Category: Don Quixote

Starting from the day that we are born, we all have very specific expectations we are held to solely based on the gender you are born. These expectations are called gender roles. These roles we have set for both genders have changed so much since the days on the story Don Quixote to modern Spain but at the same time, there’s still a lot that has stayed the same and hasn’t fully changed. But in the story of Don Quixote, the roles of each gender are in ways traditional. It is traditional in the way that its written to show what makes a good man and what makes a good woman.

Spain in the 1700’s gender roles was the same in the way that they were very traditional and had set jobs for men and women. Now in present-day Spain, gender equality is a huge movement going on in hopes to change laws and make a change in the lives of everyone there.

In the story of Don Quixote, the author Miguel de Cervantes writes about the life and sanity of a man who goes by the alias of Don Quixote. In the story reading through an abundance of romance novels he goes under the impression that the life of knight errant was what he wanted his reality to be. While believing he was a knight Don Quixote attempted to right wrongs, saved and protected damsels, and slayed giants, or so that’s what he thought he was doing. Every piece of information Don Quixote knows about knighthood comes from reading an excessive amount of books about chivalrous knights and romance novels. The man’s roles that he was following were all from fiction novels of knights, who at the time in Spain no longer existed and possibly never existed there at all. The ideal knight was chivalrous, which has many meanings, all of them were noble. The ideal knight was generous, honorable, courteous, and gracious.

Now the roles of women in the story of Don Quixote are very different compared to the roles of the men at the time. Cervantes uses women to relay several of his points to the reader. Although he uses different women to portray different themes, he uses them collectively to show how they fit into and define society at the time of the novel.

The women in Don Quixote were often seen as the “prize” for the knight errant when they fulfilled their duties. Cervantes uses the character, Dulcinea, to represent the perfect woman. Although Dulcinea is not a real person, she is a powerful fantasy in the mind of Don Quixote. To Don Quixote, she is a simple peasant woman who has no idea of the deed he is doing in her name, in his mind she is beautiful and virtuous. Dulcinea highlights the insanity of Don Quixote and the overall idealized view of women that many men had then and still have today.

The woman Don Quixote renamed Dulcinea was actually named Aldonza Lorenzo. Don Quixote changed her name from that because this name didn’t sound romantic enough for Don Quixote’s fantasies of knighthood and glory. Dulcinea got her name from the city she came from. Aldonza Lorenzo was a notable, strong-built, sizable, sturdy, manly lass which were great qualities which made her very good at manual labor, and they also make her a good helper around the house, and far from the “princess-like” woman Don Quixote thought of her to be but still everything a countryman could ask for in a woman.

Now in the time that Cervantes wrote this story the gender roles happening to the people were very traditional in the way of the man going out and finding work while the woman stays home and takes care of the house and the kids. Children in the 1700 also had some standards of their own too. During that time the only way you would be able to identify the gender of a baby would be by the presence of earrings on girl babies, whose ears were usually pierced their first weeks of life. Once becoming toddlers they begin to be dressed according to their gender, such as boys wearing shorts and girls wearing dresses. While still toddlers they could both play and sleep together until the age of about five or six where they are then separated and move into groups of their own gender.

They each had ethical and cultural values, some were a lot more obvious than others. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Sir Gawain’s character carried out each description of the pinnacle, the pinnacle of loyalty, honor, integrity, and chivalry. Each of Sir Gawain’s challenges helped check and prove that he possessed these characteristics. The beheading of the Green Knight tested his loyalty to King Authur, and his courageousness by having the ability to stand up to the fierce knight. Him occurring his journey to search out the Green Knight’s castle challenged his virtue, chastity, integrity, and courageousness once again .

All of those events proved that he was deserving of these honorary stats. Even the Green Knight who was made out and portrayed as the enemy of Sir Gawain looked highly upon Sir Gawain. The Green Knight who was perpetually testing Sir Gawain through rigorous challenges says to Sir Gawain near the end, “I’m convinced you’re the finest man that ever walked this earth.”

Within the story of Don Quixote, Don Quixote’s characteristics are visible. Don Quixote, is an old gentleman. Though we tend to solely meet Don Quixano in short his character is defined vividly. Don Quixote could be a sane man but ends up going mad when reading too many books regarding chivalrous knights. His actions show he has a longing for a sense of purpose and beauty. Despite Don Quixote’s delusions, he’s ferociously intelligent and sane from time to time. He briefly talks about literature, soldiering, and government among other topics.

As the novel progresses Don Quixote slowly realizes the difference between reality and his imagination, and through his journey he stays true to his chivalric conception of right and wrong. Sir Gawain and Don Quixote are similar in the fact that they need good intentions. Don Quixote was leading a purposeless journey of what he thinks to bring order to an unquiet world by reinstating the chivalric code of the knights.

Sir Gawain had sensible intentions, by standing up for and protecting the King.though sir gawain intentions were more relevant a purposeful, they each had sensible intentions, courageousness in carrying out their intentions, and a purpose.Their similarities also embrace their blind sight and distraction of affection.

At the end the Green Knight reveals this by saying, “She made trial of a man most faultless by far of all that ever walked the wide earth.” On the contrary hand they had a lot of distinctive qualities than similar. Sir Gawain was honorable, nothing Don Quixote did was honorary yet alone real. Finally their variations are clear sir gawain was a true noble and honorary knight, and Don Quixote was an imaginary knight.

Tolstoy’s death of Ivan Ilyich deals with the not accepting his death until it right before his death, and Miguel de Cervantes book Don Quixote where the death on Don Quixote he was more accepting when his time came. Even though they both are dealing with death at the end they are not the same one goes out peacefully and the other goes out not wanting to because he did not think that he lived his life to the fullest. So looking at the mental psyche of the main characters of Death of Ivan Ilych and Don Quixote.

Sometimes people die and come back to life for example when someone goes into cardiac arrest the heart stops beating and the blood stops getting to the places that need regular blood flow like the brain, lungs, and other vital organ and eventually die. However, some people can come back if the heart start functioning before the organs start to shut down. These people tell about what they experience like out of body experiences, seeing their past, or seeing their family members. The reasoning for this is that the brain is one of first organs to die only lasting up to three minutes without blood circulation. Different parts of the brain do different things and blood is pumped upwards toward the brain so the brain dies from the top down. That is one of the reasons that you see your memories at near-death experiences because the part of the brain that has long-term memory is toward the lower part of the brain. So when people have near death experiences they have out of body experiences, seeing their life in a flash before their eyes, or see all of their friends and family because of that part of the brain is still active and activating showing them what they want to think. Out of body experiences is the brain making fake memory even though it look real it is not even remotely real. Now that this has been explained, the comparison can now begin.

So in Tolstoy’s death of Ivan Ilyich the main character Ivan Ilyich get an unexplainable disease that get progressively worse as the book goes on. He keeps asking his doctor what he has and they would not tell him what it is or how long he has to live. Later on, in the book, he is in a lot of pain and because of the pain; he makes a lot noises and he feels bad for his family that have to deal with him and the noise that he is making through the book. He also is trying everything to try to get better from trying stuff someone mentioned to try to stop his pain from getting worse. While this is happening he and he is lot of pain he thinks of all the things that he did thinking that he did not live his life to the fullest. From his childhood to how he meet his wife then to how he got his job to how he raised his children. Right before he dies, his son come into his room, grabs his hand, and kisses it and he Ivan realized that his life was not as bad as he thought it was and saw the light multiple times, as he died. He probably was dead way before like the first time he saw the light because that is what you would see in a near death experience. Even though it says he is talking to himself before he dies he could the brain plays trick can and will play tricks on people so the things in the book that he says and thinks could not actually be happening. What really is happening is that his brain making him think that is what happened just like the brain making people think they have out of body experiences. His brain is making him live his death but he is saying things that he probably did not say and think.

Miguel de Cervantes book Don Quixote the way Don Quixote dies is not as loud and painful as Ivan Ilyich’s death in the death of Ivan Ilyich. Don Quixote before his death he wrote his confessions and fainted, three days he was still alive but was quiet, and peaceful.

Part II of this story is changing like how Don Quixote’s fantasy is changing, and it is turning a part as the story goes on. Reality is rising up in his imaginative world, and he starts to doubt his views. He is beginning to see the reality around him, and in one point he sees inns as inns not castles; also, he realizes that the peasant girl to whom he is falling is a normal peasant girl not the princess he has portrayed.

“For what I want of Dulcinea del Toboso she is as good as the greatest princess in the land. For not all those poets who praise ladies under names which they choose so freely, really have such mistresses. . . .I am quite satisfied . . . to imagine and believe that the good Aldonza Lorenzo is so lovely and virtuous.” (Don Quixote, Ch. 25) From this quote of the first part, Don Quixote explains to Sancho that the real characteristic of Aldonza is not important for him because he has already portrayed his ideal characteristic of her in his imagination. Readers of the novel have no chance to meet the real character of Dulcinea because, throughout the novel, she is only seen via Don Quixote’s imaginative figure. His imagination and fantasy have created an ideal figure for her that takes place of reality

Until his last chances of defense, Don Quixote tries his best to believe in his illusion and influence others around him that his visions are real; however, when there is no chance and he is left with only reality, Don fears the truth of living in real life without a purpose. The last defeat of this character is at the hand of a claimed knight who in reality is only a normal man from the same hometown as Don Quixote. Due to his defeat, Quixote has to take an oath to give up on his adventure and return to his place. After his arrival to his hometown, Quixote’s health gets worst and he is dying of fever; however, just before his death in the last chapter, he claims that his sanity has returned and his visions of his fantasy are no longer in control. Therefore, he no longer is Don Quixote while he dies; he is the well-read Alonso Quixano of Spain.

Authors like Miguel want to blend reality and fiction as their source of inspiration to show the relations and limitations between the real world and the fantasy world we imagine in our minds. Through Don Quixote, it is clear that no matter the likeliness between fiction and reality, they are never the same. The consequences of blending fiction with reality can be disastrous and lead to distractions as happened in Don Quixote.

As he lives in his fantasy Don Quixote is a brave man and he succeeded his battle against his enemies; however, in the last chapter readers feel Don Quixote’s fear of raising reality and fading illusion, and his will to die is clear. Miguel has provided Don a purpose for is life. Don is so attached to his dream and illusion that he becomes a part of it and readers are drawn into it. Miguel has created an environment of fantasy where his character can be himself and function as he wants while in reality, those functions would be difficult for the character. Readers can feel the value of the illusion and imagination that are done in the book as Don Quixote is all illusion.

In conclusion, Don Quixote is a novel that engaged the idea of blending fiction into reality in the history of writing. The main character, Don, sends a message through this novel which is that our reality is what we create or want to be. There will be no exact description for Don’s personality and behavior as he was real but living in illusion at the same time. Don Quixote was not a saint either he was mad, he was a man living his determined self. The major concepts of this novel can be identified as imagination, illusion, personality, humanity, sanity, madness, and fantasy. Throughout this novel, individuals are influenced to determine their dreams and identify their true selves to live in their own reality.

The book is known to spread positivity among the readers because of the personality of Don who has seen the beauty in everything. For example, he has seen a prostitute woman as a virgin and innocent lady until the woman herself believed in Don and has seen herself as worthy of good things. This positive reflection of the novel made more and more readers day by day. Also, Don’s openness for great changes in life is one way of motivating readers of this novel to take action and determine their story instead of the society writing their story.

An important role of literature is to define ‘the other’ within the social structure despite or because of their quirks and peculiarities. This allows for change, often declaring it to be brilliant. It recognizes the mark of courage: The character is who he or she chooses to be, often fighting for freedom, perception, and thoughts. Fiction allows one to think about change in a creative way. Studies in psychology, anthropology, and sociology- all provide conceptual accounts of what literature teaches through experience and identity. One’s life could easily be defined by these relationships with others. Literature is key to negotiating, strengthening, and challenging how one defines oneself and others through social similarities and differences.

The Epic of Gilgamesh is one such example of literature that attempts to define and personify “the other”. The ancient tale is an account of Gilgamesh, a Sumerian king who wanted to become immortal. The events within the story are fairly typical of an epic. However, the hero’s counterpart, “wild man” Enkidu, provides an unusual dynamic in which the great epic hero finds himself equally matched by a man whos, “whole body was shaggy with hair,” that had “the strength of the meteorite of Anu” (1.105, 1.125). As the hero, Gilgamesh’s rival and then best friend, Enkidu represents the force of untamed nature, a force that was both feared and admired by the civilized, urban society of Uruk from which Gilgamesh came. While the epic is a clear statement about the struggle between the rapid urbanization of the time and the simplicity and force of nature, it also highlights the disparity between the people who embody each of these ideals. Rather than being singled out and despised, the people of Uruk develop a fascination for Enkidu and the way of life he represents. They bring him into their world by deceiving him so that “his animals, who grew up in his wilderness, will be alien to him” (1.187). As in lots of literature written much later, the outcast is only accepted so far as they are willing and able to begin to conform to the norms of society. Had Enkidu remained a forager and continued to display animal-like behavior, the likelihood of him being revered as more than a romantic notion of a free-spirited lifestyle is much smaller. The epic itself concludes by praising the city of Uruk once again– a testament to the people’s deeply rooted and stagnant feelings of security in their social system.

Like the Sumerians, the Greeks often fell victim to a much-too-heavy reliance on the status quo. Such is the case in Medea, a play released in 431 B.C. by Greek writer Euripides. The story follows a woman named Medea with magical powers who marries a man named Jason and returns to his home, Iolcos. When the people of the city become too afraid of Medea’s powers, the couple moves their family to Corinth, where Jason plans to “cast aside his children and [wife],” and go, “to bed in a royal marriage with the daughter of Creon” (1.16-18). When Medea finds out, she announces that she will kill her children. She debates with herself and gives numerous reasons, including revenge for her husband’s infidelity. Medea was both a foreigner and now unmarried, meaning she had virtually no rights in Corinth. Many Greeks looked down upon outsiders, and Medea had become the definition of “the other”. Unable to own land or remarry, Medea decides she “can do no other thing,” besides orchestrating the murder-suicide of her children and herself (1.811). Reputation was so valued in Greek society that outsiders often felt driven to extremes in an effort to disassociate themselves from the title of “other”. This is an example of literature that openly discriminates against “the other” with little regard for their humanity. In the same way that the Corinthians are unsympathetic to Medea’s plight, the playwright does little in the way of her defense, often having the chorus argue against her. They plead with her asking, “what could be still more awful,” than to kill one’s children (1.1288)? “The other” in Medea is persecuted, exiled, betrayed, and then receives retribution for her response, which is arguably the fault of those whom she eventually wronged.

In contrast to Medea’s hate-ridden tale of loss and hurt between all parties, Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes portrays “the other” as foolish at worst. A wishful knight travels the Spanish countryside with, “his brain dried up,” as “he went completely out of his mind” (1655). Quixote lives in a post-chivalric world where his obsession with old novels leaves him believing that his realistically disenchanting world is actually a faraway land with damsels in distress (peasant women), a trusty steed (a rickety mule), and a great beast (merely a windmill). Don Quixote is a textbook example of a misunderstood outcast with a merry disposition, who is all too naive to the banality and judgment of the real world. He even says of himself that he is, “born to be an example of misfortune, and a target at which the arrows of the adversary are aimed” (1683) CITE. It is both tricky and inaccurate, however, to truthfully read Don Quixote as a rallying cry for the underdog. The line between Quixote’s sweet naivety and delusion blurs, as it becomes increasingly unclear as to whether Cervantes intends for the novel to be one of comedic chivalry or a tragedy of the loss of innocence. By the end of the novel, Quixote is defeated by reality, lamenting, “They must take me for a fool, or even worse, a lunatic… I am powerless to resist it and am being turned into stone, devoid of all knowledge or feeling.” CITE While Don Quixote is popular for its readability as a fable, teaching readers that often the individual can be right while society is wrong, Quixote seems to possess much deeper undertones about the lack of sympathy for “the other” in real-life. Cervantes’ character proves that idealism serves merely as a romantic notion in literature while being rendered useless in reality.

In the same way that Don Quixote deals with the effect of harsh reality on the outsider, The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka tells the story of a man burdened by the tiresome mundanity of supporting an unhappy family. That is, until one day when “Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from troubled dreams, he found himself changed into a monstrous cockroach in his bed” (1204). His particularly and consistently dreadful family suffers a similar plight. While very unconcerned about the obviously tragic changes to their brother and son’s appearance, they express their concerns about public opinion and, “the thought that they in all the circle of relatives and acquaintances had been singled out for such a calamity” (1226). The most unique aspect of Gregor’s despair upon discovering he had turned into an insect, is his own utter lack of concern with his appearance and more immediate apprehension about his ability to do work and care for his family. He too seems to be so indoctrinated into the system of work and reward that he is unable to see past the harsh truth that he has been condemned to lose his humanity, rather than just his source of income. The novel takes a morbid turn when the family decides to, “put from [their minds] any thought that it’s Gregor,” because if it has been, “ [he] would have left of his own free will.” (1232) The still-conscious Gregor is clearly isolated as a cockroach, but arguably not significantly more than before he morphed. Kafka’s clear isolation of Gregor underscores the separation of the family from society. He emphasizes Gregor’s seclusion from his family. However, Gregor’s separation is involuntary, unlike the family who isolates themselves from him by the choices they make. When he eventually, “sank down to the floor, and from his nostrils streamed his last weak breath,” the family was forced to learn to be self-sufficient, in a way that they could or would not during Gregor’s life (1233). His uneventful death is fitting in a story in which “the other” is seen as divergent and strange, but is really the backbone of the family unit.

Many of Shakespeare’s plays included transvestism in order to progress the plot. Transvestism, commonly known as cross-dressing, is the practice of wearing the clothes of the opposite sex. During the time Shakespeare wrote these plays, women lived in a very restrictive society. Female actors were banned, so female characters were played by male actors. Regardless, all of Shakespeare’s plays during that time would have had to include cross-dressers. (Bullion 2). Similar to the plays of Shakespeare, transvestism was also a common motif within Miguel de Cervantes’ novel Don Quixote. Characters such as Dorotea and the daughter of Diego de la Llana are both introduced in the novel cross-dressed as men. While transvestites identify both with their assigned gender and the opposite gender, the women depicted in these fictional written works do not (Thanem and Wallenberg 4).

Female characters in these plays and novels were more likely to cross-dress than male characters. However, this wasn’t because the women necessarily identified as nonbinary or a man, but because of the social constraints placed on women during the seventeenth century. Men were independent and not typically held accountable for their actions. Women, on the other hand, did not have these privileges. They could not make choices for themselves, such as who they would marry. Women were either chained to their families or the man their fathers forced them to marry. They were not seen as equal to men, but lesser. Women’s rights were severely restricted during this time, and by cross-dressing, women were able to seize the freedom, power, and privilege that men had in their patriarchal societies. These women had hope of fleeing from their oppression through cross-dressing.

In Shakespeare’s plays, for example, cross-dressed females presented themselves as their male personas, and they could move around and speak more freely because of this. Rosalind from As You Like It dresses as a shepherd named “Ganymede” and falls in love with the gentleman Orlando. Ganymede teaches Orlando the ways of love and how to “woo” Rosalind. Dressed as a male shepherd, Rosalind manages to shape him into the lover she desires. As a man, Rosalind’s advice is accepted more readily than if she were not cross-dressed, and she is able to share her intelligence and teach the other characters how to love. At the end of the play, Rosalind reveals her true identity to Orlando, and they get married during a group wedding. In the plays that Shakespeare includes transvestism, the female character always returns to her “true” gender before the resolution. In As You Like It, however, Rosalind does not fully relinquish her adopted masculinity, and this can be seen when she is addressed both as Rosalind and as the male actor that plays her (Bullion 7).

Miguel de Cervantes also addresses double standards in his novel and forces his readers to confront the treatment and status of women in Spanish society. In the first part of Don Quixote, the priest and the barber stumble upon Dorotea, who is hiding and dressed like a peasant boy. They realize Dorotea is not a peasant boy but a beautiful woman. Taking her by the hand, the priest says, “What your clothes, Senora, deny, your hair reveals: a clear indication that the reasons cannot be inconsequential for disguising your beauty in clothing so unworthy and bringing it to so desolate a place, where it is fortunate we have found you, if not to provide a remedy for your ills, at least to give you counsel.” (Cervantes 229). Dorotea then recounts her misfortunes. Don Fernando, the son of a Duke, promised to give her his hand in marriage. Dorotea was deceived, and he wanted to marry her for his own pleasures rather than her benefit. She flees her town with her servant, with no intention to return until she restores her honor or marries the man who cheated her of her purity, Don Fernando. She says, “Therefore, as I said, I took to the wilds again to find the place where… I could… beg heaven to take pity on my misfortune, and favor me with the ability either to leave that misfortune behind or to lose my life to the wilderness and to let the memory be erased of this unfortunate woman, who, through no fault of her own, has become the subject of talk and gossip in her own and other lands.” (Cervantes 238). She has become the talk of the town because she lost her honor to Don Fernando, who refused to marry her and then married another woman. Her only escape to the criticisms of the town was to hide away in the mountains and change her appearance completely. Dorotea’s position in society becomes dependent on Don Fernando (Breahna 9). Without her honor, her chances of finding another spouse and getting married would be very small. Dorotea believes that the only way to gain this honor back is to marry Don Fernando (Breahna 10). Although she has hopes of regaining her honor through marriage, she finds freedom by changing her appearance.

In the second part of Don Quixote, Governor Sancho Panza patrols his insula, and two constables approach him saying, “Senor Governor, this person who looks like a man isn’t one, she’s a woman, and not an ugly one, and she’s dressed in men’s clothes.” (Cervantes 777). The daughter of Diego de la Llana has been kept secluded her whole life because of her beauty, and her desire to see the world became too strong. “My misfortune and my misery are simply that I asked my brother to let me dress as a man in some of his clothes and to take me out one night to see the village while our father was sleeping.” (Cervantes 780). It was common in this novel for incredibly beautiful women to live a secluded life, but Diego de la Llana’s daughter wished to escape this. She did so by dressing in her brother’s clothes and sneaking out of her house in the middle of the night. This instance of transvestism also shows how society’s expectations of women to preserve their purity controlled their lives. This young woman was not allowed to leave her house because of her beauty, and if people saw her beauty, they would be tempted to act immodestly or take away her honor. Hiding her beauty and dressing like a man was the only way she could fulfill her longing to see the world without the risk of losing her purity and disappointing her father. Sancho comments, “A woman who wants to see also wants to be seen.” (Cervantes 781).

The daughter’s cross-dressing was explained as an escape from the constraints of imposed femininity, but her brother’s transvestism seems motivated by a desire to occupy a “feminine” persona (Fuchs 18). The brother did not explain his reasoning for being cross-dressed in his sister’s clothing, which is unlike any other characters in the novel who are caught cross-dressing. It is unusual for a man to transform into the “undesirable gender” willingly. This instance, in a way, disrupts Sancho’s carefully orchestrated government. Unlike the rest of the diversions happening on the insula, this is not planted by the Duke and Duchess for their own amusement (Fuchs 14).

In written works such as As You Like It and Don Quixote, female characters that participate in transvestism convey how women are defined and shaped by ever-changing culture. Women cross-dressed, not to identify as another gender, but to escape their lives of oppression. This is evident in Don Quixote where Dorotea and Diego de la Llana’s daughter explained their motives behind dressing like a boy. Men and women were held to dramatically different standards in society, and women were punished for not meeting these harsh standards. Transvestism reinforces the theme of gender roles during this time. Women who cross-dressed did not have to worry about fulfilling their expectations as women. They were able to live freely and were not limited to societal standards placed on women. Writers like Shakespeare and Miguel de Cervantes addressed these issues in their works and wrote about women reclaiming their power.

Works Cited:

1. Breahna, Ovidiu. “Marriage, Honor, and Religion: Three Social Constraints Challenging Women’s Lives in Miguel de Cervantes’ The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha.” Carroll Collected, 2016, pp. 1-21, https://collected.jcu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1092

In the search for truth different perspectives develop allowing for people to perceive things in a new light like never before. Personal justifications to each situation transform an objective approach to truth into a subjective one, and when truth is subjective it may also be deceptive. We all have our own truths, and when they encounter one another they create friction. When a person weighs their personal truth above that of others, they are often blinded from the whole, seeing only through particulars. As a result of this, what is believed as legitimate by one might not be by others. Fixated solely on one’s personal truth, that individual may be inclined to interpret the perspectives of others as invalid and inaccurate which begs the question; if truth is personalized, how can we be sure to distinguish reality from an internal opinion? At the heart of the novel, Don Quixote, is the struggle in the disparity between external appearance and subjectivity. The books of chivalry have left Don Quixote incapable of seeing “reality”, and caught in the blur between idealism vs reality, Don Quixote is not merely deluding himself, but he has subverted his physical senses leading him to believe his subjective truth is indeed, absolute.

The brains of Alonso Quijano dried up with too little sleep and too much reading, causing him to lose his mind. Immersing himself in the books of chivalry, his mind became so convinced of the truth of all the grandiloquent and false inventions he read that no history of the world was truer to him. Once Quijano’s mind was gone, he came up with an idea so strange that only a lunatic could come up with, and yet it was still rational and appropriate to him, “Both for the sake of his honor, and as a service to the nation, to become a knight errant and travel the world with his armor and his horse to seek adventures and engage in everything that he had read that knights engaged in, right all the manner of wrongs and, by seizing the opportunity and placing himself in danger and ending those wrongs, winning eternal renown and everlasting fame.” Alonso’s determination in becoming a knight errant was driven by his obsession with chivalry, the hopes of winning greater recognition and honour while serving the country, and righting wrongs to bring back The Golden Age; a time of peace, prosperity, and happiness. With the rise in destruction of harmony in this time period, the order of knights errant was instituted to defend maidens, protect widows, and come to the aid of orphans and those in need.

In choosing to partake in the famous history of chivalric knights, Don Quixote put his reading into practice and decided to establish a new identity as a knight errant. As he begun, Alonso Quijano first set out to obtain armour, and in cleaning that of which previously belonged to his great-grandfathers he was able to accomplish just that. Followed by this task, Alonso appointed the name Rocinante to his steed, as the name perfectly described a horse so intrinsically brilliant, noble, and sonorous. Having given his steed a name that appealed very much to his liking, Alonso decided to create one for himself and finally called himself Don Quixote. All that was left in the process of becoming a knight errant was to find a lady to love, “For the knight errant without a lady-love was a tree without leaves or fruit, a body without a soul.” Upon the discovery that in a nearby village resided a very attractive peasant girl with whom he was once in love, Aldonza Lorenzo, the gentleman Alonso Quijano now known as Don Quixote, designated her the name Dulcinea of Toboso, as he thought it was a good idea to declare her the lady of his thoughts. With these simple conditions being met to distinguish himself as a knight errant, Don Quixote embarked on his journey that would be dictated by suggestions of his active imagination. Already losing his sanity through the transition from reality into a fantasy world, Don Quixote saw through this imagination what he did not see and what did not exist.

As Don Quixote stumbled upon a modest inn shortly after commencing his trip, the first of many transformations of reality was revealed to the reader. The inn is not merely an inn for Quixote, but a splendid castle, and the innkeeper held the status of a lord. Quixote states, “I expected no less of thy great magnificence, my lord…That this night in the chapel of thy castle I will keep vigil over my armor.” Those who were perceived as monotonous and of little significance, were now recognized as remarkable individuals of great importance. A title of royalty was granted to the innkeeper, who even admitted himself that he has not had the most respectable past. Quixote even does so much as to recognize the prostitutes as women, something that in early 17th Spain was unheard of. The prostitutes themselves were in disbelief of being recognized as people, “The women looked at him, directing their eyes to his face, hidden by the imitation visor, but when they heard themselves called maidens, something so alien to their profession, they could not control their laughter.” The majority of characters in the novel refer to an objective truth, but Quixote takes a subjective truth, as it is Don Quixote whose physical senses have subverted him into believing things to be different from what they truly are. Losing his mind has interfered with Quixote’s ability to make clear observations, often leading to conclusions in extremes more often than not viewing things in a positive light. Despite the characters in the inn announcing themselves through a humble status, Don Quixote’s insistence of them pertaining to a higher social class than they are convinces them of his inability to make proper judgements, even more evident through his actions of attacking the muleteers for no justifiable reason.

When individuals hold their own truths, these truths collide and cause friction. In defining truth, one may turn their attention to truthfulness as corresponding to objective external reality or to subjective internal experience. Don Quixote from his first encounter with others in his quest to restoring The Golden Age, exhibits this duality of truth as he sees subjectively through his fantasies and not objectively as everybody else seems to. The freedom in what to believe in the novel raises concern in the discussion between the binary opposites of idealism vs reality. Presented the choice of what can be discerned as real or fake, the novel reveals multiple layers of possibilities that may hold truth; Don Quixote’s subjective truth, Sancho’s objective truth, both perspectives as true, or neither.

Dulcinea exists as a powerful fantasy in Don Quixote’s mind immersing him deeper into his idea of a present-day chivalric world. The lengths that Don Quixote goes to prove his faithfulness and adherence to Dulcinea is shown as he constantly finds himself in situations unnecessarily picking fights to guard her honour, “Halt, all of you, unless all of you confess that in the entire world there is no damsel more beauteous than the empress of La Mancha, the peerless Dulcinea of Toboso,” All these actions take place, despite the fact that Dulcinea never truly making an appearance in the novel. Dulcinea may represent everything a man may idealize in a woman, but she is not a real person, she is a romanticised version of Aldonza Lorenzo. As Quixote consistently talks of lady fair with high distinction, it is understandable how it takes Sancho Panza nearly half of the novel to realize Quixote perceives Aldonza and Dulcinea as the same person, as the girl whose, “Beauty is supernatural, for in it one finds the reality of all the impossible and chimerical aspects of beauty”, is the same person Sancho knows who, “Can throw a metal bar just as well as the brawniest lad in the village.” Dulcinea is the product of her distorted perceptions. She is respected and revered, but she can never achieve the standards of perfection which Don Quixote endowed on her. On one hand, Don Quixote’s love is perceived as a peasant girl, while on the other she is a beautiful princess blessed with every possible feminine virtue. While being existent and non-existent at the same time, Don Quixote is convinced enough that Dulcinea is real and beautiful simply through the fact that he depicts her to be so in his imagination. When Dulcinea’s identity is questioned, Don Quixote insists that it is the work of wicked enchanters that have transformed his picturesque woman into a peasant – he refuses to accept an absolute truth and relies on his subjective beliefs that have been altered by his insanity.

The transition from Book 1 to Book 2 in the novel, is one that moved from enchantment to disillusionment. Don Quixote and Sancho Panza’s actions are influenced by the knowledge of knowing their placement as characters within a book, and no longer is Quixote creating fantasy writing his own story, but the fantasy is created for him from his past experiences in Book 1. Quixote’s sally to the Cave of Montesinos is the first experience in which the reader cannot go on the adventure with him, placing heavy importance on trust as its unclear whether or not Quixote is dreaming or sleeping. In this underworld sequence, Don Quixote allows himself to explore his subconscious desires and motivations. In the progression toward disillusionment is a blur in distinguishing what is real and what is fake, as real life appears to be encroaching with fantasy. Don Quixote’s encounters with different people spent in the time adventuring through his subconscious led him to the search for an objective truth; as he began to become uncertain of what to believe. Quixote gets a reality check when Montesinos shows him the still-living Durandarte, whose dying wish was for Montesinos to deliver his heart as a present to his mistress Belerma, she is aged and not staying beautiful and her experience of menopause goes on to suggest her morality, “Her sallow complexion and deep circles arise not from the monthly distress common in women, because for many months, even years, she has not had it nor has it appeared at her portals.”

The heart having salt on it signified reality and fantasy being forged together, and issue of bodily decay since the fantasy world alone would not likely have the need for it to be preserved. Quixote’s encounter with Dulcinea allows for a moment in which he may compare his idealistic perceptions of her against the reality, “I spoke to hear, but she did not say a word to me; instead, she turned her back and ran away so quickly,” Proclaiming his good deeds in honour of Dulcinea as he ventured out to right all the wrongs in the world, his interaction with her did not meet his expectations. Quixote no longer has a firm standpoint in what he should believe. In this experience of the transformation of truth, external appearance is working to separate itself from subjectivity by the defying notions and signifiers in which Don Quixote formed his beliefs about the fantasy world.

Throughout the course of the novel, there is a “quixoitification” of Sancho and a “sanchofication” of Don Quixote. When time goes by Don Quixote begins to question an increasing number of things, and Sancho continues to believe in the world of the knights-errant. The duality of truth through means of idealism vs reality has completely shifted, as each of these two on the alternative lens to what they started off perceiving truth through. Through being “quixotified” Sancho has submerged into the realm of imagination and being “sanchofied”, Don Quixote has taken a central route approach to situations questioning the very nature in the way things are presented and exist. As the story concludes, the two are switching their positions and roles. Don Quixote becomes the realist who accepts as folly the things he has done, and Sancho becomes the idealistic one who seeks to persuade his master to return to fantasy. Their opposite natures have sourced their alterations of personality, but overall negatively affected them. The return to reality for Don Quixote and attempts to remain a knight by staying true to their values, causes him to die. Sancho is also the one adversely affected by proceeding back to reality. He could not comfortably reconcile his imaginary world with Don Quixote’s death; he lived with Don Quixote, and Don Quixote was an essential source to making the dream world one that portrayed itself as authentic.

Don Quixote is not just a novel about how Don Quixote perceives the world, but also about how other characters perceive Don Quixote. As we all hold our own truths, it is when thrusting them upon one another that friction is created, and disruption occurs. Don Quixote constrains those around him to make the choice to adapt to or oppose his imaginary world. Don Quixote finds that the world around him appears to lack honour and chivalry in comparison with the romances he is addicted to reading, and he is driven to create his own reality, his own truth. Don Quixote constructs an imaginative, ideal society for himself in the world around him. In the world of others, Don Quixote may just be insane, but in his own world, he is a knight errant on a mission to right all the wrongs in the world.

Mental illness throughout history has been a huge problem. Whether it be mania or borderline personality disorder, insanity has always been very prominent. In the sarcastic tale, Don Quixote, insanity is one of the largest causes and events in the book. Don Quixote (the main character) exemplifies insanity in his actions, thoughts, and words. Mental illness in this time was intriguing and remarkable. Don showed many types of illnesses like mania, and BPD.

Don Quixote was a man in the village of La Mancha in Spain. When the story began his name was Alonso Quijano. He was a very wealthy man who lived with his housekeeper and his niece. Alonso was not a young man, he was almost fifty. The village thought of Alonso as a crazy man. He spent the majority of his time reading books of chivalry and knight-erranty. Alonso spent his night lying awake trying to comprehend the confusing and precious books he read. Alonso often would try to talk over his literary troubles with the village curate and barber, who happened to be his best friends and the villages representations. As said in the story about Alonso, “our gentleman became so immersed in his reading that … his brain dried up and he went completely out of his mind”.

His first real showcase of a mental illness was soon after his “brain dried up”. He got the fantastic idea to drop every normal thing he did and become a knight. He made himself excuses of armor, all the while telling himself that if he went of honorable quests and conquered them, he would be the greatest man and knight to ever live! These thoughts started to exemplify real distress in Alonso and a huge break from reality. This is where he starting to show his manic behavior.

After making all the right armor for his quests, Alonso needed a horse, and lady, and cool names for all of them including himself. He went and got an old bag of bones horse that he saw as a sparkling steed and named him Rocinante. Next came his own name, Don Quixote de La Mancha sounded just about right and became Alonso’s new name. Lastly he had to have a Queen, because what knight didn’t have a lady to honor and partake in quests for. Don picked out a girl that lived close by, her name was Aldonza Lorenzo. Though the two had never met, he named her Dulcinea del Toboso.

Dulcinea throughout the story became one of Don’s biggest mental breaks. He fantasized over her and always exclaimed that she was his. He fought useless battles and lost many of them just to honor Dulcinea, a girl that didn’t know he existed. Dulcinea became a symbolic character that the audience never actually met. She represented Don Quixote’s insanity and his fixation with fantasy. It was a quest that Don would never overcome.

The book drug on for many chapters and Don’s mental state only got worse. As he went on missions with his squire Sancho Panza, his illusions ranged from seeing a whore house as a castle of ladies, to fighting windmills that he saw as giants. The madness wouldn’t have stopped if the Knight of the White Moon hadn’t come. This was a man from Don’s village that promised to send Quixote back to his village for a year without the practice of knight-erranty if he won the battle. White Moon did just that and Don’s sadly went back to the village. The audience believed that his mental state could only get better with the deletion of knighthood, and boy were they wrong. Quixote took the sentence in strides and instead of healing decided to practice another book of code, shepherding. Not wanting to disturb his mental state any more the curate and barber cheered him on and even said they would join in! This was a huge slap in the face to the audience. When all was thought of as lost Don fell sick and retired to his bed. He slept for hours when he jolted up and exclaimed his was sane again all thanks to God showing him the way. He said, “my mind is now clear… I see through all the nonsense”. After this he died of a tiresome soul.

His final break of sanity really wrapped up the story leaving the audience to start questions what types of insanity Don really showed. It was concluded that Don exemplified two major illness: mania, and borderline personality disorder (BPD).

Starting with the biggest illness in the story, mania, Don showed many symptoms through his actions in the tale. Mania symptoms include, “mood changes, impaired judgement, and the development of psychosis”. The audience can pick all three of these symptoms out in the story. Through his quickly aggressive state in his battles and just when he is walking around “protecting” is stuff, you see his quick mood changes. When seeing windmills as giants and guards as kidnapping thieves, ones sees his impaired judgement and the development of psychosis. Interesting enough mania was also of the biggest illness in real life when Don Quixote was written, this being the 16th and 17th century. Many people were checked into mental hospitals for cases much less than Don exhibited. One being a man in Spain who, “showed signs of exaggerated anxiety… and the immoderate intake of coffee”. The medical field not being super advanced noted that, “people with psychological disorders were seen as dangerous so they were locked up”. Also back in the day of the book, “in the eyes of the law, mentally ill people lacked the capacity to reason”.The fact that Don didn’t get locked up was an interesting writing technique for Cervantes. This really showed the sarcasm in the writing and overall book.

Lastly, Don showed one more very prominent illness, borderline personality disorder (BPD). BPD most relevant symptom to Quixote was his, “display of uncertainty about how they see themselves and their role in the world”. Don Quixote became a knight so he could gain honor that he didn’t think he already had. Don didn’t feel he was enough as he was therefore starting his mental issues. This first realization starting the ball rolling in the book and ended up being Don’s reason for dying. After breaking from insanity on his dearth bed he relayed the same things except this time cursing them. He thought of himself as foolish then perished.

In conclusion, the book Don Quixote was a long tale of a man who showed insanity. Mental illness was a huge problem during the time the book was written, giving the author brilliant ways to construct Don’s messed up mind. In the sarcastic tale, Don Quixote , insanity is one of the largest causes of events in the story. Don Quixote exemplifies insanity through his actions, thoughts, and words. His showed up his mania, and BPD disorders in the most interesting ways. All this making a successful book that showed the audience insanity in the book and in the real world of when it was written.

In Don Quixote, Cervantes skewers social class by alluding to the educated versus the uneducated and equality between genders. Cervantes makes social class a critical issue in Don Quixote by incorporating accounts and injustices in his life into the novel. In Cervantes’ homeland, the Spanish Inquisition a strong influence. During the Spanish Inquisition, many religious people, and groups, including Muslims (moriscos) encountered themselves being converted to Catholicism or exiled out of the country. The injustice of the Spanish Inquisition conveys how ethnic oppression was prevalent in Cervantes’ life and in Don Quixote. Along with the Spanish Inquisition, Cervantes served in the Spanish military. Turkish pirates captured him where he spent years as a war prisoner, until he was released home on ransom. Cervantes obtained his education by studying with Jesuits. Jesuits are apart of the Roman Catholic church spreading education, missionaries, and charity work. This religious group is known for moral and religious values as critical to education. It has been guessed that Cervantes studied at the University of Salamanca, but there is no evidence saying he did.

Education is a theme that is revisited many times in the novel. For example, Don Quixote believes he is highly educated and qualified to make “logical” decisions when he is with Sancho. Early in the novel we see the intellect of Don Quixote challenged during the windmill scene. Don Quixote believes the windmills he encounters are giant monsters. “Those giants that you can see over there… those over there aren’t giants, they’re windmills…” (Cervantes 63-64). Sancho uses common sense to understand that the “giant monsters” Don Quixote claims to see are windmills. The difference in education between Don Quixote and Sancho are on separate levels, but Sancho makes more educated decisions despite not having an education.

Another theme explored in Don Quixote is equality between genders. Marcela and Grisostomo show how social class are altered by gender. Grisostomo’s shepherd friends describe Marcela as “the death-dealing shepherdess” (Cervantes 95). Throughout the pastoral section in the novel, Marcela is depicted as a destructive woman. On Grisostomo’s gravestone is an epitaph stating,

“In here, earth’s cold and paltry prize,

The body of a lover lies,

A Shepherd who was cruelly slain

By one who paid love with disdain.

Ungrateful, haughty, cold and fair

Was she who drove him to despair…” (Cervantes 111).

This epitaph is placed on Grisostomo’s gravestone on purpose. It is on there for everyone to see and to defame Marcela’s name letting others know of her villainous actions. The pastoral scene explores the theme of equality between genders through Grisostomo and Marcela. Grisostomo has more of a powerful say in the narrative his song, poems, and gravestone tells people. This shows how men will be listened to even if the truth is bias based on their view point.

The novel of Don Quixote has several aspects of early texts. Don Quixote has features from the texts of Gilgamesh, Othello, and Antigone. Don Quixote has a journey for a goal, to maintain status quo, and justice for those without a voice. Cervantes had written plays and novels showing that he had some sort of access to old Greek plays. Cervantes understood how Greek plays told stories about everyday life, what matters to a person, and the concerns of people. There is no information claiming that Cervantes studied Sophocles text Antigone, but there is an influence from the text. In the text of Antigone, Antigone is a confident, brave, and bold protagonist who breaks the stereotype of her being a common woman. Marcela has the same qualities of Antigone, displaying them when telling her side of the story to everyone. Cervantes took the theme of what matters to a person and expressed that through Marcela. Cervantes presents these ideas of social class through Don Quixote’s dream life, allowing the reader to synthesize how social class is still relevant in today’s time.

The Female Quixote is a work written by Charlotte Lennox in the mid-18th century. In it, the author makes an imitation of Don Quixote of La Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes. It belongs to a period in which satire, romance and the novel, were not well differentiated. Thus, in this novel, the former romantic genre and traditional forms are challenged. Nonetheless, it is influenced by past genres, and as a result, it is a literary contrasting. genre. Therefore, The Female Quixote is a mixture of several genres among which stand out as parody and satire, realism and sentimentalism, as well as romance and the novel. Comment by Microsoft Office User: These are not all genres, but also modes.

This novelplay is both a parody and a satire. On the one hand, the character of Arabella is an imitation of Don Quixote, but at the same time, the author uses humour to make the audience think over about the Victorian!!!!! society and to criticize the old “Books of Chivalry”. For instance, both characters share the hobby of spending time immersed in their chivalricavalry readings, and both stories have commentaries from the narrator at the beginning of each chapter or metaliterary disquisitions (Caballero 89-90). On the other hand, there is a continuous struggle between the ancient romances represented by Arabella and the modern fiction or culture personified by the remaining characters. Romances are Comment by Microsoft Office User: Do you mean the novel is a parody of Cervantes? Or is it really a parody of Arabella’s romances? criticized by the new society, since Arabella and her readings are mocked, seen as absurd, fanciful, unintelligible, and extravagant. Controversially, Lennox criticises her own claims about the Victorian society when Arabella travels to London and finds the leisure and conversations of the other characters tasteless, boring, and meaningless. Comment by Microsoft Office User: Give me actual examples from the novel Comment by Microsoft Office User: You skip from the critique to romances to Lennox’s satire. You need to work on your organization Comment by Microsoft Office User: Atheanys, the Victorian era starts almost a century later

Moreover, in this book are also mixed realistic and sentimental features. It is influenced by the ancient??? realism, because, for example, the main character has agency over the events, they are presented in a mannerist structure and there it can be found debates among the characters (e.g. the dialectic from the last pages of the book between the doctor and Arabella) or metadiegetic stories (Sir. George’s adventure narrative). But also, it shares characteristics of the sentimental novel, because in the story there are narrated the adventures and misadventures of the two main lovers, who depicts the Platonic ideal of courtly love. For example, Glandville must overcome many obstacles before getting the love of his perfect lady. They are separated by a trap set by Sir. George, and Arabella changes her personality, from strong to weak, due to the lovesickness caused by Glandville. Comment by Microsoft Office User: You need to organize your (otherwise) interesting ideas

Likewise, this workplay is a both a novel and a romance. It is a novel, because it is written in prose, it is very extensive, it is about a fictional story with a complex plot and its characters are highly developed psychologically. However, the author falls into the writing of a romance by wanting to satirize this genre, so it is very difficult to define a separation between them. Hence, through the many heroic French romances, such as the works of Mademoiselle de Scudéry, and the Arabella’s wWorldview, the story becomes a romance. Furthermore, the lady Arabella, is described as a divine character, unattainable, admired by all, superior to the other ladies in virtues, beauty, elegance, refined manners, and intelligence, among others. But also, the used language is very ornamental and rhetorical. Comment by Microsoft Office User: Sources or your own support from the text

Works Cited:

1. Caballero, Juan de Dios Torralbo. ‘“Borrowed from Cervantes”: Imitatio and inventio in Lennox’s The Female Quixote.’ Ambigua: Revista de Investigaciones sobre Género y Estudios Culturales 3 (2016): 85-103.
2. Lennox, Charlotte. The Female Quixote. Amanda Gilroy & Wil Verhoeven (eds.). London: Penguin, 2006.
3. Neimneh, Shadi. ‘Genre Reconsidered: Charlotte Lennox’s The Female Quixote.’ Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences 6.4 (2015): 498-498. Comment by Microsoft Office User: Where are the references to this? Are your ideas yours or borrowed from this paper?