Don Quixote by Miguel De Cervantes - Research Paper Example

? Don Quixote Cervantes is undoubtedly Spain’s greatest gift to world literature. He was a product of renaissance, as Shakespeare was in England and Rabelais in France. His master piece Don Quixote is rightly regarded as the first out standing novel in Europe. It was after the publication that novel came to stay as a powerful form of literature. Don Quixote in 1605 was a landmark in the history of Spanish literature. It brought the author immediate popularity. Cervantes began Don Quixote as a burlesque of already exaggerated but really preposterous deeds of chivalric heroes. But as he went along, it became a highly entertaining and wonderful story, “quite as adventurous as any old –time romance, full of humor , abounding in wisdom an the very day things of life ,and to a certain extend ,of human nature “ (N L Carrington). The theme of this novel is the tragedy that befalls those who are incapable of realizing the change of times and stick on the values and manners of a bygone era . The story which is a panorama of captivating events embodies the life, manners and milieu of medieval Europe which even at the time of his writing were outdated. The name of the book in Spanish is “E1 Ingeniso hidaldo Don Quixote de la mancha”. The hero Alonso Quixado belonging to place called La Mancha is a member of the lower nobility.(hidaldo) .He is tall and lean, about fifty years old , with cheeks that appeared to be kissing each other on the inside of his mouth, a neck half-yard long . Books of chivalry and adventure, which became very common in the fifteenth century, had been his obsession. Innumerable such books he has read with relish and enthusiasm. As a result, his mind is steeped in gripping accounts of enchantments, battles, challenges, wooing and agonies. He has thus lost his sanity. He fancies that he can make himself a knight errant and roam the world in full armor, righting every kind of wrong and exposing himself to peril, thus he will reap eternal renown’s as the undoer of injustice, the protector of damsels, the terror of giants and the winner of battles. In the book Don Quixote he himself says “I know I’m capable of ...of being all the Twelve Peers of France, and all the Nine Worthies as well, for my exploits will be far greater than all deeds they have done all together and each by myself” The novel is a highly amusing account of how this strange hero living in a make-believe world of medieval romance and adventure tries to make good this boast. The first thing he does is to change his name in keeping with the glorified office of a knight. The pedestrian Quixado thus becomes (Don Quixote of La Mancha, “Don ‘being the title reserved for the highly sophisticated and upper class in society, equivalent to ‘Sir’ In English. A knight was expected to have chivalric lady love. And he gallantly chooses a sturdy farm –lass, to whom he was never uttered a word, and gives her the name Dulceniadel Toboso. The next requirement was a mighty steed. A white but sickly and lean horse he manages to get from his family stable, and renames it Rocinate. A Set of ancient metal armor, helmet, sword and spear he is able to get from a dark room in his house and this serves as his knightly equipment. The armor and helmet are too large and heavy for his lean and lank body. But It is with supreme satisfaction that he whereas the armor and wields the weapons although the onlookers find him totally grotesque and funny. His knightly pose is complete only when he takes with him, as his squire or assistant, Sancho Panza, a stupid fat and short farmer from the neighboring village, According to stories of chivalry, the squire is to follow the knight –errant on another horse, but as they fail to secure a horse, Sancho Panza rides on a donkey. Don Quixote gives Sancho all kinds of promises including that of the governorship of a newly conquered island, and the foolish squire believes in all that completely. The ludicrous situations created by this pair going out in search of adventures are of unending interest to all types of readers. Cervantes himself was aware of the universal appeal of this story and said: “children handle it, youngsters read it, grown men understand it, and old people applaud it. In this short, it is universally so thumbed, so gleaned, so studied, and so known that if people but see a lean horse, they presently cry, “There goes Rocinate.” It is indeed difficult to point out which episode is most ludicrous. In the beginning of the novel, we see Don Quixote in full armor and arms, setting out on his tired, old horse in search of adventure and fight. When he sees and inn on the way, he imagines it to be a castle of some Duke or another knight. He ceremoniously marches into it, fights with innocent bystanders, and stays there for the night to wake up in the next morning with the realization that in spite of all his elaborate preparations, knighthood has not been conferred upon him by a king or someone in authority. But his imagination readily comes to his help. Next moment he sees the inn-keeper, who understands the situation perfectly, rises to the occasion and dubs him a knight. Don Quixote is mightily gratified, as he now feels himself to be a full-fledged knight-errant. Another episode in the same inn afterwards is also equally funny. While the hero is fast asleep, he gashes one of the wine-skins that stand near the bed afloat with wine, but Don Quixote and his dutiful squire take it for the giant’s blood. On another occasion Don Quixote imagines two flocks of sheep to be two battalions of opposing armies, and jumps into the fray. Sense does not dawn upon him even after he was been beaten up severely by the enraged shepherds. Rejecting the advice of his squire, he unhesitatingly declares that some magician or witches acting his victory has turned the armies to flocks of sheep. Another episode is his interference in a funeral procession. He makes himself believe that is was a gang of dacoits kidnapping a princess. To crown all these escapades he goes directly to the wind mills and tilts at them spear asserting, against Sancho’s loud protests, that they are a diabolic enemy detachment. Of course the result is disastrous to Don Quixote. His spear is broken and he himself is badly beaten up the owners. At the end of Part I of the novel we see Don Quixote with bones broken, body maimed, and deprived of armor and arms, placed in a cage and brought home by his neighbors and friends. But the unsinkable hero has still rosy dreams of grandeur and chivalry in the days to come. I part II, we find the comic quest developing into a serious search for the real behind the appearance. The great exponent of chivalrous romance is now convinced that ‘the world is nothing but schemes and plots, all working at cross-purposes.’ A second series of misadventures is too much for him to bear. Melancholy and despondency take hold of him, and in that condition a fever seizes him and keeps him to his bed for six days. In his death bed the hero recovers his sanity. He realizes that he has been a victim of a fantasy, which was of his own making. His judgment becomes clear and free from the misty shadows of ignorance reading of those detestable books of chivalry had obscured it. He dies amidst the compassionate tears of all of all present including Sancho Panza. The following words from Don Quixote’s will and testament sum up his attitude to his beloved squire: “And if when I was mad I was party to give him governorship of an isle, now that I am sane, I would give him a kingdom, were I able, for the simplicity of his nature and the fidelity of his conduct deserve it”. The book was never planned as a whole, and its growth during the many years of its waiting is an eloquent testimony of the author’s inventive richness to present the absurdities of the romances of chivalry and to amuse the reader by showing the folly of taking them seriously. But as the story progress the magic of Cervantes art makes us admire Don Quixote even in his folly. This happens before the end of Part1 and strangely enough, we respect the eccentric knight, who lives in the dream world of chivalric romance more than the down to earth realities, which frustrate his idealistic efforts. The absence of care fully thought out p plan helped the writer in bringing about this change. What we see here is the characters grow in the mind of the author with their fascinating progress of incidents. In part! 1, the characterization grows deeper and gives the reader an insight into human nature, and deals with the general problem of government, morality and society. The sea port humming with activities and the country side with its portal serenity is also portrayed as fitting backgrounds. The chamber scene, hunting expedition, garden fetes, wedding feast and many other spectacles of Spanish life, which are delineated in their true color add to the variegated splendor of the masterpieces. What was the purpose of Cervantes writing such a rambling story is a matter to be discussed. .I can be stated that it provides a parody to hundreds of romances and novels that came out of the printing press s. In it there is also a brilliant commentary on the life and times of early renaissance. To a large extent it is also an exhilarating interpretation of human nature itself. The magic of his narrative art is that the reader cannot help feeling a great affection for all Cervantes favorite characters – the knight, the priest, the barber, Dorothea and above all Sancho Panza. Even the rough and the rascals he presented in his master pieces receive the warm feelings of the reader. The humor that sparkles through out this entertaining classic arises from the misadventures of the crazy gentleman and his credulous assistant. After the first adventure the knight is seldom separated from the squire. According to J M Cohen “The two of them stand for opposing forces that have been active in Spain ever since the book was written.” The feather brained knight is an idealistic dreamer but going out of his ways to put his mad ideas into action. The other is the materialistic touch stone of reality, and primarily a man of words. At the outset Sancho judges every experience as a possible advance towards the goal of his aspirations, namely the promised governor ship of the island. But after wards he becomes less intolerant of quixotic visions and even respects him But at the nd it has proved that Sancho was right n his vision. He says “I sometimes think that you tell me of knight hood , kingdoms empires and island is all windy…” Don Quixote is not just a satire on an exaggerated literary fashion. The attack on the romances of chivalry made by Cervantes has in fact conferred immortality on them. But for his hilarious hits, directed at them, they might have gone out of people’s memory. But in its own right, Don Quixote is an adventure story marvelous and unequalled. It is not the principal characters alone that he has made immortal. Even minor characters – some of them making theirs appearances only once –come fully alive. The stout inn –keeper , who always likes to listen to the stories read by the reapers his wife willing to work for others only as long as her interest are safe., their lady like daughter , the slut Marotoners, the monks on their hired mules. The boastful Gine with his incomplete autography all these are examples. In this mastery art of characterization Cervantes reminds us of Chaucer and Shakespeare. The class structure of the Spanish society is also depicted in vivid detailing this monumental work. The duke and the Duchess living in feudal luxury, the rich land owner and the smaller gentleman , the middle class consisting of well to do farmers , the impoverished gentry, the military captain , artisans and craftsman –many more such classes are realistically portrayed. The detailed account of the captain imprisonment in Algiers has intimate connection with the authors experience in captivity. A cross section of the underworld is also fittingly presented in the accounts of the convicts in the chain. But it has to be pointed out that in picturing shepherds and goatherds, Cervantes allowed himself to be too sentimental. He seems to have accepted unquestioningly the conventional view of that only simple folk have deep and genuine feelings. The perfection that is attributed to them strikes us singularly artificial and no wonder the readers remain unconvinced. Whatever might be the interpretations given to this early classic of European fiction, no one can deny that it has had marked influence over the entire literature of the west. In the number of languages into which it has been translated, it is second only to Bible. No doubt one can borrow Dryden’s immortal phrase and say about this book “here is God’s Plenty, a veritable mine of entertainment and wisdom”. Work Cited Grossman, Edith, Don Quixote (Trnas), Ecco/Harper Collins, 2003 http://www.uv.es/EBRIT/macro/macro_5001_16_3.html Read More