra», by Francisco Navarro Villoslada (1847)

Abstract

Doña Blanca de Navarra, by Navarro Villoslada, narrates the murder of the lady who gives its title, by her sister Leonor, who poisons her to remain as the legitimate herself to the Navarrese throne. However, the same divinity decides to punish such fratricide by causing the new monarch a malignant tumour that ends at the same time with her life and her reign. This article aims to detail the importance of cancer in the novel, paying particular attention to the reactionary and extremely Catholic ideology of the author, who, for moments of political crisis, recommended an absolute trust in providence, to whom attributed to him the ability to always fight for the supposedly correct side by implanting diseases in the political adversaries who supposedly deserve them.