Locus amoenus, locus agrestis y eros en Pepita Jiménez

Nature has a tripartite function in Pepita Jiménez: Firstly, as image of the edenic garden, locus amoenus; secondly, as image of the inner fear of the seminarian provoked by the wordly, mundane, locus agrestis; and thirdly, the image of the lovers’ passion during San John’s night, locus eroticus. These functions, developed in accordance with the adaptation of Luis de Vargas to mundane life after his years in the Catholic Seminar, trigger the dilemma between the eternal for the temporal, the uncreated and supersensible for the sensible and created. A dilemma of conscience that will invade him even in that idyllic life described at the end of the novel. Nature acts as a critical adjuvant in the psychological analysis of the passions and affections of the novel.