The Many Attributes of Don Quixote

The Many Attributes of Don Quixote In the story of Don Quixote, written by Miguel de Cervantes, a vivid picture is painted of a mentally unstable man on a journey, in his mind, that is very real and full of heroic adventures. This popular piece of literature was written to mock and satirize chivalry from the medieval time period. Don Quixote and his travel partner, Sancho Panza, are very different in their ways of thinking. While Quixote is free-spirited and full of unrealistic fantasies, Sancho is a character with common sense and a stable mindset. As the story develops, Sancho becomes Quixote’s trusted friend with out the judgment that others bring upon Quixote. As the layers of Don Quixote’s character are unfolded, readers are introduced to his many attributes: from his physical appearance to his eccentric personality traits and determination for adventure. Quejana, who later gives himself the name Don Quixote, is frail, skinny man in his fifties. In reality Don is a hunter living on farmland in the village of La Mancha. He shares his home with a housekeeper, a farmhand, and his niece. Quixote lives a simple life occupying time with his passion for reading, his favorite being books based on chivalry, knighthood of medieval times, and stories of romance. The majority of his time was spent deeply engrossed in these books that Don Quixote soon dismisses his former life as a hunter, and becomes obsessed with the thought of being a knight himself (Cervantes, 1182). “Finally, from so little sleeping and so much reading, his brain dried up and he went completely out of his mind.” (Cervantes, 1183) As his whole life is fixated on plans on becoming a knight, Quixote put a plan in motion to concoct his own suit of armor. His body armor was made up of heirloom scrap pieces left to him by his great-grandfather. As he polished and shined up the old pieces to the best of his ability, he realized he was lacking a very important part of the armor; a helmet. With excellent creativity, he produced a helmet of cardboard. When attached it to the remnants, it resembled a complete headpiece. After days of trial and error of testing out his equipment, Don was content with the overall suit of armor. His outfit was complete. Don Quixote was considered, by the author and among other characters in the story to be insane (LeBlanc, 58). He struggles throughout the story to differentiate reality and fiction. In Quixote’s eyes the trials and adventures he was facing were very real, while in fact he was seeing things that were simply not there. For example, when Don Quixote set out on his journey for the first time, he came to an inn for rest, but “it at once became a castle with four turrets and its pinnacles of gleaming silver, not to speak of the drawbridge and moat and all the other things that are commonly supposed to go with a castle.” (Cervantes, 1188) These visions occur all throughout the story. Society saw a very different image of Don Quixote than he imagined himself to be. In fact, he was not actually a knight; however, in his eyes this self-image was tremendously real. Don Quixote was a determined and eager character. His determination begins with selling many acres of his land and estate to acquire more books to read. Determination continues as he works diligently to produce a proper suit of armor and prepare for his adventures to come. “Don Quixote’s determination to revive the code of chivalry and the theories of Romanticism are very real throughout this story.”(LeBlanc, 63) Quixote eagerly tries to teach lessons to his partner and squire, Sancho, while setting out for adventures to make wrongs right. Don Quixote’s imagination is one full of life and creativity. Some have compared this grown man’s thoughts to the imagination of a child, in the ways he lets it run wild and becomes fully engrossed in his beliefs. The love interest in this story, Aldonza Lorenzo, a neighbor of Don Quixote was given the title “mistress of this thoughts”. In his eyes, this woman was the love of his life. She was given the name Dulcinea del Toboso, and the fact that her character never truly arises in this story explains Quixote’s free imagination even further (Cervantes, 1186). Was it madness or pure imagination that led Don Quixote to believe he was a true night of the medieval times? The characters Quixote and Sancho come in contact with throughout the story seem to give in to Don’s enthusiastic beliefs and play along with him. Was this because they wanted to poke fun or encourage this wacky behavior, or did they feel sorry for him? The innkeeper for instance, fell into the trap of getting caught up in the planning of the ceremonial dubbing. It is through the many quest for adventures in this story, Don Quixote’s character is revealed. He was always in search of an adventure to conquer, and in his mind that is what he did. In reality, sometimes he caused more harm than good. On the journey back home to prepare more extensively, Don Quixote found himself in the woods witnessing a boy being beat by his farm master. In the eyes of Quixote, this was his first effort to right a wrong; instead, he was sending the boy home with the farmer leading the reader to believe that he will just be beaten more (Cervantes, 1198). Later in the story, Sancho and Quixote are traveling along the pair find themselves staring at a number of windmills. ” He turned to his squire, and said, ”Fortune is guiding our affairs better than we could have wished; for you see there before you, friend Sancho Pansza, some thirty or more lawless giants with whom I mean to do battle.””(Cervantes, 1208) At first, Panza tried to make some sort of logical reason with Quixote, but soon figured out it did no good. The windmills ripped and shredded Don’s sword and left him and his horse rolling down a hill resulting in ultimate failure. This did not discourage Don Quixote to keep moving forward and finding his next quest to conquer.