Life and Works of Miguel de Cervantes
Miguel de Cervantes
Cervantes’ Life
Born in 1547 in Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), Miguel de Cervantes lived a challenging life. His father and grandfather were surgeons, and while Cervantes held official positions, they were not high-ranking. Despite his family’s modest circumstances, Cervantes received a solid intellectual foundation, even serving as a secretary to a cardinal.
In 1564, legal issues forced him to Italy, where he joined Cardinal Acquaviva’s entourage as a secretary. His Italian years were among the best of his life. He later enlisted in the Spanish regiments and proved to be a heroic soldier, participating in numerous military campaigns, including the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, where he was shot in the left hand. Despite his injury, he continued his military service.
In 1575, he decided to return to Spain with letters of recommendation for court positions. However, pirates attacked his ship, and he was taken prisoner. His captors demanded a high ransom, which his family couldn’t afford, leading to five years of captivity. During this time, he made several unsuccessful escape attempts. Eventually, the ransom was lowered and paid, securing his release.
Upon returning to Spain, he was offered a spy position in Tunisia, which he held briefly. Cervantes then turned to the theater. While it didn’t bring him fame, it provided income. He began writing La Galatea in 1581, a pastoral novel published in 1585, inspired by Sannazaro and his time in Italy. His two preserved plays from this period are Numancia and Treatment of Algiers.
In 1584, at 38, he married 19-year-old Catalina de Salazar. He also had a daughter with a married woman, cared for by Isabel Saavedra. Cervantes worked in Andalusia as a supply commissioner, traveling extensively and neglecting his wife. He later became a tax collector and faced imprisonment due to financial issues. After his release, he began contemplating Don Quixote.
Upon release, he moved to Valladolid in 1604. Don Quixote was published in Madrid in 1605. In mid-1605, he moved to Madrid. While Don Quixote brought him success and recognition, it was primarily seen as a humorous novel, not the fame Cervantes desired.
During the 17th century, Cervantes’ narrative model wasn’t widely followed. It was 18th-century English novelists like Daniel Defoe (Robinson Crusoe), Jonathan Swift (Gulliver’s Travels), and Laurence Sterne (Tristram Shandy) who adopted this pattern. German Romantics later offered a quixotic interpretation, viewing Don Quixote as an idealist battling reality (200 years after the novel’s publication).
Cervantes continued publishing, including the Exemplary Novels in 1613, a collection of 12 short stories. In 1614, he published Journey to Parnassus. That same year, a false Quixote by Alonso Fernandez de Avellaneda appeared, prompting Cervantes to accelerate the second edition of his Don Quixote, altering the plot and killing off the character to prevent further continuations. It was published in 1615.
He also published “Eight Interludes and Eight New Comedies, Never Before Performed” in 1615. He completed Persiles and Sigismunda in 1616, dying three days later. Authorities finished the prologue. He died on April 22, 1616, and was buried on April 23. A second edition of Persiles was published in 1617.
Cervantes’ Works
Cervantes Theater
In addition to fiction and poetry, Cervantes also wrote for the theater. His theatrical production can be divided into two stages:
- First Stage (1580-1587): Before Lope de Vega’s rise, Cervantes’ plays enjoyed some success. Only two works from this period survive: The Treatment of Algiers and Numancia, both following Renaissance models. The first is a tragicomedy about captives, inspired by the author’s experiences. La Numancia is a tragedy about the struggle and sacrifice of the namesake city besieged by the Romans.
- Second Stage (1615): Cervantes published eight plays and eight interludes that were never performed. His works didn’t follow Lope de Vega’s successful formula and failed to generate interest. He explored various models: Moorish chivalry, swashbuckling, and saints. Examples include The Baths of Algiers, The Entertaining One, and The Happy Pimp. In these pieces, Cervantes reworked character types established by Lope de Rueda: the ruffian, the simpleton, the sexton, the student, etc. His themes included love, marriage (faithful and unfaithful), and social satire. Among the most valued are The Cave of Salamanca, The Jealous Old Man, and The Show of Wonders.
La Galatea
In 1585, Cervantes published the first part of La Galatea, a pastoral novel centered on love, presented through various cases. The basic plot is simple and unfolds in a limited space and time: the love of the shepherds Erastro and Elicio for Galatea, on the banks of the Tagus River, over ten days. Several elements are added to this narrative scheme:
- Interpolated Stories: The main love story incorporates the lives and experiences of other shepherds. Four stories are interspersed: two pastoral, one tragic, and one Byzantine courtly tale.
- Poems: While most of the book is in prose, the shepherds are poets, so a variety of love poetry is included: sonnets, octaves, triplets, songs, etc. The book concludes with the “Canto of Calíope,” a long poem praising and describing the poetry of Cervantes’ time.
- Debates: The novel features philosophical debates about love, including arguments for and against the pain of unrequited love and jealousy.
La Galatea is unfinished, with unresolved storylines, including the main one. Cervantes promised a second part but never wrote it.
Exemplary Novels
In 1613, between the two parts of Don Quixote, Cervantes published his Exemplary Novels, a collection of 12 stories considered the highlight of his production, excluding Don Quixote.
The Exemplary Novels are both realistic and idealistic, critical and conformist, burlesque and serious. They incorporate narrative models of the time (picaresque, pastoral, chivalric) and folk material (jokes, anecdotes, fables).
In the preface, Cervantes states:
I am the first to fictionalize in Castilian, for the many novels that are printed in it are all translated from foreign languages, and these are my own, neither imitated nor stolen, and my wit begot them and my pen gave birth to them, and they grow in the arms of print. […] I have given them the names of exemplary, and while you look at them, there is none from which you cannot draw some useful example.
Cervantes refers to the contemporary understanding of the novel as a brief narrative following the model set by Italian authors translated into Castilian. However, he emphasizes that his novels are original, not translations.
The Exemplary Novels include: The Gypsy Girl, The Generous Lover, Rinconete and Cortadillo, The English Spanish, The Licentiate Vidriera, The Force of Blood, The Jealous Extremaduran, The Illustrious Kitchen Maid, The Two Damsels, The Lady Cornelia, The Deceitful Marriage, and The Dialogue of the Dogs.
Structure and Themes
The Exemplary Novels lack a common framework, except for “The Dialogue of the Dogs,” which is embedded within “The Deceitful Marriage.” Despite their apparent simplicity, they feature rich and complex narrative modes. A notable feature is the verisimilitude with which they present even the most extraordinary events.
Most narratives tell stories of thwarted love with happy endings, love tainted by jealousy, etc. Friendship is also present, with many characters having loyal friends, allowing for dialogue and the presentation of different worldviews.
Other stories, like Rinconete and Cortadillo, focus on the world of crooks, prostitutes, and thieves. “The Dialogue of the Dogs” and “The Deceitful Marriage” explore hypocrisy and deceit.
The Persiles and Sigismunda
This Byzantine novel was published posthumously in January 1617 as The Works of Persiles and Sigismunda, a Northern History.
The protagonists, Persiles and Sigismunda, a young noble couple in love, undertake a long pilgrimage across Northern Europe, Spain, and Italy. They face numerous hazards (storms, shipwrecks, imprisonment, piracy), which test their virtue (trabajos). They emerge gracefully, allowing them to marry, with virtue rewarded.
Their journey symbolizes human life, perfected through divine providence. The sequence of adventures forms the main plot, but there are also secondary episodes: interspersed narratives, often autobiographical and love-filled.
Rinconete and Cortadillo: Argument
Pedro del Rincón and Diego Cortado, a young pardoner and a tailor’s son, respectively, become friends and travel to Seville. Choosing a picaresque life, they survive by cheating at cards (Rincón) and stealing (Cortado). After some thefts, they encounter Seville’s organized crime: Monipodio’s brotherhood. The group has rules: no stealing without permission, assigned areas for criminal activity, and mandatory sharing of proceeds. Monipodio, a rustic, wicked, and blustering man, renames them Rinconete and Cortadillo and accepts them into the guild, where they spend a few months.
Don Quixote
Edition of the Work
Spanish literature’s most famous novel was published in two parts:
- First Part (1605): Published as The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha, it consists of a prologue, opening and closing burlesque poems, and 52 chapters grouped into four parts.
- Second Part (1615): Published with a title change: The Ingenious Knight Don Quixote of La Mancha, it consists of a prologue and 74 chapters, without divisions.
A year earlier, in 1614, a spurious second volume appeared, The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha, by Alonso Fernandez de Avellaneda. In its foreword, this apocryphal Quixote insulted Cervantes, who responded in the preface to his second part and included numerous references within the fiction itself to the falsity of Avellaneda’s novel.
Sources
In addition to the aforementioned narrative models (pastoral, Byzantine, chivalric, sentimental, Moorish, and picaresque), the opening chapters of Quixote show the influence of an anonymous 16th-century romance, Entremés de los romances. In it, a farmer goes mad from reading too many romances and seeks adventure, emulating his heroes’ feats.
Structure of the Work
The nobleman Alonso Quijano (also called Quejana, Quesada, and Quijada at the beginning) goes mad from reading chivalric romances and decides to “revive the extinct order of knight-errantry.” He becomes Don Quixote, chooses Dulcinea as his lady love, and sets out in search of fame.
Don Quixote’s main actions are organized into three salidas (departures): the first and second are narrated in the first part, while the third covers the entire second part. The basic narrative framework of each salida is as follows:
- Departure from the Village: Don Quixote leaves alone the first time. In the other two salidas, his squire Sancho Panza accompanies him. In the preliminaries of the third salida, the bachelor Samson Carrasco seeks him out and ultimately defeats him.
- Adventures: Don Quixote’s adventures follow a similar pattern. He confronts reality with a distorted perception (windmills = giants) and fails, often receiving beatings. The third salida introduces a change: the protagonist is no longer mistaken but others distort reality for their amusement, like Sancho trying to convince him that an ugly peasant girl is Dulcinea.
- Return to the Village: All three salidas end with Don Quixote’s return: the first two in harsh conditions, the last to die.
The road plays a vital role, facilitating encounters with people from all social strata. At times, Don Quixote and Sancho pause their journey, leading to new adventures and stories. Encounters with other characters generate episodes outside the central action. Some interpolated story characters, like Dorothea and Fernando, participate in the protagonists’ events, while others, like the “Tale of the Curious Impertinent,” read at the inn by the priest, are disconnected from the main action.
Time and Space
The narrative is chronological and linear. Don Quixote departs for the first time on a July day, and his adventures, other salidas, and death follow. Temporal allusions are scarce, inconsistent, and nonsensical: it’s impossible to reconcile references to summer months between the start and the first salida. The second part also mentions the publication and success of his story.
While Don Quixote names some places, there’s no detailed geographical information. In the first part, they travel through La Mancha to the Sierra Morena. When they stop, the inn becomes the most important space. In the second part, they move through Aragon and Catalonia, spending more time in confinement, with the Duke’s palace, where they plot to amuse themselves at the knight’s expense, becoming the primary space.
The Interpolated Stories
The interpolated stories are formally diverse and represent various narrative styles: pastoral, sentimental, Moorish, adventure, and Italian-style novella.
The first part includes the stories of Marcela and Grisóstomo (pastoral), Cardenio and Luscinda, Dorothea and Fernando (sentimental), the captive captain (Moorish), and the “Curious Impertinent” (novella).
In the second part, Cervantes, acknowledging criticism of the interpolated stories, reduces their number: the pastoral episode of Camacho’s wedding, the tragic story of Claudia Jerónima, and the Moorish tale of Ana Félix.
Characters
Don Quixote‘s numerous characters represent all social categories, from the highest to the humblest: innkeepers, shepherds, herdsmen, carriers, wealthy peasants, priests, knights, nobles, and marginalized groups like Moorish exiles.
The main characters, Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, are distinct yet complementary. They travel together and influence each other, their characters evolving through conversation. Their relationship changes: from Don Quixote’s authority and Sancho’s obedience to criticism and confrontation, but they remain united by friendship and loyalty.
Don Quixote
The protagonist is described as tall, thin, old (compared to young chivalric heroes), choleric, honorable, and a voracious reader. He’s single, solitary, brave, and impulsive. A poor rural hidalgo, his madness transforms him into a knight-errant.
Madness is central to the work, forming the basis of the conflict between the hero and reality. Don Quixote desires and believes to be a knight-errant but acknowledges his pretense (“I know who I am,” he says).
This contradiction permeates all others: wise and foolish, ridiculous and admirable, false and true. He’s the “wise fool” who triumphs despite his failures.
Sancho Panza
Sancho contrasts with his master. He’s short and paunchy, prudent, illiterate, married, practical, and peaceful: a farmer who agrees to serve Don Quixote due to his simplicity and the promise of an island as a reward. The character, a synthesis of the folk tradition’s fool, the drama’s buffoon, and a parody of the chivalric squire, becomes a complex being: independent, doubting and believing, lying and deceiving, laughing and crying, displaying discretion and foolishness, but always good and compassionate.
Dulcinea
She’s Don Quixote’s fictional creation, based on Aldonza Lorenzo, a strong and unattractive peasant whom the hero has barely seen and never spoken to. Dulcinea doesn’t exist in the story. Following the chivalric model, the hero needed a lady, and Don Quixote constructed her according to his ideals.
Storytelling and Storytellers
Cervantes’ novel features a basic or primary narrator and several other fictitious narrator-characters.
- Main Narrator: Narrating from a higher level, external to the story, he’s omniscient and sometimes uses the first person, presenting himself as directly responsible for the narration. In the first eight chapters, he refers to various information sources: other “authors who write about this case” and the supposed “annals of La Mancha.” In Chapter IX, he introduces himself as a character, explaining how he found and edited Don Quixote’s manuscript.
- Fictitious Authors: The most important is the Arab historian Cide Hamete Benengeli, author of the found manuscript. The “original” is translated by a Morisco who writes in Aljamiado, who is also cited. This parodies the pseudo-authors and translators of romances.
- Narrator-Characters: Characters tell various stories, playing different roles. In some interpolated stories, the narrator-characters are mere witnesses, while others are involved in the stories, and some are the protagonists. In these cases, Don Quixote, Sancho, the priest, and the barber act as the audience.
Types of Discourses and Languages
Don Quixote is characterized as the first polyphonic novel, a work with many different languages.
The characters’ language includes various levels and styles:
- Don Quixote’s language is often archaic, chivalric, and stylized, but he also uses colloquial language when it suits him.
- Sancho’s speech is notable for its proverbs, sometimes piled up to the point of Don Quixote’s rebuke. When he tries to imitate his master, his use of cultured and rhetorical language surprises the gentleman and his wife, ironically highlighted by the “translator” of the story.
Don Quixote also ironically evokes other genres and literary styles of the time: chivalric romances, pastoral novels, sentimental novels, picaresque novels, Moorish tales, Renaissance dialogues, etc.
Dialogue is central, articulating the work. There are also monologues, documents, letters, and poems. All contribute to the humor and irony.
Narrative Devices
To justify the inclusion of stories interspersed throughout the first half, and only related story the lead story in the second, Cervantes, in a show of wit and irony, makes the course > original manuscript thinks of back translation:
They say that in the original own this history is written that Hamete coming to write this chapter, his interpreter did not translate as he had written, which was a kind of complaint that was the Moor himself, for taking in hand a story so dry and so limited, as this of Don Quixote, for it seemed that there was always talk about him and Sancho.
Cervantes’ life
Born in 1547 in Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), I have not an easy life. His father and grandfather were surgeons. Cervantes occupy official positions but no senior official. His family was modest, Cervantes had a solid intellectual, because I get to act as secretary to a cardinal.
In 1564, problems with the justice had to go to Italy where he joined the entourage of Cardinal Acquaviva and performs duties as secretary.
The years Italians were the best years of his life. Then he decides to enlist in the Spanish regiments and was a heroic soldier.
I participate in numerous military campaigns like those of Lepanto in 1571. He was shot in the left hand. After the shooting continued to participate in military campaigns.
In 1575 he decided to return to Spain with numerous letters of recommendation for positions on the court. But his ship was attacked by pirates and was taken prisoner and, seeing that he opted for a seat on the court demanded a high price for their rescue. His family could not afford the ransom and prisoner was 5 years.
In these 5 years he made several escape attempts, all unsuccessful. After 5 years down the price of his ransom and this was paid.
When I return to Spain was offered a position as a spy in Tunisia. But this position will drive very little. Cervantes then decides on the stage. Although the theater does not fame, if money.
Start typing the Galatea in 1581, he was a pastoral novel, published in 1585. Cervantes is set Sannazaro and during his stay in Italy he was inspired. His two novels are plays that are conserved Numancia and treatment of Algiers.
In 1584 he married Catalina de Salazar, when she was 19 and 38. Cervantes has a daughter with a married woman who takes care of Isabel Saavedra. Cervantes works in Andalusia, a commissioner of supply and traveled a lot and derelict as his wife.
Then it was a tax collector and put him in jail for a problem with money. He left and came back but this time for a short time. Here you start thinking of Don Quixote.
Released from prison and went to Valladolid in 1604. Publication of Don Quixote and printed at Madrid in 1605.
In mid 1605 he moved to Madrid.
Cervantes made famous by Don Quixote was successful and although much was known Don Quixote. Was taken as a humorous novel and Cervantes wanted fame.
During the seventeenth century no one follows the narrative model of Cervantes, was the eighteenth-century English novelists who make this pattern: Robinson Crusoe, Gulliver’s Travels and Tristan Shandy. The Germans turn around to see a quixotic and romantic interpretation. Don Quixote is an idealist who struggle against reality (200 years after the publication of Don Quixote).
In 1605 Cervantes published more books.
In 1613 he published the Exemplary Novels: A set of 12 small novels written by Cervantes.
In 1614 Cervantes published the Parnassus.
In 1614 appears a false Quixote written by Alonso Fernandez de Avellaneda.
In 1614 Cervantes has advanced the second edition of Don Quixote and then has to quickly change the argument. is published in 1615 and kill the character so no one can follow the story.
It also publishes “eight starters and eight new comedies ever represented” in 1615.
Persiles ending in 1616 and died three days, authorities finished the prologue.
Died on April 22, 1616 and his funeral was on April 23.
Persiles In 1617 a second edition.