An Esssay on Miguel De Cervantes Don Quixote
By Jacqueline Cepparo
In this essay we will look at the psychology behind Cervantes masterpiece Don Quixote, and the use of imagination as a theme in the book. This essay is for students of pyschology as well as world literature, this essay is created mainly to analyze the character of Don Quixote, and his pysche.
Let us begin with the humble origins of Cervantes’ hero, who in the beginning of the book is commonly known as Alonso Quixano the good to his neighbors and those who know him and love him. Alonso Quixano is the everyday man of early 17th century Spain. Cervantes tells us he was once fond of the hunt, hence his pet greyhound, which is an old dog, and underweight like his master. The author goes on to tell us that his diet is simple, and rather paltry. He is an older gentleman of about 50 years of age. He lives with a housekeeper, and his neice, whom we learn later on is named Antonia. Tall, lean, and trying to keep his dignity like many a poor Hidalgo during that time, he has a major eccentricty that worries his niece and housekeeper, and also the town curate and barber who come to visit him for intellectual discussions. This eccentricity is his obsession with chivalry books. Remember that obsessions are never looked upon favorably, and we will take a closer look at that as well. Master Alonso has sold many valuable acres of land to stock up on books containing fictitious events involving knights, ladies, dragons and damsels in distress, as well as enchantments and many other absurdities.
The Term Paper on Don Quixote Cervantes Book Knight
... the reason behind Don Quixote s hilarious exploits. In Part II of the book Cervantes produces humour through the actions of Don Quixote and Sancho on ... a ridiculous equivalent protagonist for his own book. Instead of being a young, handsome knight, Alonso Quixano is an old man who ... whether it is a product of his sane alter-ego, Alonso Quixano (PII, cap 22) In addition to these complications in ...
He locks himself in his study, and ignores the real world around him for this particular pleasure. Already, we get the idea from the author that this man has a problem with percieving reality. That “problem” is built to a climax when our good Alonso Quixano the farmer and something of a family man ( though he has never been married) decides to become ‘Don Quixote’. The chivalric obsessions clearly have driven this man mad. So, dressing himself in rusty armour, and mounting his decrepit horse, whom he renames Rocinante, he sets out in search for adventures. Every day life can be an adventure, if we perceive it that way, and the book Don Quixote is all about perception. What Alonso Quixano has set out to do, is imitate the books of chivalry that suppossedly had taken place long before his current time. He lives in hot, dusty, dry, plain, La Mancha Spain, a landscape that has very little romance…a desert if you will, dotted with a few homes, olive trees, safron farms, and windmills. ( At least this is the “perception” Cervantes gives us)
Now, let us just speculate what the the outcome would be with different intentions on the part of Alonso ( or Don Quixote, as he now calls himself) What if he just got out of bed one day, without the chivalry obsession , and said to himself “ You know what, I am going to ride my horse to a part of La Mancha I had never been before, just to see what it would be like.” And there, without the high ideals and lofty language, he meets similar people to ones he will encounter whilst under the influence of his fantasy? How would that change his perception, and in so doing, the reader’s perception of the book?
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