Introduction:
Don Quixote is
a Spanish epic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. It was originally
published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615. Considered a founding work of Western literature, it is often labelled as the
first modern novel.
Don Quixote looks backward to a tradition of chivalry romances, and it
looks forward to the modern novel. Chivalry romances were a popular form of
narrative in medieval and Renaissance culture. They usually follow heroic
knights who embark on dangerous adventures in honour of the women they love.
Cervantes both continues this tradition and satirizes it.
Don Quixote
A middle-aged man
named Alonso Quixano, a skinny bachelor and a lover of chivalry romances,
loses his mind and decides to become a valiant knight after reading books on knight
errantry. He names himself Don Quixote
de la Mancha, names his bony horse Rocinante, and gives his beloved
the sweet name Dulcinea.
He imagines himself to be the champion who wander the world righting wrongs,
helping the helpless, defending the cause of justice, all for the greater glory
of his lady Dulcinea del Toboso and his God.
In a few days’
time, Don Quixote puts on a rusty suit of armor and sets out on his first
sally. He is knighted at an inn,
which he takes to be a castle, defends a young shepherd from his angry master,
and receives a beating from some merchants, who are ignorant of the rules of
knight-errantry. A knight must always be dignified and brave, because he is the
final stronghold of nobility, courage, and altruism in a decaying world. He
returns to his village to recover.
The Enchanters
While Quixote is sleeping off his injuries, his friends the priest and the barber decide to burn most of his chivalry books, which they blame for his madness and recent injuries. Quixote takes this to be the work of evil enchanters, who generally plague knights errant. The priest and the barber, who blame enchanters for the destruction of Quixote’s library. From then on, enchanters become for Quixote the explanation for everything mysterious, irrational, and malevolent, for every event that wedges between his expectations and his reality. He enlists a peasant named Sancho Panza who is earthy, servile, and slothful to be his squire, and they set off for the second sally. In their travels, Sancho and Quixote encounter many imaginary enemies – giants that turn out to be windmills, enchanters that turn out to be angry muleteers, abductors who are peaceful friars. Wherever they go, people mock them and give them beatings, because their ideas are so strange and ridiculous. However, the Don is idealistic, sprightly, energetic, and cheerful, even in the face of overwhelming odds.
Encounter with the Windmills
Don Quixote and Sancho come
upon thirty or forty windmills. Where there are windmills, Don Quixote sees
giants with very long arms, despite Sancho’s objections. He charges a moving
windmill with his lance, and it shatters the lance and drags him and his horse
painfully across the ground. When Sancho runs over to help him, he tells his
squire that the same enchanter that
stole his library must have turned the giants into windmills at the last
moment. They resume their travels in the direction of the Pass of Lapicé. Don Quixote plans
to replace his broken lance with a thick branch, as did some fictional knight,
and tells Sancho that
he will never complain about any pain. Sancho replies that he complains about
all his pains.
Feats of Quixote
They spend the
night in a forest, where Don Quixote makes
his new lance from a branch. He stays awake all night thinking about Dulcinea,
like the knights in his books. He doesn’t eat breakfast
in the morning for a similar reason. Quixote chooses to ignore pain,
exhaustion, and hunger because he’s imitating the ethereal knights in his
books. Of course, the fictional knights don’t eat or sleep because the authors
chose to omit such crude details. So, Quixote’s behaviour is life imitating
unrealistic art. In preparation for adventures, Don Quixote tells Sancho that
he must not fight knights – only other squires and laymen.
Friars and Basque
Coachman:
They soon come
upon two friars on mules and a coach surrounded by footmen carrying a lady on
her way to Seville. Quixote decides
that the two friars are enchanters who
have abducted a princess. He demands that they release the princess; when the
confused friars deny the charges, Quixote charges at them with his lance. One
friar jumps off his mule and the other rides away as quickly as he can. Sancho starts
to strip the fallen friar, considering the clothes fair spoils of battle, but
the friar’s servants beat him up.
Meanwhile, Don Quixote greets
the lady in the carriage and asks her to present herself to Dulcinea del
Toboso and describe the adventure in full. The Basque coachman
overhears Quixote and tells him to get away, and they begin to battle. The
coachman smashes Quixote badly on the shoulder, but the knight grits his teeth
and advances. The onlookers of the battle with fear and suspense wait for the
great threatening blow each has planned to give. The second author Cervantes, (the narrator and translator)
leaves the battle pending and to be revealed in Part II.
Tilting at windmills
This expression is an English idiom derived
from Don Quixote, that means "attacking imaginary enemies". It may also connote an inopportune,
unfounded, and vain effort against adversaries real or imagined.
Conclusion:
The old man with
his dried-up brain, with his squire who has no “salt in his brain pan,” with
his rusty armour, his pathetic steed, and his lunatic vision that changes
windmills into giants and flocks of sheep into attacking armies, this crazy old
fool becomes a real knight-errant.
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