The adventures of Don Quijote de la Mancha
Alonso Quijano, better known for his pseudonym, Don Quijote de la Mancha, has been an extensively recognized figure since the principles of Spanish literature. This character is born and stands out in the novel The adventures of Don Quijote de la Mancha, written by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, which is considered the first modern novel. He centralizes a Manchego Hidalgo who went crazy with the books of cavalries, this makes him want to become a walking knight who goes in extensive adventures. This novel has the perfect balance between being a comedy and a criticism of Spanish society. In addition, it is Renaissance with baroque qualities and several narrative styles are used, causing it to be considered one of the richest and figurative works in the history of literature.
The author of the adventures of Don Quijote de la Mancha is Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. This was a writer, soldier, novelist and Spanish poet who was born in Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, in 1547. In 1605, the first part of the novel in Madrid is published. Its initial purpose was to make fun of cavalry books, but it becomes a comedy of society. When a pseudo-quite appeared, written by Alonso Fernández de Avellanada, Cervantes ends his novel and published a second part 10 years after the first, in 1615. A year later, Cervantes dies without enjoying the immense fame and honor he achieved with his novel.
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra can be considered the genius of the transition between the Renaissance and the Baroque, better known as the Golden Age.() The Renaissance period, which arises in the 16th century, brings a cultural transformation in the arts, sciences and the ways of thinking together to a new vision of the world. The Baroque, which arises in the seventeenth century, marks a pessimistic perspective of life because of a social and economic crisis. This era was characterized by having a inclination to vulgarize knowledge and that prompted genres such as the picaresque novel, satire and comedy. Cervantes had a double tendency between Renaissance idealism and his inclination towards reality that is demonstrated in his works such as the adventures of Don Quijote de la Mancha and his exemplary novels where all the genres of that time can be found. This is why this period of time influences both Cervantes’s works and because they are so fundamental to Spanish literature.
Mentioned previously, the adventures of Don Quixote is about a 50 -year -old manchego hidalgo that after reading many cavalry books, begins to lose his judgment and makes him take the feats of walking knights by real. When deciding to become a walking gentleman, he dresses and is named to start leaving adventures. In his second exit, Don Quijote is accompanied by a squire. This agrees to go in adventures with Don Quixote because he is promised and needed them to hold his family. El Escudero is a farmer named Sancho Panza, this comes from a poor social class and aspires to become a governor of land. Don Quijote and Sancho belong to different social classes, but that did not constitute them to become the most loyal friends. On the one hand, there is Don Quijote who belongs to a middle class, has a comfortable life with many books in his house that were obtained for selling their lands and people that serve him. In addition, he was well educated and possessed remarkable knowledge in language for his way of articulating words. On the other hand, Sancho Panza comes from a lower class and worked in a hacienda. Sancho makes it difficult to understand some phrases that Don Quixote says and has a less cultured language, which teaches how it lacks an education. This difference between the two characters differentiates them but at the same time unites them. When both knowing each other, Sancho Panza undertakes to be loyal, like Escudero, towards Don Quijote and risk life to help him in his adventures. This loyalty between Escudero and Caballero becomes a loyalty of friendship. An example where they express their intense union is in the last chapter of the second part, where Quijote is very weak and express, “… as I was crazy I was part to give him the government of the insula, he could now be sane, being sane, giving him thea kingdom, it would be given, because the simplicity of its condition and faithfulness of its treatment deserves it.”(Marrero 312) who teaches how Quixote thanks Sancho for being so loyal and forgives to just give him a song of what he deserves. Finally, their social classes make them become different people because Sancho, being more realistic, helps Quijote recover his trial and open his eyes and Quixote, having better education, helps Sancho to expand his Spanish language.
Don Quijote and Sancho Panza end up different from how they began by the influenza that each one made to the other. This change in personality, where both spread their way of speaking and seeing the world, is known as the "quijotization" of Sancho and the "Sanchification" of Don Quijote. One of the changes that stand out most throughout the work is that of the language of Sancho Panza. Sancho at the beginning of the work was a poor, rough, clumsy and naive peasant with a colloquial language that includes using sayings such as "where a door closes another opens" and "the good payer does not hurt garments" accompanied by metaphors and symiles but symiles butends with less vulgar language. It is shown to have wisdom and rationing at the head of the Dukes and “those present were admired.”(Marrero 255) in the second part of the novel. In addition, throughout the first part of the novel, Sancho wishesto make statutes and pragmatic …”(Marrero 275). He retires from his position telling the people, “I did not be born to be governor, or to defend insulas or cities of the enemies who want to undertake them.”(Marrero 277) also, transforms to a person full of illusions after finding out that his and his friend’s adventures are famous and begins to yearn to be a gentleman like Don Quijote. From another perspective, Don Quijote begins being a man who is constant hunger for knowledge, who dresses well, has a different way of seeing the world and a desire to become a famous men’s gentleman. When the novel is completed, Don Quijote recovers his judgment, begins to be realistic and is infected with the use of sayings and a more vulgar language of Sancho. Don Quijote comes to recover his judgment in his last days, where he expresses “I am no longer Don Quijote de la Mancha, but Alonso Quijano, to whom my customs gave me a goodbye of good.”(Marero 312).
Leave feedback