Don Quixote, by Miguel De

Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes, is the fictional tale of a country gentleman by the name of Alonso Quixano, who goes mad and decides that he is actually a knight-errant, Don Quixote de la Mancha. As every knight has to have a squire, he talks Sancho Panza into acting as his squire. Panza is motivated by greed; he believes that he and his knight will return from their adventures wealthy men. While Quixano/Quixote was a minor nobleman, many families in Spain considered themselves to be minor noblemen, so in order for Quixano to support his grand delusion he had to elevate his position.

The events in the book demonstrate the lifestyle of all segments of Spanish society. Quixote is an educated man; Panza a simple peasant; and many of the people they meet along the way live hard and coarse lives. The mule drivers are uncouth and make lewd jokes. The gentried women, such as Quixano's niece, lived lives of refinement, while the life of Panza's wife was one of work from dawn to dark, and Aldonza Lorenzo's one of real danger and hardship.

The author states in the opening of the novel that he intends his book to be a parody of romantic chivalric tales, which were very popular at the time. Central to Quixano's delusion is the idea that he must have a lady whom he honors with his battles. Early in the book he meets Aldonza Lorenzo, a peasant girl of low breeding. In Quixote's delusion, however, she becomes the Lady Dulcinea. He imagines her to be many things she is not: high born, of great virtue, petite and beautiful. Quixote astounds everyone with his reaction to Lorenzo, announcing, "Let everyone in the world halt, unless the entire world acknowledges that nowhere on earth is there a damsel more beautiful than the Empress of La Mancha, she who has no equal, Dulcinea Del Toboso." (Volume 1, Chapter 4, pg. 29) Later on the reader gets a more accurate description of Dulcinea:.".. The good gentleman was so far gone in his fantasy that neither the touch, the smell, nor anything else about the good damsel -- which would have made anyone but a muledriver vomit -- disillusioned him in the slightest." (Volume 1, Chapter 16, pg. 89) Quixote's representation of Dulcinea is a parody of the stature of upper-class women of the time. They were supposed to be refined and chaste, but play no real active role in life outside of the home. Their identity was defined by the men they married. The book also shows a contrast between upper class women and peasant women in Panza's wife, who is vocal and clearly at least the equal of her husband.

The story of Don Quixote's adventures are played out against a significant historical backdrop: the Spanish Inquisition, which actually covered a span of almost 400 years. During Cervantes' time, the Spanish Catholic Church saw itself as challenged on all sides. After expelling all Jews who would not convert to Catholicism in 1492, the Spanish crown then became concerned that perhaps some of the conversions were not genuine and that some Jewish converts were still secretly practicing Judaism (1). Part of the Crown's concerns may have stemmed from the fact that part of what eventually became Spain was conquered by the Ottoman Empire, introducing Islam to the area. In addition the Reformation was spreading. Some Spanish people had converted to the Lutheran church, and in some European countries, Spanish students were not allowed to enroll in colleges (1). It was a time when many religions all took the posture that their religion was the only one and true one, and that others must be forced to join that church. The Inquisition was actually established by the Throne and not by the Church, at first to ferret out those who had not made a true conversion, and later to judge and punish sins of various sorts.

The church maintained its established hierarchy of Pope, Archbishops, and Bishops, but delegated much of the Inquisition to the Crown. The Church interpreted theology and law, but left punishment of those judged false converts or sinners to the Crown, as the church was not allowed to shed blood. Torture was not used as a punishment, but was often used as part of the investigative process. Very often the accused was never told what he or she was accused of, so if the charges were not true, the person was left to guess, and perhaps be tortured if he or she guessed wrong (1). The Kafka-esque absurdity of these events may have been part of Cervantes' point as he placed his hero in increasingly absurd and irrational scenarios.