It is possible to argue that “myth” as Barthes uses it in Mythologies, functions as a synonym of ideology. As a term ideology is hard to define. But one of the most pervasive definitions of the term holds that it refers to the body of beliefs and representatşons that sustain and legitimate current power relationships. Roland Barthes in Mythologies analyzes the insidious ways in which the societies create and perpetuate myths. He argues modern myths are created with a reason, that they are formed to perpetuate an idea of society that adheres to the current ideologies of the ruling class and its media. As we inhabit a world of signs which support existing power structures and which purport to be natural. Ideology promotes the values and interests of dominant groups within society. And as Terry Eagleton beautifully explains in his book I deology “a dominant power may legitimate itself by promoting beliefs and values congenial to it: naturalizing and universalizing such beliefs so as to render them selfevident and apparently inevitable, denigrating ideas which might challenge it, excluding rival forms of thought and obscuring social reality in ways convenient to itself”. Thus as it can be clearly seen there is a common point in both how Eagleton defines ideology and Barthes’s interpretation of myth as the Notion of a socially constructed reality which is passed of as “natural”. And the opinions and values of that power-holder class is declared as “universal truths”. Barthes argues that the real power relations in society between classes, between coloniser and colonised, between men and women are obscured, wiped out, or their political threat is lessened. The role of language comes to the foreground in this context, not as an instrument of real communication but of intimidation which seks to establish a specific version of the events (i.e that of the power-holders) as “the sole valid interpretation “and to marginalize those versions which contradict it. The role of literature is vital in this context. By definition novel is a subversive genre which on the surface seemingly catering to the needs of the “petit bourgeoisie “(as Barthes calls it), but in fact showing it a mirror of its ugly face, forcing it to acknowledge its reality. So novel, more than any other form of genre which is more like our lives because of this very reason is the most disturbing of all. And the novel writer, even though he sometimes may deny it (which is the case in most of the post modern novels) has a message in his mind, not necessarily sharing the ideology of the power-holders is a threat.

Keywords: Ideology, Life, Literature, Cervantes.