Abstract
This article investigates Cervantes's engagement with one of the central questions of scepticism, the problem of the criterion. Through an analysis of how identities are fashioned and proved in 'La gitanilla' (1613), I argue that Cervantes taps into the universe of Pyrrhonian scepticism as he creates an antithetical fiction that draws the reader into suspending judgement and questioning dogmatic inferences. I also argue that Cervantes's sceptical narrative shares a common epistemological concern with the thought and writings of the French philosopher Michel de Montaigne, as evidenced in Montaigne's sceptical manifesto, the Apologie de Raimond Sebond' (1580).