Miguel de Cervantes

Son of a poor doctor; did not

have a humanist education
Cervantes adventurous life:
Fought in religious wars
Captured by pirates
Spent 5 years as a slave
Held government jobs
1604: Don Quixote Part 1
published
1615: published DQ II

Don Quixote
Author: Miguel de
Cervantes
Culture: Spanish
Date: early 17th c.
Genre: satirical (parody)
novel
Names/terms to know: Don
Quixote, Sancho Panza,
Dulcinea, Sansn
Carrasco, Marcela, &
chivalry.

Don Quixote

Cervantes combines
several genres into one.
His initial purpose: to
satirize (make fun of a
specific topic) the
romances of chivalry, and
to create a parody of a
literary type characterized
by mystical acts of valor,
unlikely and complicated
adventures, duels, and
enchantments.
The novel was popular
immediately.

Don Quixote (don kee-hoh-tay)

(1605-1615)
A novel by Miguel de Cervantes
The hero, Don Quixote (don is a Spanish
title of honor), loses his wits from reading too
many romances and comes to believe that he
is a knight destined to revive the golden age of
chivalry.
A tall, skinny man in armor, he has many
comical adventures with his fat squire, Sancho
Panza.

Lasting Legacy

Cervantes not only created one of the

greatest comic figures of world literature, but
with his realist and humanist techniques,
some critics argue that he originated the
modern novel.
Don Quixote the Man of La Mancha
is 400 years old.
Miguel de Cervantes' classic novel first went
on sale in January, 1605.
It remains the most published and translated
book, after the Bible.

The literature that had expressed the

medieval spirit of chivalry and
romance had degenerated by
Cervantes time.

Don Quixote lives in a world created in

his imagination, which was fueled by
his obsession with chivalric tales.

He longs to resurrect this world of

which he has read: chivalry, battles
with giants and evil knights, and the
rescue of virtuous maidens.

Reality
Don Quixote is not a knight, but an impoverished
country landowner.
His ideals: love as service, adventurousness,
loyalty to valor and generosity. Tries to seek out
wrongs and right them, to help those in need, to
be full of valor in honor of his Lady (courtly love).
Like the Greek heroes, he wants his great deeds
to be sung.
Don Quixote is characterized as a wandering
hero.
His insanity is caused by reading too many
books about chivalry (literature corrupts).

 A typical theme of Spanish Baroque literature

is the question of what constitutes reality. We
see this in various guises in the novel:

enchantment versus disenchantment

true reality versus dreams
optimism versus pessimism
free will versus capricious fate.

 What is reality?
Who determines reality?
Can reality differ from one person
to another?
Can the perception of reality
actually change reality?

 If Sancho embodies the common

man who is motivated by basic
needs and desires, complete with a
practical viewpoint of life, then Don
Quixote is the uncommon man, the
irrational dreamer who has not one
iota of common sense despite his
position in society.

 Where Sancho sees windmills, Don Quixote

sees giants. Where Sancho sees sheep, Don
Quixote sees armies. Where Sancho sees
inns, Don Quixote sees castles.
Why? Sancho may be Don Quixotes
antithesis, but he does represent common
sense and folk wisdom. Seemingly opposites,
they grow to understand one another and to
take on one anothers characteristics.

In some ways, we might see the

entire novel as an allegory. On the
surface, Don Quixote and Sancho
are simply a mismatched pair who
have a variety of adventures, and
while we may laugh at them, we are
also sympathetic to them.

On another level, however, Cervantes was

telling us that Don Quixotes idealism is a
noble vision of life, even when it clashes with
pragmatism such as Sancho displays. Which
character has a more beautiful ideal of life, the
practical but mundane Sancho or the idealistic
dreamer Don Quixote? Clearly the author
comes out on the side of the dreamer whose
vision of life, while not realistic or pragmatic, is
infinitely more rich, more noble, and more
valuable even though seemingly impossible

 Cervantes manages to convince the reader that an idealistic

view of life is preferable in part because he does not ignore the
consequences of such ideas. While we note the authors
recommendation, we also sense that he recognizes the
difficulties a dreamer faces in the real world. Cervantes
acknowledges that seeing only what one wants to see being
an idealist is a dangerous practice. Don Quixote suffers
taunts, jeers, disillusionment and beatings throughout the
novel. And yet, we find ourselves identifying with him all the
more because of his ill treatment. All of us have felt
downtrodden by life at some point, so we can identify with his
struggles, his search for something to buoy him. His courage is
inspiring.

Cervantes always champions the spiritual

over the worldly. His belief that the
impossible dream should be ours remains a
constant. In later chapters, when Don Quixote
accepts reality in place of his dream, he
becomes depressed and dies. As he is dying,
he claims that he has given up madness and
is now rational, and yet he cannot live without
his dreams.

 He might not survive in

the real world without
practicality, yet without
dreams, survival is
worthless.

This Spanish coin commemorates

the 400th anniversary of Don

Don Quixote statue outside of Chihuahua,

Exit Slip
What is ironic about this story?
Why is Don Quixote considered to
be harmless?
If Don Quixote were your
acquiantance, how would you
relate to him o treat him?

Movie
Poster
Hollywood decides it wants to
remake the classic story of Don
Quixote into a blockbuster
summer movie!
The director of the film has
asked your advertising agency
to create an iconic poster that
will capture the audiences eye.
You must:
Draw and color a poster that
depicts one scene from Don
Quixote.
It must include the title.
Include current actor/actress
that will star in your film.
A paragraph describing the
story and author.

Other Poster Ideas