Great Authors - Literature of the Renaissance - Cervantes, Don Quixote
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Don Quixote presents a binocular moral vision showing that both idealism and realism have value; the novel's enduring power lies in its affirmation that noble aspirations retain spiritual grandeur even when they fail, and that imagination and hope remain essential virtues despite the world's resistance.
- Don Quixote and Sancho Panza represent idealist and realist perspectives respectively, each offering insights the other lacks
- The core comedy derives from the disjunction between appearance and reality—Don Quixote's inflated interpretations versus the world as it actually is
- Don Quixote's transformation from mad knight to dying man, and Sancho's spiritual inheritance of his idealism, suggests that the spirit of heroic imagination is immortal and necessary
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Sancho Panza eventually concludes that his true fate and destiny is not to be ruler of an imaginary island but to be Don Quixote's squire, as he always should have been, and he returns to rejoin Don Quixote in his adventures.
“he eventually concludes that his real fate is not to become the ruler of an imaginary island but actually to become don quixote's squire that's what he always should have been that was his true fate and his true destiny so he goes back and joins don quixote”
The fundamental tension in Don Quixote arises from the disjunction between appearance and reality: Sancho Panza sees things as they really are (practical, mundane), while Don Quixote inflates his experiences from the commonplace to the cosmic, mistaking appearances for reality.
“the key thing is that sancho ponza the squire sees things as they really are whereas don quixote tends to inflate his experiences from the commonplace to the cosmic don quixote doesn't run into ordinary problems he runs into enormous problems but because he's such a great-hearted individual though he's mad and though he's generally mistaken still his version of reality has something to be said for it even though it's obviously a distortion of reality it's this mistaking the appearance that don quixote attaches to things for the reality that's really that is in fact there”
The final scene of Don Quixote's death is not truly tragic but pathetic, and one of the great commentators on comedy once noted that every great comedian can elicit pathos—the ability to make audiences cry is the litmus test of a great comedian.
“i don't think i would describe this final scene as truly tragic but i would say that it is pathetic and one of the great commentators on comedy once said that every great comedian can elicit pathos and it's almost the litmus test for a great comedian many of them can get you to laugh but to be a great comedian you have to also be able to get them to cry”
Don Quixote increasingly becomes the butt of others' jokes as his fame as an entertaining lunatic spreads; people take advantage of the gentle kind-hearted lunatic knight and play intentional practical jokes on him, which become progressively crueler.
“don quixote increasingly becomes the butt of other people's jokes the fame of don quixote as a lunatic but an entertaining lunatic starts to move far and wide and people start to take advantage of the gentle kind-hearted lunatic night they start to play intentional practical jokes on them and these jokes become progressively more cruel”
Cervantes, like Shakespeare his contemporary, stands at the cusp between the medieval period and the beginnings of modernity, representing a shift in Western literature from earlier pastoral, chivalric, aristocratic forms toward more democratic, accessible literature dealing with problems confronting average individuals rather than saints slaying dragons.
“cervantes like shakespeare who was his contemporary is on the cusp between the middle ages or the the middle period in western intellectual history and the beginnings of modernity in the in the kind of historical sense so here we're seeing a shift from an earlier pastoral uh chivalric aristocratic sort of literary art towards a more if not democratic uh more uh more democratic literature towards one that's more accessible to the average person which deals with people and problems and issues that confront the average individual”
During their stay at a nobleman's castle, Sancho Panza becomes the ruler of an imaginary island called Barataria and proves to be an excellent, wise, just, and humane ruler, making judicial decisions showing great insight—exceeding expectations despite being treated as a fool by others.
“sancho ponza gets what he's always wanted the chance to become a ruler he becomes a ruler of an of an imaginary island called bharataria and this island that he becomes a ruler of he turns out to be an excellent ruler of again what we see here is a strange fact towards the end of the novel don quixote becomes progressively more disillusioned don quixote becomes progressively more an object of our pity and at the same time sancho ponza actually develops considerably in this second book...good qualities begin to develop in sancho ponza...he turns out to be an excellent and wise and just and humane ruler of this island he makes judicial decisions which show a great deal of insight”
Upon returning home, Don Quixote renounces his former identity, declaring he is no longer Don Quixote but Alonso Quixano (the man he was before), and wishes to be called 'Alonso the Good' because despite his madness his intentions have always been good.
“don quixote goes home and after going home he decides that he's not don quixote anymore that he's the same man he used to be before he took up knight errantry he's alonzo kiano an average prosaic everyday man he says i ought to be called alonzo the good and the reason why is because i have been good even though i've been mad my intentions have always been good”
Dulcinea, Don Quixote's lady love, is presented as a commonplace woman largely oblivious to him, yet her significance lies not in her actual qualities but in what Don Quixote projects onto her—she represents the 'eternal feminine' (what Goethe called 'Ewic des Weiblich'): something to aspire toward, hope for, and work toward.
“a third character in a way really isn't a character dulcinea she is in fact a commonplace woman that don quixote has elevated to the status of his lady love in fact she is largely oblivious to him...her significance is to give don quixote something to do something to aspire towards she represents what goethe would later call the evic of weiblich which means the eternal feminine what he means by that is something to to aspire towards something to hope for something to work towards and of course no one except don quixote understands what a superlatively wonderful example of the feminine sex that dulcinea represents to everyone else she's nothing especially important to don quixote she is everything the reason why is not to be found in dulcinea the reason why is to be found in don quixote's madness”
The philosopher George Santayana makes a profound point: we laugh at Don Quixote's misadventures, but we do not laugh at his intentions; this suggests that judgment of character should be based on intentions rather than consequences, in the manner Kant conceived of morality.
“the moral of it perhaps is uh may is pointed out by a george santiana the uh philosopher who wrote a very fine book called meditations on kyote which perhaps tells us as much as santi about santiana as it does about kyote but he makes a very fine point which i thought was very profound he said that we all laugh at don quixote's misadventures but none of us laugh at his intentions which is true and don quixote says that we judge a man good or evil by his intentions not by the consequences of his actions don quixote is the idealist not just in the loose popular sense but also in the sense perhaps that kant meant it oh he who judges a man's morality by his intentions and not just by the results of his behavior”
The Knight of the Lions episode tips its hat to the medieval Spanish epic Poem of the Cid, which featured a knight known as the Knight of Lions and involved battles against lions, demonstrating Cervantes' engagement with and parody of medieval epic tradition.
“the night of the lions incidentally uh is uh tips its hat to an earlier tradition in spanish literature back to the poem of the sid uh he was known as the the knight of lions and there's a a a part of the poem which involves the battle against lions and comparison with lions this courage is cervantes way of or this example of the lion is savant is his way of tipping his hat to the mid tradition of medieval epic and the poem of the city is the most important of the spanish medieval epic it's written about 1140 or 1150”
Don Quixote defeats innocent prisoners in the first book (who should be sent to galleys), unintentionally liberating the guilty—a pattern of well-intentioned but mistaken action that recurs throughout the novel.
“in the first book had liberated some prisoners and these weren't innocent prisoners as you might expect of a knight errant he liberates prisoners who are really guilty and should be sent to the galleys but don quixote didn't mean to do wrong it's just that he never seems to get things quite right”
One of the robbers Don Quixote liberated reappears later as a puppeteer with a fortune-telling ape and puppet shows—demonstrating how the novel's characters and Don Quixote's misadventures form an interconnected web despite the seemingly digressive plot structure.
“one of the robbers comes back several times in the course of the novel and in this particular case he comes back as a puppeteer he's changed his his way of doing business again and the puppeteer has a fortune telling ape which is kind of a humorous aside the ape is of course a way of of pseudo fortune telling and the pseudo fortune telling is a way of of finagling money out of people who are credit who are credulous about the possibility of telling fortunes”
As the second volume progresses, Don Quixote becomes progressively disillusioned and comes closer to understanding reality as it is, shifting the novel's emotional register from comedy to pathos, making him increasingly an object of pity rather than laughter.
“as we move through the course of the second book don quixote becomes progressively less enchanted he becomes his he becomes progressively disillusioned and he comes closer and closer to understanding reality as it is and in that respect he becomes more and more a figure of our pity in other words pathos becomes more and more an element of our response to don quixote”
In the adventure of the sheep, Don Quixote attacks a flock of sheep believing them to be invading armies, dispersing them and enraging the shepherds, who pelt both Don Quixote and Sancho Panza with rocks and beat them—demonstrating that idealistic misinterpretation has real harmful consequences for both the idealist and others.
“in the distance don quixote see two and sancho ponza see clouds of dust but of course clouds of dust aren't merely clouds of dust when we come up closer to them sancho ponza sees that the clouds of dust are caused by shepherds who are moving flocks of sheep...that's not what don quixote sees don quixote sees instead of flocks of sheep invading armies...he manages to disperse the sheep much to the anger of the shepherds the shepherds expertly pelt don quixote with rocks and knock him off his horse and they give him quite a good beating with these rocks and in addition sancho ponza gets hit with the rocks as well”
Don Quixote, published in two volumes in 1605 and 1614, forms what is probably the first great novel in the western literary tradition, combining unprecedented comic heroism with insights into the human condition that remain perennially relevant.
“the two volumes of don quixote published in 1605 and 1614 when taken together form what is probably the first great novel in the western literary tradition don quixote himself as a character is surely the greatest comic hero in western literature”
The famous adventure of the windmills exemplifies Don Quixote's characteristic method: he encounters ordinary objects (windmills) but perceives them as mythological threats (giants), and when his lance strikes and he is thrown, he reinterprets the failure not as a mistake but as evidence of sorcery having transformed giants back into windmills.
“they see well no not they see sancho ponza sees a number of windmills don quixote on the other hand sees giants giants who are pressing the land giants who will give him a chance to do some great deed so of course he spurs on his war steed goes out and tries to impale and kill the giants and he sticks his lance into one of the arms of the windmill and of course the windmill continues to move and he gets thrown off his horse and ends up sprawled on the ground...he says sancho it's an amazing thing necromancers and sorcerers about do you know are about they're in the land do you see what they did here i attacked these giants and some sorcerers turned them into windmills”
Don Quixote says that 'the possessor of riches is not rendered fortunate by having them but by spending them, and not by spending them as he pleases but by knowing how to spend them well'—a statement of profound truth about wealth and flourishing, despite coming from a lunatic.
“the possessor of richards is not rendered fortunate by having them but by spending them and not by spending them as he pleases but by knowing how to spend them well and if you stop and think about that although don quixote is crazy he's absolutely right about that and he's surprisingly acute for somebody that's off his rocker”
Don Quixote presents a pseudo-epic: instead of a superior aristocratic figure performing unprecedented deeds, we get an average man who has gone mad and thinks he's an aristocrat, performing absurd deeds but thinking they're great anyway.
“what we get in the plot of don quixote is a sort of pseudo-epic instead of having a superior figure an aristocrat who goes around performing deeds of unprecedented achievement or an unprecedented greatness we get his don quixote an average man who somehow has gone mad and thinks he's an aristocrat who thinks he's an ancient cheval rick knight and goes around and does preposterous absurd deeds but thinks they're great anyway”
A pirated sequel to Don Quixote was published between the first and second official volumes, spurring Cervantes to publish his own superior second volume, which represents an improvement over the first through greater structural unity and fewer digressions.
“nine years transpire between the publication of the first volume which was very well received and the publication of the second volume and in between someone had come out with a pirated kind of sequel or return of don quixote or son of don quixote or don quixote ii or something along those lines and it was wretchedly bad and cervantes was spurred by the appearance of this pseudo sequel to kick out and publish his own sequel which is by far the better half of the book”
Much of comedy derives from the fundamental joke of confusing appearance for reality; a critic once remarked that nature has only one joke, and thus literature has only one joke—that thinking appearance and reality are the same thing.
“it was once said by some critic that nature has only jo has only one joke and thus literature has only one joke thinking that appearance and reality are the same thing much of comedy perhaps not all of it there may be an overstatement but much of comedy is derived from the mistaken idea that appearance and reality of this thing”
Don Quixote observes that in comedy and the world, people play different roles (emperors, popes, etc.) but when life ends, death strips all these roles away and renders all people equal in the grave—a pregnant observation about the ultimate equality of human mortality.
“the same thing happens in comedy as happens in the world some play emperors others popes and in fact every part that can be introduced into a play but when we come to the end which is when life is over death strips all of all of them of the robes that distinguish them and they are all equals in the grave a kind of pregnant statement especially because don quixote is going to finish this novel in the grave”
At an inn, Don Quixote mistakes the innkeeper for a noble aristocrat, the inn for a castle, and the women working there for ladies of quality, constructing a complete chivalric narrative around himself.
“in the first case he goes to an inn and there he meets uh some that that work in the inn but he thinks the innkeeper is a noble aristocrat he thinks that the inn is a castle and he thinks that the are ladies of quality who are here to you know help him out they're they're just part of the the general chivalric story that he's building around himself”
In the Mambrino's Helmet adventure, Don Quixote sees a knight wearing a legendary golden helmet while Sancho Panza sees a barber wearing a basin on his head to keep his hat dry; Don Quixote wins the combat and takes the basin, which he believes is the mythic helmet.
“now membrino's helmet is legendary in spanish tradition and it's a golden helmet and it has all kinds of mythological attachments or uh mythological stories attached to it it goes back in history a good way and don quixote is fortunate enough to see it it's on the head of a knight and that means of course personal combat they're riding across a field and don quixote sees a night wearing mambrino's helmet so what does he do he sally is fourth to engage in personal combat so that he can win the glory of defeating this knight and obtaining manbrino's helmet now unfortunately that's not what sancho ponza sees what sancho ponza sees is a barber wearing a basin on his head because it's raining and he doesn't want to get his new hat wet”
Don Quixote's transition to sanity coincides with a fatal fever—the 'fatal delirium of sanity' kills him, suggesting that his madness and idealism were essential to his life force and that sanity is equivalent to death for someone of his nature.
“it turns out that this sanity that is gradually approaching don quixote is also a sign of his death he gets a disease a fatal fever at the same time that he's becoming more sane and we might say almost that the fatal delirium of sanity is what kills don quixote the disease the fever is just an excuse when don quixote starts to become sane in our sense of the term when he no longer mythically inflates the world it's a sign that it's time for him to die that the real essence of him the imperishable idealist when that goes don quixote himself goes”
The first book of Don Quixote was meant to be read aloud and was an instant hit, though its plot is ponderous and elephantine, running over a thousand pages in English and full of digressions, pastoral scenes, and repetition that cry out for editorial revision.
“the novel itself is not structured with what we would call great care it was meant to be read aloud it was an instant hit immediately and it the the plot itself is ponderous and elephantine and seems to go on forever the version that's in english now is over a thousand pages and once at least the contemporary reader certainly gets the sense that this book cries out for an editor”
Sancho Panza's fat donkey represents the realistic perspective: he sees it as a fat donkey and is right about that, but being right isn't everything.
“sancho ponza his squire the fat pedestrian prudent commonsensical sort of a man he rides a fat donkey and he thinks his fat donkey is a fat donkey and he's right but being right isn't everything and that's part of the message of don quixote”
Don Quixote says to a scholar that 'the sciences are very nice but poetry is essential,' which comments on the importance of imagination and imagination in the novel itself.
“don quixote says many wise and intelligent things and the gentleman thinks hey don quixote is mad and b don cutie is remarkably wise and intelligent for a lunatic and he says essentially that the sciences are very nice but poetry is essential and that harks back to the book itself”
The digression about Anselmo and Lothario illustrates a deep symbolic truth: those who demand empirical sensory evidence and are skeptical of the good intentions of those they should trust thereby cause the very problems they fear—suggesting that empirical evidence is the least reliable basis for understanding human relationships.
“anselmo and lothario are very close friends and and selma has gotten married but he doesn't trust his wife's fidelity he thinks that it's possible that she may be unfaithful to him he doesn't really know...he says to his friend luthario...i want you to try and seduce my wife...if you succeed if she exceeds to your request then i know she's unfaithful to me...well anselmo comes home the wife tells what transpired but he's still not convinced he says go try it again...lothario becomes enamored of his friend's wife and...the wife becomes enamored of lothario so they end up having sex”
A stampede of cattle runs over Don Quixote and Sancho, scattering their horses—a pivotal moment because Don Quixote correctly identifies them as cattle rather than dragons, signaling his loss of imaginative faculty and approaching death.
“in the first case there's a stampede of cattle and the cattle come and run over don quixote and sancho ponza and scatter their horse and mule and the problem here is that don quixote understands that the cattle are cattle all would be well with the world if don quixote thought that the cattle were dragons but if these cattle are understood by don quixote as being cattle it means that there's something wrong with the don that he's somehow failing he's coming to the end of the story and the end of his life”
In the second volume, friends of Don Quixote disguise themselves and send a pseudo-knight called the Knight of Mirrors to defeat him in battle, aiming to convince him to abandon knight-errantry and return home—but Don Quixote defeats the Knight of Mirrors, illustrating that his victories often cause him more difficulty than defeats.
“his friends of course have been conspiring because they know that don quixote is mad have been conspiring to bring him back home and keep him at home but they don't know how to do it so they're going to try and convince him to within the limitations of his delusions that the right thing to do is to go home and live a quiet peaceable life so they dress up and disguise themselves as so many of the characters in don quixote do and they try and do and send out a pseudo knight which is actually one of their friends to defeat don quixote in this case the night's name is the knight of mirrors and the knight of mirrors fights a battle with don quixote but unfortunately for all involved dantiote wins”
Don Quixote undermines our experience of futility in the world by showing that although many of our aspirations are dashed, there is still a sort of spiritual grandeur attached to them—despite all our failings, our strivings are ennobling.
“what don quixote does is he undermines our experience of futility in the world by pointing out that although many of our aspirations are dashed there is still a sort of spiritual grandeur attached to them nonetheless and despite all our failings our strivings and noble us and that is an important part of life”
In the episode of the Knight of the Lions, Don Quixote confronts a captured lion being brought to the king, demands the cage be opened, and declares his intention to fight the lion; the lion yawns and goes back to sleep, yet no one has grounds to doubt Don Quixote's courage since he would fight if he could.
“he encounters a lion being brought to the king who has been captured and i don't know for the king's amusement or something like that and he chases the wagoneer off the wagon and he says open the gate of that cage that the lion is held in bring the lion out i will fight the lion...well they open the gate and the lion just sits there a kind of an anticlimax which is by itself very funny the lion isn't interested it kind of yawns goes back to sleep it's not interested in jumping out of the cage and certainly doesn't want to fight don quixote although he doesn't actually fight the lion there is no one who has any good grounds for believing that don quixote is not a courageous man he would fight the lion if he could”
Don Quixote renounces reading romances, declaring them bad and urging that no one should read them, and wishes his story to serve as a cautionary tale about the bad effects of bad literature.
“i'm going to forswear reading romances i think romances are bad we should give up on those and no one should read them anymore let my story be a cautionary tale about the bad effects of bad literature”
When Don Quixote dies, his spirit lives on in Sancho Panza, who becomes his spiritual heir—as Sancho increasingly adopts idealistic qualities, Don Quixote's body may die but his spirit of heroism and imagination is transferred to the squire.
“don quixote makes sancho ponza his heir and sancho and all his friends and gather around his deathbed in one of the most pathetic and moving scenes in all of literature and don quixote says i'm not reading any more romances...sancho ponza is don quixote's heir in more than one sense he's an heir in the financial sense but he's also the spiritual heir of don quixote as the second book progressed we saw sancho ponza become progressively more heroic progressively more admirable and progressively less realistic...sancho ponza says to don quixote look donkey you're not going to die don't tell me that you're going to give up idealism...no no let's deny death...let's instead go out and become knight and squire once again...clearly don quixote is dying but sancho ponza is becoming don quixote or rather he is absorbing the spirit of don quixote”
Don Quixote's essential goodness transcends his lunacy and foolishness; he maintains a fundamental integrity of character despite his madness, never being evil even when his actions cause harm unintentionally.
“even though he is mad he is never evil as a matter of fact part of his nobility comes from the fact that in laboring against impossible odds and imaginary beings he is he maintains a sort of integrity at the core of his character that transcends all his lunacy and all his foolishness”
The innkeeper agrees to dub Don Quixote a knight just to get rid of him; Don Quixote plans to meditate all night but causes so many problems that the innkeeper cuts the meditation short to just two hours and sends him away.
“after causing all kinds of difficulties within the inn he asks the innkeeper if he would be willing to dub him night and the innkeeper clearly thinks that that don quixote is mad and doesn't know quite what to do but decides the only way to get rid of him is say fine i'll dub unite so in keeping with the medieval tradition he intends to stay up all night meditating deeply holding on to his armor preparing for the ritual in the morning when he is going to be dubbed but he causes so many problems that the young keeper says look two hours meditation is enough come here i'm going to dub your night”
One critical book counted 697 minor characters in Don Quixote, and of these, at least 300 appear in disguise or Don Quixote mistakes them for what they're not, illustrating how idiomatic his interpretations of reality are.
“one of the books of criticism that i read actually counted the characters because some critics are very very compulsive in that respect and i've been incredibly informed that there are 697 minor characters in this book it may well be the case and i will take that at face value there are a great many minor characters most of which just serve to give don quixote something to fight against or be beaten up by or otherwise to further the plot along as people they're really not especially important on the other hand the disjunction between appearance and reality plays a very important role in the interaction between don quixote and these 700 or so characters i would say of these 697 minor characters at least 300 of them appear in disguise”
Don Quixote makes Sancho Panza his heir and gathers with his friends on his deathbed in one of the most pathetic and moving scenes in all of literature.
“he makes sancho ponza his heir and sancho and all his friends and gather around his deathbed in one of the most pathetic and moving scenes in all of literature”