Analysis of Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

The novel opens by briefly describing Don Quixote and his fascination with chivalric stories. With his "wits gone';, Don Quixote decides to become a knight and ream the country side righting wrong and rescuing damsels in distress. He outfits himself in some old armor and professes his love and service to Aldonsa Lorenzo whom he refers to as Dulcinea Del Toboso. After a long hot ride on his horse he comes upon an inn which he thinks is a castle and the innkeeper whom he believes to be the king. That evening Don begs the innkeeper to knight him and the innkeeper agrees to do so as self amusement. He tells Don that he must return to his village for money, clean shirts and other provisions. Don agrees but before he is knighted, he beats up two carriers who were attempting water their mules at the trough where Don has stowed his armor. This was such a commotion at the inn, that the deeper quickly smacks Don on the neck and he is knighted and sent back to his village. On the way back he encounters two adventures; a farmer whipping his servant and the other six merchants, from Toledo who refuse to agrees that Dulcinea is the fairest maiden in the world. Don then attacks them and serves a beating for his troubles. A peasant passing by recognizes Quixote and loads him across his donkey. They head back to their village as Don wildly describes his mishaps. Don Quixote returns to his village where his met by his niece and housekeeper. While he is sleeping, his chivalric romance books are burned and the room is sealed off by well intentional friends and family. They believe that Don's nonsense is caused by the devil's work. Throughout the rest of the book, Friston is blamed for all the misconceptions. Don Quixote will experience. A knight-errant must have a squire, so he convinces his neighbor, Sancho Panza, to accompany him by promising to conquer an island and make him the governor. So after convincing him, they head out and come upon thirty or forty windmills which Don thinks are the Giants. Sancho is unable to convince him otherwise and quixote attacks them, experiencing a bad fall. He blames Friston for turning them into windmills. Continuing along the highway, Don Quixote frightens a couple of priests and then looses part of his ear in a fight when he attempts to rescue a lady from a stagecoach. Don tells Sancho that he has a special recipe for a magic balsam that ...

... middle of paper ...

...cribed along with the devoted Sancho Panza.

COMMENTS:

Don Quixote is one of the best novels I've read in a long time. I think all of us are familiar with Don Quixote attacking the windmills, but few of us have actually read the whole story. For some reason, I had no idea of how humorous this story actually was. I laughed out loud at situations that he got himself into. I particularly enjoyed when his well meaning family, sealed off his reading room. Poor Quixote, searching in vain for his beloved books. Sancho was always good for a laugh, especially when he would anger the so called knight-errant and get whacked in the head. The story was easy to visualize, as I could just picture Don Quixote on Rocinante and Sancho following close behind on his mule. An outstanding literary masterpiece. It makes me wonder how Don Quixote lost his wits and decided to become a knight. Up until that point he seemed to lead a normal life of existence, with no signs of craziness. I couldn't help but feel sorry for Quixote. Throughout the story I was hoping he would accomplish his dreams of a chivalric lifestyle. I had to admire his convictions, when all around him people were calling him crazy.