Idealism In Don Quixote

The protagonist, Don Quixote's obsessive reading of books of chivalry plays a major role in defining his character; his inspiration for his travels as a knight errant comes from the literature about chivalry that he reads, the literature that causes him to lose his mind and go mad. Everything that he usually experiences in his journey, first happened in the books that inspired his travels. The character, Dulcinea’s role as Quixote’s lady-love becomes equivalent with the position a king might hold in a true and honorable knight’s life.

As I was reading this chapter, I could not stop thinking about the stupid thing I knew Don Quixote was going to try and do. So far in the novel, he has done stupid thing after stupid thing, but they were all comical to a certain extent. When I got to this chapter, I could help feel anything but frustration towards Don Quixote, and even Cervantes himself.

The line you mentioned is one that caught my attention as well. It seems to be trying to show that just because something is not mentioned directly, does not mean that it is not there. It definitely brought to light the apparent ignorance of Don Quixote as well. While experience is definitely important, passion is just as important as well. However, I would have to agree with you that Don's passion outweighed his ability in this case. When you said "just because it is not in the books, does not mean that it doesn't exist", it reminded me of a quote by Carl Sagan when he stated " absence of evidence is not evidence of absence". Anyway, good job Robert on this post and thanks for sharing.

“...he/charged at Rocinante 's fullest gallop and fell upon the first mill that stood in front of him;/but as he drove his lance-point into the sail the wind whirled it round with such force/that it shivered the lance to pieces, sweeping with it horse and rider, who went rolling/over on the plain, in a sorry condition.” (pg. 77, Cervantes). Just as this quotation demonstrates, Quixote has complete disregard for Sancho’s advice, thinking himself of stable mind. His foolishness that is portrayed in this instance could be seen as a symptom of delirium.

A sharp contrast is seen between the narration style of chapter 8 and 9 of Don Quixote. The seemingly flowing tale of Quixote and Basque’s great battle is abruptly halted, and then after much explanation regarding the finding and composition of the remainder, is the tale finally allowed to unfold.

Almost all who have read, or who have merely just heard of, the novel Don Quixote are aware of the comical adventures and misfortunes of Don Quixote during his attempts to pursue the life of a chivalrous night. However, fewer people are cognizant of the crucial role that Sancho Panza played in instigating and heightening the humor in Don’s quests. Time and time again readers question Sancho’s unwavering willingness to follow Don Quixote and take part in his seemingly outlandish and completely irrational adventures. Sancho began as a poor farmer. The novel refers to him as being “very honorable, if a poor man can be called honorable” and “a little short of salt in the brainpan (61). The Don promised Sancho immeasurable riches, including being

When he is advised to stop his knight errantry, Don Quixote is able to protest with legitimate reasons on glory and his own personality. ”’There are two roads to riches and honor: one is letters, the other is arms. I myself am more arms than letters, so I am forced to follow that road. You will be wearying yourselves if you try to persuade me not to want for myself what heaven wants for me’” (Cervantes, 524). It is difficult to believe that Don Quixote is not sound of mind at times, which causes people to trust in his decisions. He’s clearly able to think for himself and defend his thinking with logic. But although Don Quixote views himself as independent, his loyal follower, Sancho Panza, disagrees. “‘I say he isn't at all villainous, he’s as innocent as the babe unborn, he couldn't hurt a fly, he only wants to do good to everyone and there isn't an ounce of malice in him and it's because he's so simple that I love him from the bottom of my heart, and can't bring myself to leave him, however many silly things he does’” (Cervantes, 567). From someone who follows Don Quixote day and night, Sancho has had multiple experiences with his wayward master that strengthens his opinion. From what he says, it seems that the only reason why Don Quixote is able to survive in a world unbefitting of a madman is through Sancho. His master is only trying to do good

While Gilgamesh and Achilles were fearsome warriors pitted against the most fearsome and ferocious beasts in their land, poor Don Quixote is only a poor gentleman who badly wants to be a hero. He is, and should be, an “anti-hero” because he is delusional toward the world around him. His infatuation with books of chivalry leads him to attack a windmill, which then “defeats” him and badly injures him. He attacks a flock of sheep, the most harmless and defenseless of all animals, because he thinks that they are a broad army full of warriors of old. He is often stupid, leading himself to charge “”into the middle of [a] flock of sheep” like the life of a thousand people depended on him (Cervantes 450). This man perfectly defines an anti-hero, and

The freedom Don Manuel constructs also contrasts with Unamuno’s own ideal about freedom. Unamuno advocated a religious individualism that seeks eternal life, while Don Manuel represents a worldly freedom that lives for comfort. In conclusion, Unamuno in Saint Manuel uses Don Manuel as a contrasting figure to his own ideals, in order to show the reader the reality of a life that does not strive for the end of eternal

Don Quixote refutes the common perspective regarding the perception of truth in his devoted duty and love for Dulcinea del Toboso. For

"A quest is a journey in the course of which one advances spiritually and mentally, as well as physically travelling miles. The quester leaves the familiar for the unknown. The nature of the goal may not be clear at first and may only become fully apparent at the end of the quest" (Irwin 2011). In Don Quixote, a middle-aged man, driven half-mad by reading tales of medieval knights, attempts to recreate the world of chivalry in contemporary Spain. Quixote sets out on a quest, determined to right wrongs, even if the 'wrongs' are evil beings disguised as windmills. Quixote is on a quest to find true honor in a world where such values are no longer relevant and save his society from moral turpitude. Similarly, the protagonist of T.S. Eliot's modernist epic "The Wasteland" is on a quest to find something that no longer exists: a sense of meaning in life. Both Cervantes' prose and Eliot's poem are fragmented and episodic, reflecting the difficulties of the heroic quest to find a cohesive end and 'answer' to the questions the protagonists are seeking.

enemies would be left to rot, but in his own reality, he is doing the only

Miguel Cervantes’ Don Quixote is a masterpiece in many senses of the word: at the time of its conception, it was hailed as a revolutionary work of literature that defined a genre, in later centuries regarded as an acerbic social commentary, a slightly misshapen romantic tragedy, and even as a synthesis of existentialist and post-modernist features. At the centre of this Spanish satirical chronicle is the perplexing character Don Quixote. Don Quixote’s personality and perspective is rapidly established fromsince the beginning of the novel, revealing unabashedly to readers that he is mad. The source of his madness lies in the extent to which Don Quixote acts on his delusions and projections unto reality as he saunters through Cervantes’ Andalusia. Don Quixote’s delusions have two primary functions in the novel: demonstrating the reality and tragedy of Cervantes’ manifestation of idyllic themes of love and chivalry, and revealing certain characteristics about narration.

The novel Don Quixote, by Miguel Cervantes, is an exploration into the idea of created reality. Cervantes, through the character of Don Quixote, illustrates to readers how we as human beings often make reality to be whatever we want it to be.

A novel is long narrative written by a novelist that describes fictional characters and events, usually in the form of a sequential story. The later, an Italian word used to describe short stories, supplied the present generic English term in the 18th century. The first significant European novelist is Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote, the first part of which, the first part of which was published in 1605. The term novel refers back to the production of short stories that remained part of a European oral culture of storytelling in to the 19th century. Fairy tales, jokes, little funny stories designed to make a point in a conversation, the exemplum a priest would insert in a sermon belong in to this tradition.