Reason vs. Faith 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.

In both the Inferno and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight the central characters are riddled with moral inadequacies. Both Dante and Gawain set forth on a journey that reveals the flaws within themselves. Each is faced with challenges that force them to go against their original beliefs. Dante endures a full 180 degree transformation on his views of sin and Gawain is unable to uphold the perfect identity of knighthood. Based on these journeys the nature of the individual in medieval literature is to be in a state of identity crisis because Dante’s views of salvation are based on arrogance and Gawain is obsessed with perfection. The self view of each character provide an element of moral progression throughout the story and the ultimate theme behind each piece of literature.

Faith and reason can be viewed as opposites. Faith is an element of belief, something an individual does not necessarily require a reason for accepting without reason. For example, an individual’s reason for believing in God may not seem too rational when they are trying to explain them. They may not even stand up to criticism. On the other hand, reason is constructed as a formula. Faith is basically something we believe in, like something we learn in church. Reason is something we learn in school, such as a math formula.

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

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'

Don Quixote, riding in full armor astride of gaunt Rozinante, felt that he was indeed the most valorous knight in the world; and no doubt he was a formidable sight. As for Sancho Panza, he rode like a patriarch, with his knapsack on one side of him and a leather bottle on the other, his feet almost dragging on the ground. His mind was full of thoughts about that island of which he hoped to be the governor.

“At the heart of Don Quixote is the discrepancy between external appearance and internal perception.” says Wirfs-Brock (2). In that respect, Don Quixote is depicted as a character who is guided merely by his internal perceptions, disregarding external appearances. Most of the time, he is deluded, depended on his faculty of imagination, stuck in his make-believe world through the guidance of chivalric books he is obsessed with and “everything he read in his books took possession of his imagination” (1/1 p.27). He takes everything he reads in those books for real as if they were parts of history and decides to join this glorious history by making a knight errant of him. In order to put all he has read into practice, he puts on a rusty armor, devises a heroic name for himself which is ‘Don Quixote de la Mancha’ and for his horse which is ‘Rocinante’. Additionally, since “a knight errant without a lady-love is a tree without leaves or fruit, a body without a soul” (1/1 p.29) he finds “a good-looking peasant girl” called Aldonza Lorenzo and decides to call her ‘Dulcinea del Toboso’. So this peasant girl becomes a princess, the most beautiful lady in the world for him to whom he may serve “as if he really were in love” (1/1 p.31).

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

A role of Don Quixote’s delusions is to provide a glimpse into a situation where the chivalric code is implemented. Don Quixote is mad at first glance:

     Don Quijote was a tall, skinny “wanna-be” who found himself morally obligated to involve himself in other people’s business for the sole purpose of acting as a proper knight errant would. Although he believes that his “battles” help solve situations (though the results is usually the opposite), what it comes down to is that he wants to be famous, to be in love with his woman, to be accomplished, recognized, and adored. Therefore, Don Quijote’s motives are self-serving, and not “by-the-book” as a knight errant should be. “As much for the sake of his own greater honor as for his duty to the nation, he decided to turn himself into a knight errant...” (p. 15) The thing was, this was how knights generally were - a

[is] Dorotea” in disguise, it does not fit into Quixote’s frame of thinking and is therefore rejected, “Can you be in your right mind?” This irony is used by Cervantes to introduce the reader to the issue of perspective. In this world there are two paradigms which are followed: one is to see the world through the fantastical and idealistic madness of Quixote, and the other is to view it through the realism adopted by the other characters of the text. Quixote’s madness creates a world where everything is taken at face value, not allowing the idea of deception to exist. When the issue of deception arises, he formulates alternate explanations which are in keeping with his perspective, stating that “...everything that happens in this place is brought about by enchantment.” The alternate view which is held by most of the other players is that, “anyone could see when he said that those windmills were giants, and those friars’ mules were dromedaries and those flock of sheep were enemy armies”. The hyperbolic images in Sancho’s sarcasm give the reader an insight into the sheer vastness of Quixote’s generalisation of his belief. It is Quixote’s differing school of thought which Cervantes uses to establish his alienation from the sanity of the constructed world. Contrastingly, In Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Alice is the voice of sanity in the phantasmagorical setting of Wonderland. However, this also

Pope John Paul II once said, “Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth – in a word, to know himself – so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves.” (Fallible Blogma) Based on this significant and powerful quote, one can infer that faith and reason are directly associated and related. It can also be implied that the combination of faith and reason allows one to seek information and knowledge about truth and God; based on various class discussions and past academic teachings, it is understood that both faith and reason are the instruments that diverse parties

In a time when faith and hard labor kept the majority of society alive, the introduction of reason by the Enlightenment was initially perceived as a threat. People had focused on their faiths and grasped the traditions and rituals of their dogmas. The Enlightenment introduced the possibility of faith and reason coinciding and cooperating to form a more civilized and equal society to replace the Old Regime, and the changes lasted far after the period of the Enlightenment.

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.

The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries witnessed a colossal transition in the scientific view of the universe. During this period a profound rethinking of scientific theory as well as moral and religious matters took place. Traditional ideas were reconsidered by religious thinkers. Philosophers began applying rational scientific thought to problems that they considered. The main concept of the Scientific Revolution was to "question everything". The Scientific Revolution was an elaborate movement. Many brilliant people with a wealth of new ideas contributed to this movement. The French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist Rene Descartes was one of these people.