The Fantasies Of Don Quixote Essay Research — страница 2

  • Просмотров 240
  • Скачиваний 5
  • Размер файла 16
    Кб

knight were to be respected and noted. Knights were protectors and held in high acclaim. Knights no longer existed, however, the adoration of knighthood was not unlikely. Don’s fascination and obsession with knighthood is not without merit. Don Quixote’s view of knighthood, realistic or not, of knighthood was based upon such reasoning. He rode a bony horse named Rosinante. He persuaded a neighbor of his, a poor and ignorant peasant called Sancho Panza to be his squire ( Jarvis, 82). He believed in Don’s fantasies. “Sancho is a symbol of the common man of the Renaissance who is discovering himself and his rights and has begun to assert himself but still continues to look to the nobility for protection” (Church, 15). Sancho is not as intelligent as Don Quixote. Church

states, “Through his suffering as a tortoise and in the pit, Sancho has learned his rightful identity, whereas Don Quixote has emerged from his cave even more deeply entangled in his fantasies of 4 knighthood” (Church, 144). Without informing any one of his intentions, Don rode out of town. He saw how easily he had made a beginning toward the fulfillment of his desire (Church, 64). Don saw in the mirror what the wanted to see based on the romances he loved. He mistook inns for enchanted castles, windmills for giants, and prostitutes for respectable women. Because of his fantasies, Don was ridiculed and beaten. People laughed at him. He got into trouble when he showed a group of men he had met the picture of his fair lady Dulcinea of Toboso. They called Dulcinea ugly. Don

became so angry that he fell from his horse. He could not get up because of the weight of his armor. What is sad about this is that Dulcinea, his lady love, did not want Don. She believed that he was insane. Sancho also thought that Don was not in control of himself. At times Sancho would try to help Don, but Don would not listen. Sancho stayed with Don because he wanted to govern his own island one day. You see, Sancho had a dream, too. While Don and Sancho were in Barcelona, a man came to Barcelona who was called a Knight of the White Moon, he was really a student they had met. “The white moon is a symbol of winter and death in contrast to a yellow harvest moon; the moon also symbolizes lunacy to which Don Quixote has fallen prey and which will at last defeat him”

(Grossvogel, 295). The student was a part of the plan to get Don to go home. The student was claiming to be a knight, and he wanted to fight Don Quixote. He and Don had already fought once and Don Quixote beat him. He challenged Don to a second duel and claimed victory over Don Quixote. The 5 knight did not want to kill Don Quixote, instead, he made a bargain with Don Quixote (Van Doren, 253). The bargain was that Don Quixote was sentenced to go home. The bargain included that Don would return home for a year without seeking knighthood. Don went home determined to follow a pastoral shepherd life. He became ill, and his health began to weaken. Before he died, he renounced as nonsense the idea of knight-errantry. Don Quixote died after he had regained his senses. “I was mad, but

I am sane now” (Jarvis, 279). He did not realize that he had been a great man of chivalry. Don Quixote is not a story about an insane man who had crazy, impossible dreams and followed them. He set out to conqueror his dreams, and he fulfilled his dreams. Bruno, Frank. A Man Called Cervantes. New York: Viking Press, 1935. Church, Margaret. Don Quixote: The Knight of La Mancha. New York: New York University Press, 1971. Grossvogel, David I. Cervantes: Don Quixote. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1968. Jarvis, Charles. Don Quixote de la Mancha. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992. Kaiser, Walter. “The Last Fool” in Praises of Folly. Cambridge: Harvard Press, 1963. Nelson, Lowry. Cervantes, A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1969.

Ortega, Jose. Meditation on Quixote. New York: The Norton Library, 1963. Predmore, R. L. The World of Don Quixote. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1967. Putnam, Samuel. The Portable Cervantes: Don Quixote. New York: The Viking Press, 1951. Russell, P. E. “Don Quixote as a Funny Book.” Modern Language Review. (1969). Sarmiento, Edward. “On the Interpretation of Don Quixote.” Bulletin of Hispanic Studies. 1960. Spitzer, Leo. “Linguistic Perspectivism in the Don Quixote.” Linguistics and Literary History. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1948 Van Doren, Mark. Don Quixote’s Profession. New York: Columbia University Press, 1958. Warddropper, Bruce W. “Don Quixote: Story or History?” Modern Philology. (1965). Willis, Jr., Raymond S. The Phantom Chapters of