Examples Of Chivalry In Don Quixote

In medieval romances there is a hero-knight, this hero-knight prides himself on being chivalrous. Chivalry is the overall code of being respectful, religious, and morally right. Some believe chivalry is dead in our society, but I believe it has just been evolved for modern day life. In “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”, the author pokes fun at the court's values of chivalry. During the second half of the 14th century, when the story takes place, chivalry dictates their ranks and their everyday life.

“The Knights Tale” is the first tale in Geoffrey Chaucers “The Canterbury Tales”. The story introduces various typical aspects of the knighthood such as chivalry, ethical dilemmas, and courtly love. Knights all have this characteristic which they call the code that they portray through out the tale. In Geoffrey Chaucers “The Knights Tale” is an effort on the knight’s part to preserve a virtuous code.

Chivalry is defined as the characteristics that knights had to portray in Middle ages which are loyalty, honor, and being polite. One chivalry characteristics Don Quixote follows in his adventure is honor. Honor is the respect that you have for someone or something. Don Quixote honored Dulcinea and praised her every adventure he went on. After Sancho and Don left the highway they seen a chain gang walking towards their directed Don stopped the guards and ask each convict why they were chained up.

A character that shows this kind of chivalry is Elizabeth Proctor, John Proctor’s wife. A situation of Elizabeth trying to save Proctor and actually lying for one of the first time to save Proctor unfolded itself. Granted, the good that Elizabeth was trying to do backfired on her, but the goodness of her intent is what we’re looking at for this analysis of this paper. Here is the described quotation as Elizabeth is being questioned, “.. To your knowledge, has John Proctor ever committed the crime of lechery? ...

Gender Criticism: How well do the female characters of Don Quixote conform or subvert the ideals of the time period, and what does this say about Cervantes’ views on the roles of women in society? Traditionally, European women in the 1600s generally were not allowed much agency. They were expected to stay home and maintain the household, and aspire to be paragons of domesticity. For the most part, the female characters of Don Quixote adhere to this, though Cervantes acknowledges, through characters such as Marcela, that women’s roles in society were growing more independently.

My personal code of chivalry is to stand up for those who can not stand up for themselves. Those who are less fortunate, mentally challenged, and or physically disabled. I was raised in a house where you respect and stand up for anyone in need. Being a bully was not tolerated in my house, being a friend to all was expected by my parents. My mom told me at a young age “everyone understands a smile”, whether they speak the same language, have a handicap, or are considered an outcast. A smile can go a long way, and make anyone feel included.

In addition to being courteous, being helpful to the weak was another aspect of chivalry portrayed through characters in the story. First, Arthur tried to be helpful to Merlin when he was being chased by ruffians. Arthur chased them away while riding his

In Geoffrey Chaucer’s poem, The Knight’s Tale, the author encapsulates chivalrous characteristics in his telling of a battle for love. In its fundamental form, chivalry idealizes a knight’s conduct, both on and off the battlefield (Gregory-Abbott). Chaucer employs this “heroic code [of] bravery, loyalty, and service to one's lord” to illustrate the idillic knight throughout the narrative (Rossignol). Chaucer’s poem, The Knight’s Tale, exhibits the ideals of chivalry in the form of two knights, desperately in love with the same woman, and a wise Duke who embodies the voice of reason. Each knight upholds honor through compassion, troths, and heroism on the battlefield, despite their afflictions with each other.

Chivalrous conduct can be described as, "qualities idealized by knighthood, such as bravery, courtesy, honor, and gallantry toward women,” (Ramsay) In the many stories surrounding King Arthur, his own story included, all contain this chivalrous conduct in the text. In the story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Sir Gawain shows his courage and honesty. The Song of Roland is the story of a chivalrous man that is humbled and courageous through his experiences. The tale of Perceval, one of Arthur’s knights, is one that displays a whole new level of dedication and loyalty, The story of King Arthur himself also contains several elements of chivalry that he depicts to his followers. The theme of chivalry resonates within the four texts, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Song of Roland, Perceval: The Story of the Grail, and Morte D’Arthur, leaving the readers with a new hope for the future.

Beaufort included many accurate details about military ideas and rules. There were many knights during this time period, requiring many laws. All knights need to practice for any fights or battles that might start suddenly, without notice. Beaufort writes “He stared into the bailey, where his men were practicing swordplay with some of Hywel’s troops. The competition was good-natured, although there was an edge that was never present when the Norman’s trained alone.”

Don Quixote is a character who read so many books on chivalry, he 'was so absorbed in these books that his nights were spent reading from dusk till dawn…until the lack of sleep and the excess of reading withered his brain, and he went mad'(Cervantes p.26). 'considering it desirable and necessary, both for the increase of his honour and for the common good [he becomes] a knight errant'

Finding a faithful servant by the name of Sancho, he set out in order to find where good can be done. Along his journeys, he meets many people, and always seemed to categorize them in very simple, childlike ways. Either they were good, or bad – a damsel in distress or an evil wizard. Therefore, whenever someone was in his eyes an ugly troll or a devious enchantress, he believed it was his duty to fight them. Don Quixote was endlessly optimistic, he believed that by fighting for what is right, he would always win.

Don Quixote is everything a knight should be, he strives to do everything mentioned in the Knights Code of Chivalry such as protecting the weak, living with honor, not to crave award, being honest, respect women and to never refuse a challenge. Don Quixote does all of this to the best of his ability, which brings the humor because he is a 50-year-old man trying to fight with a broken lance. Don Quixote also wears ‘armor’ that isn’t quiet up to standard. “The first thing he did was to clean up some armour that had belonged to his great-grandfather, and had been for ages lying forgotten in a corner eating with rust covered with mildew…but he perceived one great defect in it, that it had no closed helmet, nothing but a simple morion. This deficiency, however, his ingenuity supplied, for he contrived a kind of half-helmet of pasteboard which, fitted on to the morion, looked like a whole one” (Miguel de Cervantes).

From Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the hero of the story, Sir Gawain, represents a lot of the characteristics of a chivalric knight/hero, among them: modesty for himself, honesty to everyone around, as well as commitment and courage to complete his agreement made. He also engages in the activities that define heroes: starting out with a journey and completing challenges along the way, all trying to prove his worthiness to not only himself, but to King Arthur and his people back home. The most chivalric thing about Sir Gawain was probably when he knew he had the option to let King Arthur chop off the Green Knight’s head, but instead, he volunteered himself to do what he thought was the smartest thing. He also had the choice to stay in his home when he should have been out and going to find the Green Knight, but he owned what he had done and completed his journey all the way to what he was thinking was his death. His only downfall was when he lied about his magical girdle, which was given to him by a lady, but did not return to the host after they had made a deal. The Green Knight

When Don Quixote was dieing and in his bed, he was depressed until he thought he was a knight again. Aldonza told him he was not well and he said "Not well? What is sickness to the body of a knight-errant? What matter wounds? For each time he falls he shall rise again-and woe to the wicked!" (Man of La Mancha pg 79). He was happy and had the illusion that he was okay. He was sick minutes earlier and could not even get out of bed. After Aldonza brought Don Quixote back, he jumped out of bed and felt invincible. He was not worried about dieing anymore. He was Don Quixote de La Mancha. Sancho and Aldonza were glad to see Don Quixote back to normal.