The image of Don Quixote: a manifestation of the best intentions and aspirations of a person

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Life is exactly as funny as the novel about Don Quixote is ironic. No, really - how else to explain the mass of misunderstandings that occurred with this work? The eternal image of Don Quixote excites the minds even now, in the 21st century. What is the secret why a person who has done so many fatal stupidities becomes a model of humanism? Let's try to figure it out.

What is the sad story about

Written purely as a satire and parody, the work becomes the most important novel of its age; everyone reads it as a deep philosophical parable. The hero, whom Cervantes conceived as an absurd, but still negative character, becomes a model of a dreamer, revolutionary, altruist; it contains all dreamers and easy-going people, including the author himself, who filled Don Quixote with all the features that he found in himself. The protagonist's companion, his best friend, Sancho, a dirty peasant dreaming of we alth, turns into a symbol of the people and their endlesswisdom.

So, the middle-aged nobleman Alonso Quejano lives in his estate. He spends all his free time reading chivalric novels, although the institution of chivalry disappeared a hundred years ago. At some point, he realizes that he is ready to give his life for all the ideals that he encountered in the books. He decides to become a knight.

Kehano finds a horse (as old a wreck as he is) - Rocinante, gets a sane, but dreaming of money squire named Sancho Panza. The knight finds the lady of the heart and, calling himself the sonorous "Don Quixote", sets off to accomplish his deeds.

But these feats are ridiculous and full of madness: a battle with giant windmills, an attack on ghost monks, "rescuing" a girl from her own servants - "evil robbers".

Despite Sancho's coined title, "Don Quixote, Knight of the Sorrowful Image," travelers become but objects of ridicule. The main intrigues are being built by the student Samson Carrasco. In the second third of the novel, he was defeated by our hero in a duel, which the villain himself created as an evil setting. This hurt the young man's pride so much that now he dreams of revenge.

Student urges the nobility to put on a play in front of Don Quixote - they have fun, and justice to him. Having gone through a thousand humiliations, imperceptible to himself, at the court the Knight of the Sad Image (by that time already the Knight of Lions) fights with the Knight of the Moon - and loses. The armor of the winner is on Samson. He demands from Don Quixoterenounce your wanderings and travels.

As a result, the old man quietly dies in bed. He knows that he has done stupid things - but he is sure that he is still a good person, that the image of Don Quixote is a bright spot in a dark world. By that time, not only he thinks so, but also the weeping servants, led by the faithful squire Sancho.

Change of attitudes

The image of Don Quixote in Cervantes' novel was originally humorous. The writer himself spoke of creating a counterbalance to that "high", pseudo-pompous literature that flooded the bookshelves of his contemporaries.

That's why he tried to make his novel as base and mundane as possible, the so-called "picaresque". And that's how it was originally perceived. The characterization of the image of Don Quixote was given unambiguous - all of Spain laughed at the novel.

However, over time, after the death of Cervantes, a new interpretation of the image was born in people's heads. And the German romantics are to blame for this, who found in the wandering knight a symbol of their entire philosophy. For them, Don Quixote has become a darting dreamy soul in a world of dirty realism.

It was this thought that, being filled, developed in the world and further. And now Turgenev puts Don Quixote on a par with Hamlet, praising his desire to fight in the name of an idea.

Already in the XX century, the discussion about the Knight of the Sad Image continues. Not only philosophers and writers want to speak about the problem of his relationship with the world, but also psychologists, who find many interesting things in “quixoticism.”

And still withevery year Don Quixote is losing its comedy and enthusiasm before our eyes, turning more and more into a tragic and misunderstood figure.

Influence on world literature

Don Quixote is an eternal image in literature, and this is the main achievement of Cervantes. Unwittingly, he gave the world that very ridiculous eccentric that was so needed. It is to Cervantes that we owe the "savages" in the books of the Enlightenment, when separation from society or a different view was no longer considered negative. By the way, it was the image of Don Quixote that served as inspiration for Dostoevsky when working on The Idiot.

But no less important is the merit of Cervantes as a writer who brought the novel into the literary world in the format in which we now know it. Thanks to him, the book became a work with a long history, many lines and strong changes in the lives of the characters.

Eternal Wanderer

First, it is worth considering the most superficial symbolic option - the image of Don Quixote as the idea of an eternal traveller. This is a person whose life should be connected with the road. There is simply no other way out. And what is most interesting, this person grows out of a "bookworm".

And he does not lie to himself and is not deceived. For him, hardships and problems on the way are true happiness. And Don Quixote himself notices this, focusing on it. He is even happy with adversity, because the same was in chivalric novels.

Inner romantic

What do romantics see when they read the masterpiece "Don Quixote"? Analysis of the workbegins with a discussion about how much the main character coincides with their inner world. Indeed, for them, the image of a knight in itself is an integral part of philosophy. And here the "hero of the sword and shield" is also rejected, not understood, expelled from society.

What romantic would not raise this image to his flag! After all, each of them is sure that the world of dreams is truly real, and one’s own fantasy mixed with feelings should be put above anything else. Don Quixote's struggle is a spit in the face of reality - cruel, dirty and rude; it is a battle with windmills for the common good. This is a war lost in advance, but one should be inspired by the fact that the Knight of the Sad Image died happy!

Man of Power

However, the eternal image of Don Quixote lies not only in romance and wanderings, not only in these two tender features of a person. After all, the issue can be approached from the other side, if you see strength in the hero of Cervantes.

Yes, yes, in this weak and old dreamer. In the middle of him lives infinite courage, and this is perhaps the main thing that Don Quixote learned from chivalric novels. Remember, at least once he whined, moaned, exclaimed? From the stories of the nobility of wandering warriors, Don Quixote took the most important.

And even if his ideals are wrong, and even if he is mentally ill, the image of Don Quixote will forever be shrouded in masculinity and strength, an unshakable will to fight for his ideals. He is also a revolutionary who knows how to fight to the end in the name of hislifestyle.

Freedom above all else

An important theme in the novel was found by the Europeans of the Enlightenment. For them, the problems of the work sparkled with new colors.

The fact is that the philosophers and writers of that time did not put anything higher than freedom. For them, it was the main value, the main criterion for assessing happiness. Moreover, as is evident from the name of the time period itself, they were obliged to dispose of freedom in the framework of obtaining new knowledge.

It goes without saying that through this prism they looked at Don Quixote. The eternally wandering knight, seeking the truth and not constrained by any framework, was literally a godsend for them. He was immediately declared to be dying for the right to express a man of freedom, who is opposed by a stupid and incomprehensible society.

Despite the fact that it was during the Enlightenment that the image of the hero (Don Quixote) was shrouded in an aura of tragedy and detachment, yet then he was still perceived as a comedic character. And if you understand the relationship between the knight and the squire Sancho, you can find an even deeper and more interesting theory.

Clash of soul and mind

However, the image of the hero would be incomplete without his faithful friend, who, as you know, every great literary character should have. Here, squire Sancho Panza gives a fresh perspective on the wandering lunatic.

Together they create a dualistic symbol of soul and mind. Sancho's rationalism, it would seem, should have severely hit the sensual Don Quixote. However, in reality, they create a strong alliance of true friends. Why does Cervantes give both symbols in this way, when inlife we meet with the cruel enmity of the soul and mind?

And the main secret is this - both sides are independent here. No, not from each other, not at all - they are distant from the opinions of people around. Don Quixote and Sancho live in their own world, where together they are in harmony.

This is where the Enlightenment thinkers found their interest. For them, the idea of the mutual coexistence of mind and soul was the solution to many philosophical problems. And in ordinary life, they cannot be in harmony precisely because of the shackles of external factors.

Antagonism of Samson Carrasco

If you want to know what a person is like, you don't have to look at his friends. Much more will your enemies tell you. And here the image of Carrasco fully describes Don Quixote. The malevolent, vindictive, and mocking student looks even lower than he actually is in contrast to the Knight of the Sorrowful Image.

His desire to harm the protagonist, his disgusting character emphasize for us the nobility of Don Quixote. Indeed, in the end, Samson himself flirts in the proposed circumstances and becomes a kind of dark reflection of the protagonist. After all, it is in the form of the Knight of the Moon that he defeats Don Quixote, thereby … recognizing his victory. That the only way to defeat a madman is by his own rules.

Looking like a religious figure

Of course, such an ambiguous character could not but find a religious interpretation. The image of Don Quixote in the novel by Cervantes certainly did not initially suggest such a reading, but over time they began to see himmartyr and saint. It would seem, for what? However, such statements are really not far from the truth, because the holy fools (saints who did not obey church dogmas) could well become the prototype of the wandering knight.

However, the Spaniards, where Cervantes' novel comes from, go even further - they compare the protagonist, Don Quixote, with the protagonist of the New Testament. In the Knight of the Sorrowful Image, they see the mercy and self-sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Whether this is true is a very controversial issue, but, of course, you can find parallels.

Conclusion

What's most important about Don Quixote is how deep the image of the protagonist is. All versions of his reading are correct and laid down in the text from the very beginning. Everyone will see in him what he wants to see.

A separate article could be written for each of these versions. And what to say - already wrote a lot. However, in any case, the image of Don Quixote is a manifestation of the best intentions and aspirations of a person. Each of them, albeit briefly, is described above.

We can only continue to analyze and think about the lifestyle of the last European knight. Was he just insane or…?