Don Quixote: Analysis of Cervantes’ Masterpiece
Don Quixote: Cervantes’ Enduring Legacy
Don Quixote, in two parts: Part One: The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha (1605). Part Two: The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote de la Mancha (1615). In 1614, Alonso Fernández de Avellaneda published an apocryphal Part 2: Second volume of The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha. Cervantes addressed this continuation in his true second part.
Sources and Influences
- The farce of the Romances: The farmer Bartolo goes mad reading romances.
- Novels of chivalry: Parodied throughout the story.
- Other genres: Pastoral novel, Byzantine novel, picaresque novel, Moorish novel.
Structure of the Novel
The main action is structured around three salidas (excursions), the first two in the first half and the third in the second half. Each salida follows a similar scheme:
- Leaving the village: From the second salida onward, Don Quixote is accompanied by his squire, Sancho Panza. In the third, he is defeated by the Bachelor Sanson Carrasco.
- Adventure series: In Part 1, Don Quixote interprets reality through the lens of chivalric romances (the adventure of the windmills, the herd, the wineskins). In Part 2, others try to deceive him.
- Return to the village: The third salida culminates in Don Quixote’s death and the collapse of his chivalric illusions.
Space and Time
Space
Part 1: The characters traverse La Mancha and the Sierra Morena. The inn (venta) is a key meeting point.
Part 2: The protagonists move through Aragon and Catalonia. A key event takes place on the Duke’s land, where they are mocked.
Time
The narrative is chronological and linear, but the narrative time does not always align with real time.
The Characters
The novel features characters from all classes and social groups: herders, farmers, clergy, knights, and Moriscos.
- Don Quixote and Sancho are complementary characters with opposite personalities that evolve throughout the novel.
- Don Quixote: A poor country gentleman, contradictory in nature, sometimes mad, sometimes sane, heroic or ridiculous, depending on the situation.
- Sancho Panza: Represents common sense and the practical nature of the common people. He gradually adopts his master’s idealism.
- Dulcinea: A character created by Don Quixote based on a village woman, Aldonza Lorenzo, to fit the model of his chivalric readings.
Themes and Interpretation
Historical Interpretations
- Contemporary: Read as a comic and satirical romance.
- Later: Seen as a symbolic book representing the conflict between idealism and reality.
- Modern: Realistic and perspectival novel.
The Theme of Literature
- The relationship between life and literature: Don Quixote confuses the two.
- Critique of books.
- Metaliterature: The characters read and write books.
The Narrators
- Main Narrator: Omniscient, sometimes appearing in the first person to explain the sources of the story.
- Fictitious Authors: Hamete Benengeli, an Arabic historian, is highlighted as the author of the original manuscript, translated by a Moorish aljamiado.
- Narrator Characters: Various characters tell their stories as actors or witnesses.
The Language of Don Quixote
The Language of the Characters
- Don Quixote: Often uses archaic chivalric language imitated from the books he reads, but also uses colloquial language.
- Sancho: Characterized by his use of proverbs, sometimes excessive and indiscriminate. He occasionally tries to imitate Don Quixote’s language.
The Language of Cervantes
Characterized by humor and irony. He imitates and parodies genres and styles of the era. Variety of dialogues, monologues, letters, poems.