El engaño a los ojos, the title of the last comedy that Cervantes is composing when he writes the foreword of Ocho comedias y ocho entremeses jamás representados (1615), could be interpreted as a sign of agreement from the author who defines so his concept of the theatre, in the same way as the foreword of Novelas ejemplares defined his fiction as «mesa de trucos». Starting from this two metaphors a parallelism between theatrical conception and Cervantes’ fiction can be established, because both comedy and short stories are artifices that resemble reality, they are constructed and a representation of what seems real on one side, but that warn on the other side the readers or the spectators that they are false, as in an illusionist game. A literary game, which builds up confusion, but at the same time, amplifies the represented reality and enables the recipient (both reader and spectator) to establish a dialogue with. For all this reasons Cervantes gives to novels or the theatre a social function, as «hostesta recreación», applying the theory of eutrapely to literature.