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Throughout it all, Don Quixote is trying to live a dream he has of a so-called better time, when Spain was filled with lords, ladies and courtly manners. The bad guys were evil and the good guys were heroes, winning every time. But by the end of the book Don Quixote wakes up from this dream, which wasn't so wonderful after all, and realize things aren't just black and white, that his lady and trusty partner are human after all. Actually, Sancho Panza becomes a better man from the experience, but it seems like Don Quixote turns back into a sad old man.
Cervantes is very sympathetic with Don Quixote in the estimation of this writer. Cervantes is just trying to show that in the world of today (or of his day), old traditions, ethics and motivations just don't work any more, if they ever did. When an old person tells a young one that things aren't as good as they were "in the good old days," there is a faulty memory saying that - a memory that filters out the bad that went along with the good that existed then. Things weren't actually better, but were just different, with different kinds of standards, different concepts of what makes up right and wrong, different codes of behavior. Humans remain the same throughout the ages, with the same impulses and instincts, as well as giving-in to temptations to do bad things and responding to other humans who are in trouble (Phillips 2007).
Don Quixote is also about class and worth, which we think we do not deal with very much today. However, wealth and power are still important and this novel helps us realize that these things are still being dealt with. Just because someone is rich we often revere them, without considering how they came to be rich. Therefore, wealth is honored. So is power. A powerful person is honored and catered to without considering...
Don Quixote faced the same forces and, taking on the guise of a power for good, fought on what he thought were equal terms with the evils of the world he lived in within his mind.
Cervantes created a timeless story that is complex and yet simple. His characters are made up of conflicting human emotions and motivations. He portrayed the main people in the novel so that they became human and understandable, even in their complexity and apparently contradictory characteristics. Each one represents different aspects of Cervantes' thought and history. Little is known about Cervantes himself, except through his novels, and birth and death registers. "The family of Cervantes is commonly said to have been of Galician origin, and unquestionably it was in possession of lands in Galicia at a very early date" (Ormsby v). At one time the family of Cervatos had been great landowners, were powerful and wealthy, but Cervantes' family fortunes and fame dwindled until it came to nothing by the time little Miguel was born. However, being a great reader of history and an admirer of drama, Miguel Cervantes found his calling in the writing of novels, Novelas Ejemplares and Persiles and Segismunda and others, of which this novel, showing his great knowledge and much thought about the romantic past, was the one that would last to show future generations the folly of pride.
Works Cited
Grossman, Edith, and Harold Bloom. Don Quixote. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers. 2003.
Ormsby, John. "Translator's Preface." Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Translated by John Ormsby. London. 1885. Page v.
Phillips, Brian and Davidson, Sara. SparkNote on Don Quixote. 29 Sep. 2007 http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/donquixote/canalysis.html.
Works Cited
Grossman, Edith, and Harold Bloom. Don Quixote. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers. 2003.
Ormsby, John. "Translator's Preface." Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Translated by John Ormsby. London. 1885. Page v.
Phillips, Brian and Davidson, Sara. SparkNote on Don Quixote. 29 Sep. 2007 http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/donquixote/canalysis.html.
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