“At four years of age he took her from under the direction of the nurses and women appointed to attend her, and permitted her to receive no part of her education from another, which he was capable of giving her himself.”

The Female Quixote page 6

“Like the Dutch, raising their dykes against the sea’s predatory advances, the (?)es in this book use their obsessions to block out the world’s dangers. What are these dangers? The troubling answer is that they are all the powerful in that they cannot be located.”

Introduction page 4

            The desire for steadfast protection from unknown dangers is a common human tendency that is amplified in obsessive circumstances. As mentioned in the quote above from the Introduction, the possibilities of danger gain their strength in their utterly unpredictable nature. In lacking the knowledge of specific menaces to fear, one will imagine extreme danger in every situation. In order to prevent these limitless dangers from harming the focus of one’s attention, one will “raise their dykes against the sea’s predatory advances.” In other words, one will take extreme measures to guard the focus of their obsession from any potential harm. In The Female Quixote, the Marquis was undeservedly disgraced and banished from court, and was in a “secret discontent.” As a result, he took up a brief courtship of a beautiful woman of good sense, married her, and moved to the country where he planned to spend the rest of his life, away from the cruelty of society. When his wife died in childbirth, his affection was transferred to the new babe. However, as a result of his negative experiences with society and the loss of his wife, his daughter and their isolation from the dangerous world becomes his sole obsessive focus. The quote above reveals his rejection of society and hesitation towards any external influences, even in the forms of nurses or teachers. Marquis would rather to be the sole influence in his daughter’s life than risk her being harmed by the innumerable potential dangers that exist in society. The man uses isolation from the outside world as a shield against further harm in their lives.