Miguel de Cervantes & Don Quixote: Biography and Analysis
Miguel de Cervantes and Don Quixote
Biography
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547-1616) was born in Alcalá de Henares, Spain. He lived in Italy and participated in the Battle of Lepanto, where he was wounded in his left hand. Returning to Spain, his ship was captured by pirates, and he spent five years in captivity in Algiers. In Seville, he held the post of Commissioner in charge of providing food, a job that unfortunately led to imprisonment. He spent his last years in Valladolid and Madrid.
Publication of Don Quixote (Part I)
The first part of the novel The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha was published in 1605. At the end, Cervantes hinted at the possibility of continuing the adventures of his knight.
El Quijote de Avellaneda
In 1614, before the appearance of the second part, an apocryphal sequel was published in Tarragona, signed by Alonso Fernández de Avellaneda. Cervantes responded to Avellaneda’s attacks in the foreword to the second part of Don Quixote.
Don Quixote (Part II)
In addition to anger, Avellaneda’s work motivated Cervantes to expedite the release of the second part, published in 1615.
The Two Parts of Don Quixote
The two parts of Don Quixote have several formal differences. In the first part, several stories are inserted that disrupt the central action: pastoral, sentimental, Moorish, psychological, Italian imitations, etc. The adventures are woven with some autonomy, dominated by events and action. Don Quixote grows into his “madness” through fanciful adventures and imagines events and outcomes. In contrast, in the second part, the few episodes outside the central story do not disrupt the main action (e.g., the loves of Quiteria and Basilio). There is a stronger relationship between episodes and events, and dialogue plays a larger role, allowing for deeper exploration of the characters’ psychology. Finally, the first part serves as an antecedent in the second, as some characters are already familiar with Don Quixote’s 1605 adventures.
The differences in plot between the two parts are also significant. The first part narrates two sallies of Don Quixote and his squire, Sancho Panza. The protagonist embraces the idea of being a knight-errant and leaves his world, encountering various adventures that often go awry. The second part narrates the third sally of Don Quixote and Sancho. After visiting El Toboso, home of his beloved Dulcinea, they have various adventures and eventually travel to Aragon and Barcelona. There, Don Quixote is defeated by his enemy, the Knight of the White Moon, and returns home, where he dies surrounded by his family.
The Characters: Don Quixote and Sancho Panza
The central character of the novel is Don Quixote, who exhibits a unique form of madness that only affects his perception of chivalry; in all other matters, he remains sane and rational. Sancho Panza, his squire, is an antithesis to Don Quixote’s chivalric idealism. He is a peasant farmer imbued with common sense and realism. Sancho serves as a counterpoint, warning his master about his follies.
Style
The wide variety of styles in Don Quixote showcases Cervantes’ mastery of language. He demonstrates great storytelling ability and utilizes diverse literary resources. He also employs irony and humor effectively.