Don Quixote

Status
Not open for further replies.

Drifter

Est. Contributor
Messages
741
This might be a short thread with little interest, but I'm just curious to see if anyone else has read Cervantes' tales of Don Quixote of La Mancha and interpreted it as I have. I read the book years ago around the time I was reading about the Spanish inquisition, and there seemed, to me, to be a direct connection.

The character, Don Quixote, is commonly portrayed as a misguided but heroic man. This portrayal is exemplified by the song "The Impossible Dream" from the play "Man of La Mancha", which glorifies the characteristics this kind of person represents.

My take on this character is that Don Quixote was meant as a veiled symbol representing the inquisition itself. His companion, Sanch Panzo, who has been promised riches in the kingdom to come for remaining faithful, represents the followers of the church. Dulcinea, a woman Don Quixote never met but is the inspiration he dedicates his life to, would represent the church's image of the holy spirit.

Throughout the book there are many parallels mirroring, in comedic form, the evils of the inquisition. These parallels could not have been written so as to have been blatantly obvious because the inquisition was going on at the time, and many people had been executed for lesser offenses than criticizing the church.

Don Quixote was a wildly popular character at the time, which is why I believe, at the end of the book when Don Quixote lay dying, Cervantes has him remorsefully admit his life's quest had been wrong.
 
I never thought of the story that way, but you make a very convincing argument. I've seen "Man of LaManch" as my SO from college was in a production directed by the man who directed the Broadway version. You may be right in your interpretation. It makes me want to go back and read the story.
 
I've read embarrassingly few books as an adult. I always feel a bit out of my depth when my mates discuss anything to do with literature!

Don Quixote is one of those many famous works that somehow "everyone" is familiar with... yet I know nothing about. Not even the basic themes.

Is it worth a visit to the library...? :)
 
The "Age of Chivalry" was dying out at the time but books about knights from that earlier age were very popular. Instead of Batman, Superman, or the Justice League they had books about knights with their palace intrigue and romantic soap operas. The Catholic church saw these books as childish nonsense unfit for adults, which is why these books were burned and new ones with that theme were prohibited by the inquisition censors. The pretense Cervantes used to get his books about Don Quixote past the censors is that they ridiculed the popular notion of chivalry, a view that was in line with Catholic authorities.

The idea that Cervantes would actually want to ridicule chivalry seems a little strange. If the historical accounts are accurate, Cervantes, himself, had those qualities attributed to knights: courage; honor; justice; and a desire to help those in need. He demonstrated more than once, in battle and in his years spent as a prisoner, his ability to endure and to sustain others, and his willingness to die so that others might live.

OK. So much for my book report. It's just that I've always been curious about human behavior, no doubt due in part to my own "freakish" behavior at times, and reading about things related to the inquisition has influenced my views on religion, philosophy, politics, and society in general.

@Dogboy: I've enjoyed the musical too, but I don't believe the original intent of the story was to make Don Quixote some kind of hero. I see Cervantes as the hero.

@tiny: I would say yes, it is worth the trip to the library (or Kindle books), but it's entirely a matter of preference. You may not enjoy it. Maxx is right that the parallels I see are no doubt due to reading about the inquisition around the same time, so, to see it from my perspective, look at in the light of the tactics used by the inquisitors. I see the Don Quixote story as an artifact from that time.
 
Last edited:
My take on this character is that Don Quixote was meant as a veiled symbol representing the inquisition itself. His companion, Sanch Panzo, who has been promised riches in the kingdom to come for remaining faithful, represents the followers of the church. Dulcinea, a woman Don Quixote never met but is the inspiration he dedicates his life to, would represent the church's image of the holy spirit.

Yeah, Cervantes was in peril if he wizzed off the Inquisition. Like his not-very-closely-contemporary Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels was full of events and characters who were in some very hot Civil War (in the British Isles) and it could have ended with a torture session and stretching a rope, from just any Church. He took on the Episcopal, Lutheran, Presbyterian and Catholic war leaders. I started reading Don Quixote in spanish but I put it back into the library. Never picked it back up. Got to again. It's easier when you read it with the realization that HIS spanish is kind of like going up to a modern English or American person and saying Thee and Thou. One of my Mexican friends said I was talking like a Mexican Hillbilly.
 
LittleSissieJolie said:
One of my Mexican friends said I was talking like a Mexican Hillbilly.

:lol:
 
I think Sheldon Cooper said it best when he said " most people think Don Quixote is about a donkey named Hotay". 😆
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top