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Introduction

Miguel de Cervantes’ “Don Quixote,” published in two parts in 1605 and 1615, is often seen as the first

modern novel. The main character, Don Quixote, is a man who is deeply affected by stories of knights and

chivalry. He goes on imaginary adventures with his practical helper, Sancho Panza. The contrast between Don

Quixote’s noble dreams and the real world is something that many people can relate to. Cervantes’ unique

writing style, which includes humor, irony, and deep thoughts about human nature, changed how stories were

told. E.C. Riley points out that “Don Quixote” set a new standard for literature with its structure and important

ideas, influencing English novels. This paper looks at “Don Quixote’s writing style, storytelling methods, use of

irony, and its impact on English prose fiction in the 17th century.

“Don Quixote” : Life of The Author

Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616) is widely known as one of the most important Spanish writers ever and

one of the greatest European authors in history. He wrote many novels, plays, poems, and short stories. The

book he is most famous for is “The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha,” which was released in

two parts in 1605 and 1615. Miguel de Cervantes said he wrote “Don Quixote” to make fun of the old-

fashioned stories about knights and their adventures. He did this by showing how silly and unrealistic the

actions of Don Quixote were, as the character tried to copy the stories he loved. Cervantes used humor to point

out how strange and ridicules plots of these knight stories were, and how simple the characters in them usually

were( StudySmarter).

Definition

Chivalry novels: a type of tale that was common during the High Medieval period (1000-1300s) and the

Early Modern period (late 1400s-late 1700s). These stories usually showed knights doing brave and honorable

deeds, following the values of the medieval times.

chances to learn, but the ideas about social class hadn’t changed much. It was still believed that a person’s

character and value were connected to their social status. It was also rare for someone from a lower class to

move up in society. In Don Quixote, Cervantes shows that people from any class can be good or bad, and he

even lets Don Quixote become a knight just by deciding to do so ( StudySmarter).

Overview of “Don Quixote”

“Don Quixote” : Summary

Alonso Quixano is a man who loves stories about knights and adventures so much that it makes him a bit

crazy. He changes his name to Don Quixote de La Mancha and decides to ride on his skinny horse to become a

knight. Even though his armor is old and rusty, Don Quixote becomes a knight at a place he thinks is a castle

(but is really just an inn) and starts doing brave, knight-like things. But soon, some merchants beat him up, and

he has to go back to his village to recover. Worried about their friend, the village barber and priest burn many of

Don Quixote’s books about knights. But Don Quixote thinks evil magicians are trying to hurt him, so he gets a

helper (who is really just a farmer named Sancho Panza) to go with him. They travel together and meet many

people with different problems and situations. Don Quixote battles windmills, which he believes are giants.

Later, he and his sidekick confront traveling monks, thinking they are evil sorcerers holding a woman prisoner.

They only stop when the woman tells the monks to pretend to lose, so Don Quixote feels victorious. The pair

also help free some slaves. Most of the time, their actions lead to trouble and beatings, but they do manage to

help a few couples reunite. Eventually, they end up at an inn with lots of people, confusion, and apologies. The

barber and priest find Don Quixote and take him home in a cage made of wood, hoping to stop his crazy

behavior. The first part of the story ends with Don Quixote feeling very sick and sad, both in body and mind. A

month later, Part Two begins. Don Quixote is excited to go on more adventures. He learns from a student

named Carrasco that his stories with Sancho have become a very popular book about knights and their quests.

Their next goal is to find Don Quixote’s love, Dulcinea. But there’s no real woman named Dulcinea. To solve

this, Sancho tells Don Quixote that a simple peasant woman they meet is actually the beautiful princess
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Dulcinea, but she’s under a curse. Later, Don Quixote fights the Knight of the Forest and wins, but the knight

was actually Carrasco in disguise, trying to get Don Quixote to go back home. The knight and his squire keep

having strange adventures. They meet a Duke and Duchess who like the story about them, but they play mean

jokes on Don Quixote and Sancho, taking advantage of Don Quixote's way of thinking. They even try to

embarrass Sancho by making him a governor, thinking he wouldn't be good at it because he's a peasant. But

Sancho is smart and has a natural ability to lead. However, Sancho soon misses traveling with Don Quixote, so

he quits his job as governor. They have more adventures and make new friends. Then, Don Quixote fights the

Knight of the White Moon, who is another disguise of Carrasco. This time, Carrasco wins and tells Don

Quixote to go home. After returning to his village, Don Quixote feels sad and sick. One day, he takes a long

nap. When he wakes up, he says he is no longer insane. He tells everyone he is not Don Quixote anymore and

even dislikes the stories about knights. Now, he is just Alonso Quixano the Good. Sadly, he passes away shortly

after this change.

Did You Know?

Have you ever come across the phrase “tilting at windmills”? It means trying to fight enemies that don’t

really exist, and it comes from the story of Don Quixote! In the story, Quixote mistakes windmills for giants

and tries to fight them with his lance.

Don Quixote: Characters

Don Quixote de la Mancha: In reality named Alonso Quixano, Don Quixote is the name he adopts when he

decides to become a knight after reading too many chivalric novels.

Sancho Panza: Don Quixote’s loyal squire. Sancho is both down-to-earth—allowing him to step in and

corral Don Quixote when necessary—and a fan of the knight’s morals.

Sampson Carrasco: A student who, after learning of Don Quixote’s adventures, disguises himself as Knight

of the Forest and later as the Knight of the White Moon to battle Don Quixote and make him go home.
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Dulcinea del Toboso: Don Quixote’s imaginary sweetheart. Sancho convinces the knight that a peasant girl

is under a spell and is really the beautiful Dulcinea.

The Duke and Duchess: A high-class couple that claim to be fans of Don Quixote but then treat the knight

and his squire poorly.

The barber: One of Don Quixote’s friends who try to get the knight to return home and stop acting

strangely.

The priest: One of Don Quixote’s friends who try to get the knight to return home and stop acting strangely.

Themes

The themes in Don Quixote help us understand its main message. Three important themes in the book are

madness, social class, and morality. Other recurring themes include the difference between illusion and reality,

the struggle between personal ideals and practical society, and the criticism of old-fashioned values. Harold

Bloom calls the book “a deep reflection on human dreams and mistakes” (Bloom 17).

Madness

From the start of the story, Don Quixote is shown as a man who has lost touch with reality. He has become so

obsessed with stories about knights and chivalry that his imagination starts to mix with what he sees as real life.

He thinks he is a knight and sees his actions as brave and noble. What’s key is that Don Quixote isn’t just crazy

—he doesn’t imagine things that aren’t there. Instead, he sees the real world as if it were part of his fantasy.

This lets Cervantes make fun of the knightly stories that were very popular back then by showing how silly they

can be when taken too seriously.

Did You Know?

The word quixotic, meaning overly Idealistic and unrealistic, comes from Cervantes’s mad

hero( StudySmarter).
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Social Class

During Miguel de Cervantes’s time, people rarely thought about moving up or down in society. It was normal

to believe that a person’s worth came from their social position. But Don Quixote had a different view. He

decided he was no longer just a poor old man but a knight. He also believed that others could be more than what

their situation seemed to be. For example, he tried to free prisoners instead of assuming they were bad (though

things didn’t work out well for him). He thought everyone he met had the potential to be good.

Morality

In “Don Quixote,” Cervantes shows a conflict between different ideas of right and wrong. The main

character, a knight, moves through a world that reflects the values of Cervantes’ time—a world filled with

selfishness and greed. Even so, Don Quixote tries to promote a return to the old-fashioned, selfless values of

chivalry. In the end, he fails, and his strong belief in these old values seems out of place in the world he lives in.

The Novel’s Structure and Style

Cervantes uses a unique way of telling the story that isn’t just linear. He mixes short stories with parts that

talk about the book itself. The story acknowledges it self as a story, and even the characters, like Don Quixote,

think about how people see the book. The blend of parody, irony, and realism marks a transition from medieval

romance to modern prose fiction (Stagg 45). The way the book is written shows the difference between Don

Quixote’s fancy, old-fashioned way of talking and Sancho’s simple, everyday way of talking, which shows how

they see the world differently. The first part of “Don Quixote” has a simple way of telling the story. Cervantes

uses this part to satirize novels about knights and their adventures. The way the story is told is similar to other

stories about knights and magical heroic acts. In the second part of Don Quixote, Cervantes starts by saying he

is translating the story from an earlier version written by a man named Cide Hamete Benengeli. But this is just a

joke; Cide Hamete Benengeli is not a real person. Making up this narrator is another way Cervantes makes fun

of the popular literature of his time. In the second book of Don Quixote, the way the story is told becomes more

complicated. Cervantes, the person telling the story, becomes a character in the book, and other characters try to
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change how the story will be told in future books. By doing this, Cervantes, the writer, creates a sense of

confusion for the reader, giving them a small taste of the madness of Don Quixote.

Point of View in the Story

The novel mostly uses a third-person point of view. It doesn’t often show what the characters are thinking,

but sometimes it changes to a first-person view. This lets Cervantes talk about the story or mention a made-up

writer named Cide Hamete Benengeli.

Importance of “Don Quixote”

Key Features

Don Quixote set many rules for how novels are written today. It showed characters with many sides to them,

deep thoughts, and stories that make readers think about themselves. Ian Watt, in his book *The Rise of the

Novel*, says Cervantes paid special attention to what characters felt inside, which was a big change in writing

(Watt 13). This focus on real human feelings helped shape later novels in English.

Timeless Themes

The book talks about things everyone goes through—dreaming big, failing, and staying strong. Lionel

Trilling says, “Don Quixote’s mix of sadness and humor shows what it means to be human” (Trilling 34). Its

ideas connect with people from all cultures and times, leading to many different ways of understanding and

reimagining the story.

What makes Don Quixote important as a novel?

It was revolutionary for the time it was written in. In Don Quixote, Cervantes used humor and irony to

comment upon and question the society he lived in, the literature that came before him, and the ways of

thinking that most people of that time accepted. Additionally, it helped to popularize stories written in prose

instead of verse( StudySmarter).

Influence of Don Quixote on 17th-Century English Novels

Similarities to Early English Novels

Cervantes had a big impact on 17 th-century English writers, especially in how they used realism and satire.

Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe (1719) shows how Don Quixote focused on personal experiences, mixing

adventure with exploring the mind. Henry Fielding’s Joseph Andrews (1742), a satirical parody of Richardson’s

Pamela, also uses Cervantes’ storytelling methods and funny style. Fielding called his work “a comic epic in

prose,” which is like how Don Quixote was written (Fielding 5).

Picaresque Style

The way Don Quixote is written, with episodic and picaresque structure, influenced English novels like

Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko and Henry Neville’s The Isle of Pines. These books used Cervantes’ mix of humor,

social comments, and short adventures to talk about morals, who we are, and how society works.

The Impact of Don Quixote on Literature and Its Unique Features

Metafictional Techniques

Cervantes used a storytelling method where he talked about the act of writing and made it hard to tell what

was real and what was made up. This style influenced Laurence Sterne’s novel, Tristram Shandy. Sterne’s way

of jumping around and stopping his story to talk about other things is similar to Cervantes’ creative way of

telling a story (Bloom 41).

Irony in “Don Quixote”

Irony is found throughout Don Quixote, showing the difference between what the main character believes and

what is real:
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The Windmill Incident: Don Quixote attacks windmills, thinking they are giants. This shows how his quest is

pointless and how he can’t tell what’s real from what’s not (Cervantes 58).

Sancho’s Governace: Sancho is given control of an imaginary island. His practical thinking is better than his

master’s unrealistic ideas, which shows how silly social ranks can be (Cervantes 354).

The Knight of the White Moon: Don Quixote loses to a fake opponent, which makes him realize his dreams

are useless. This is an ironic ending to his knightly goals (Cervantes 820).

Parody and Satire

Cervantes uses parody to criticize the old-fashioned ideas of chivalry that no longer match real life. Edwin

Williamson believes this irony also reflects “wider thoughts about how society and culture were changing in

early modern Europe” (Williamson 78).

Why is Don Quixote important?

Don Quixote is often thought of as the first novel in modern times and one of the most important books ever

written. It had many new features, like using humor and sarcasm to talk about society.

What is the main idea of Don Quixote?

The main idea of Don Quixote is to make fun of the ideas, rules, and popular stories of the time it was written

(1605-1615).

Conclusion

Don Quixote is still a very important book in world literature. Its new ways of writing and deep themes

helped create the modern novel. Cervantes did a great job using humor, understanding people’s minds, and

talking about the story itself. This set a high standard for storytelling that still influences writers today. As

Lionel Trilling says, “Reading Don Quixote shows us how the novel started as an art form and reminds us of the

lasting power of stories” (Trilling 38).

Works Cited

Bloom, Harold. The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages. Harcourt Brace, 1994.

Cervantes, Miguel de. Don Quixote. Translated by Edith Grossman, HarperCollins, 2005.

Fielding, Henry. Joseph Andrews. Penguin Classics, 1985.

Riley, E. C. Cervantes’s Theory of the Novel. Oxford UP, 1962.

Stagg, Geoffrey. “The Narrative Art of Cervantes.” Hispanic Review, vol. 20, no. 1, 1952, pp. 40-56.

Trilling, Lionel. The Liberal Imagination. NYRB Classics, 2008.

Watt, Ian. The Rise of the Novel. Chatto & Windus, 1957.

Williamson, Edwin. The Cambridge Companion to Cervantes. Cambridge UP, 2002.

“DonQuixote: Book, Summary, Meaning.” StudySmarter ,

https://www.studysmarter.co.uk/explanations/english-literature/american-literature/don-quixote/. Accessed 16

Dec. 2024.