Don Quixote by Cervantes is a novel that delves deeply into the themes of mental illness and the expectations of society. Ultimately, the protagonist's delusional life as Don Quixote is fueled by Spanish society's expectations that a man should be chivalrous, brave and macho. It is these expectations of society that lead the bookish, middle-aged Alonso Quixano to embark on a life as the great, noble adventurer Don Quixote. This flight into a delusional life, and Quixote's myriad of delusional adventures clearly resembles the actions of schizophrenic. Nonetheless, it is important examine Quixote's behavior in the context of societies' malleable understanding of the norms of acceptable behavior. In other words, it is important to consider carefully whether Don Quixote was simply an eccentric and unusual man, rather than mentally ill with schizophrenia. However, a close examination of Quixote's behavior, even in light of a flexible understanding of the norms of behavior, clearly reveals his actions to be those of a man deeply immersed in the throes of schizophrenia.

Don Quixote is a book about a man so obsessed with chivalrous ideas that he transforms his life in search of these ideals and a more chivalrous life. Alonso Quixano, a middle-aged man form La Mancha in central Spain becomes obsessed with the chivalrous ideas in the books that he reads. He takes up his sword in a quest to destroy the wicked and defend the helpless. Quixano convinces himself that he is the brave knight, Don Quixote. He persuades the laborer Sancho Panza to follow him on his adventures. He searches for grand adventure on his worn-out horse, Rochinate. He falls in love with the peasant woman, Dulcinea del Toboso, believing that she is a princess.

He eventually meets a Duke and Duchess who play with his delusions for their amusements. They make him the governor or a fictitious isle, and send him on many adventures. Ultimately, Quixote leaves the Duke and Duchess, only to come to a quick end, and is vanquished by an old friend in disguise as the Knight of the White Moon. In the end, Don Quixote's story clearly defines the demise of chivalry.
Don Quixote and Societal Expectations

Alonso Quixano foray into life as the noble and errant knight Don Quixote was clearly fueled by the ideas of chivalry, adventure and romance in the many books that Quixano read. A middle-aged man, Quixano had led a relatively dull life, and his experiences clearly did not live up to those of the adventurous and capable heroes in the myriad of books that he eagerly and obsessively read. Notes Cervantes "he (Alonso Quixano) so immersed himself in those romances that he spent whole days and nights over his books; and thus with little sleeping and much reading his brains dried up to such a degree that he lost the use of his reason" (Book I, Part I).

Quixano is basically kind-hearted by foolish enough to become deluded into thinking that his is a brave knight who will fix all of the world's wrongs. He is so obsessed with the ideals of chivalry in the books that he has read that his foolishness allows him to delude himself into believing his existence as Don Quixote.

While it is easy to blame Alonso Quixano's foray into the delusional belief that he is Don Quixote on Quixano's foolishness, societies'…