An Analysis of Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote
Location and Structure of the Work
Don Quixote was written in 1605 by Miguel de Cervantes with the original title of The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote. This book was written during the early Baroque period. The book has two parts. The first part is made up of 52 chapters and a prologue. The beginning of the book starts with elements of burlesque. The second part has 74 chapters and a prologue. The second part is not divided into sections, while the first part has four. Cervantes wrote the second part because Avellaneda wrote a false second volume in 1614 called Second Volume of the Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote. Cervantes is insulted in this work, so when he writes the second edition in 1615, Cervantes includes in the prologue a true reference to Avellaneda and his attempt to falsify his work.
Action
In the first part of Don Quixote, there is a main story and some interpolated stories. The interspersed stories do not give information for understanding the text, but they describe details that gradually form the characters. Alonso Quijano, a hidalgo from La Mancha (or cheese or Quijada or Quijana), called the Good, goes crazy reading books of chivalry and, taking the name of Don Quixote and riding his old horse Rocinante, is released by the ideals of La Mancha to right wrongs, protect the weak, and deserve Dulcinea (who is actually a farmer named Aldonza Lorenzo, idealized by him).
In an inn that he pretends is a castle, the knight makes taunts between the innkeeper and those who were there. He frees a boy who was being beaten by his master (but the boy continues the beating soon after). He is beaten by some merchants and a laborer who is taking him back to the village. Since he promises a reward, he impresses Sancho Panza, a farmer from the village, to accompany him on his new start. And it always turns out badly: the fight against some windmills thinking they are giants, attacks some flocks of sheep that seemed armies to him…
Then, their friends, the canon and the landlord, deceive his people and return him to their home caged.
Processing Time
The play begins in medias res, that is, we do not know the past of Don Quixote, all we know is that he always liked books of chivalry. The story is set in a time period that is not very well defined, around a month or so. We know that the story is set during the month of July. The stories are interspersed by cutting the rate, which makes it seem like the time is greater. Chronologically, the story can be placed in a medieval period due to the novels of chivalry and knights imagined by Don Quixote in his madness.
Internal Structure
As I said in the first point, the first part consists of 52 chapters and 4 parts. The main action consists of the three trips that Don Quixote takes. The first two outings are developed throughout the first part, while the third and final outing is developed in the second part of Don Quixote. Throughout this first part, the main story is cut by small stories or interpolated stories of great importance, since it is through these stories that Don Quixote is said to include all types of novels, and each story is characteristic of a type of novel. These interspersed novels were criticized, and Cervantes took these criticisms into account ahead of the second part and did not introduce these interspersed stories.
The Characters
The characterization is a sign of genius. These are the main features:
Don Quixote
He is a very complex character, capable of blending disparate facts with an intelligence and sometimes an unusual lucidity. You can even pretend to think that his madness is real. He is good, moves on high ideals and love, does not distinguish reality from fiction. Moreover, he transforms reality to fit his fiction. This supposed madness is due to so many tales of chivalry he has read.
Sancho Panza
He is physically short and paunchy (Cervantes does not give details). He represents realism, the practical sense of life, the materialistic view, and is skeptical but is also loyal and driven by the desire to succeed. He is particularly fond of their animals. In the end, the contact between the two characters makes Don Quixote a little more realistic and Sancho a little more idealistic. It is here that the grace of the characters focuses: the characters are born, grow, and die in the novel, we see changes and understand them, and are able to judge them. This means that we get into their feelings, their desires, and their ideas, which makes us really participate in history. We can speak of a “quixotization” by Sancho and “sanchization” by Don Quixote.
Dulcinea
She is the eternal absence. She appears only in the continuous allusions to Don Quixote. She is a literary recreation made by Cervantes of the ladies of chivalry.