Miguel de Cervantes: Life, Works, and Don Quixote
Miguel de Cervantes: Life and Works
Miguel de Cervantes (1547 – 1616) was born in Alcalá de Henares, Spain. He participated in the Battle of Lepanto, where he lost the use of his left hand. He was captured by Turks and held for five years until he was ransomed. In Seville, he served as a commissioner of provisions for the Spanish Armada and was jailed on occasion. He spent his last years in Valladolid and Madrid.
Poetry
Cervantes considered himself a poor poet, as he acknowledged in his work Journey to Parnassus (3,000 lines).
Theater
As a playwright, Cervantes was best known for his works that included tragedies, comedies, and several interludes, such as The Cave of Salamanca and A Pretend Vizcaino.
Novels
- Galatea: A pastoral novel that follows the conventions of the genre, including love disillusionment, refined shepherds, and an idealized landscape. A second part was never written.
- Exemplary Novels: A collection of 12 novels dealing with different issues, showcasing Cervantes’ literary maturity.
- The Works of Persiles and Sigismunda: This novel follows the model of Byzantine romance, incorporating fantasy, love, fortune, and perilous journeys. It features a careful and elegant style and the heroic triumph of its characters. It was published posthumously.
Don Quixote
The first part of Don Quixote was published in 1605, suggesting the possibility of a sequel. In 1614, Alonso Fernández de Avellaneda published an apocryphal continuation. This angered Cervantes, who expedited the publication of the second part in 1615. Don Quixote was a great success and is the most translated book in Spanish literature.
The Two Parts of Don Quixote
- Part 1: Intersperses stories that interrupt the central action. The adventure is somewhat autonomous, and the action and facts dominate. Don Quixote creates his fame through wild adventures that he imagines.
- Part 2: The stories do not interrupt the main action. There is greater interaction between episodes and events. Dialogue dominates, and the novel delves into psychology. Part 1 serves as a contribution to this novel because people know about Don Quixote’s adventures.
Plot
- Part 1: Don Quixote goes on two sallies. The protagonist conceives the idea of being a knight-errant after reading many romances of chivalry. After various adventures, he ends up badly injured. The priest and the barber of his town trick him into returning home in a cage.
- Part 2: This part narrates Don Quixote’s third sally with his squire, Sancho. After going to El Toboso (Dulcinea) and experiencing various adventures, they go to Aragon. Don Quixote then goes to Barcelona, where he is defeated by the Knight of the White Moon (a friend and fellow countryman) who imposes the condition that if defeated, Don Quixote must return home. He dies there, surrounded by family and friends, in absolute sanity.
Themes and Interpretations
Cervantes’ initial intention was to ridicule both the chivalric and pastoral novels and the ideology they represent. He created a distorted parody of the customs in the novels of chivalry, starring a poor and idealistic country gentleman who goes crazy from reading. He decides to become a knight, is armed as such, and speaks and acts accordingly. However, Don Quixote is an anti-novel, a novel of novels that shelters many stories.
Don Quixote and Sancho are the main characters. Despite his madness, Don Quixote has a fair criterion and great judgment. His antithesis is Sancho, an uneducated peasant with accumulated popular wisdom. Sancho warns his master of his follies but remains at his side because he wants to find a husband for his daughter. They seem to need each other, representing two complementary visions of the world and life, but this is only partly true. They evolve throughout the novel. Don Quixote increasingly shows signs of sanity, and Sancho spreads the ideals of his master. At the end of the play, a sane Don Quixote asks Sancho for forgiveness, and Sancho encourages him to go out into the field.
Don Quixote is not a simple adventure story or just a parody. Cervantes goes beyond literary, moral, social, and philosophical issues. He also focuses on aspects such as heroism, freedom, illusion, and struggle. The novel continues to attract ratings and interpretations.
Style
The variety of styles in Don Quixote confirms Cervantes’ mastery of different language styles, his extensive expertise in narrative, and his use of resources. Don Quixote speaks in an archaic or highly educated and well-constructed manner, not boorishly like Sancho. However, Sancho intersperses sayings to show his mistakes and rustic language. Their dialogues are interesting.