Don Quixote Hero or Fool Essay example - 1035 Words

During the Middle Ages, medieval romances were popular among popular among aristocrats from the start of Early Modern Europe. However, in the 1600s, these stories of chivalry and knighthood were no longer popular. In The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha, author Miguel de Cervantes attempts to satirize the medieval romance through his character, Don Quixote. The tale tells the story of a man who loses his sanity out of his desire to become a real-life knight. This story was highly acclaimed for the time; even though it poked fun at the main character and medieval romances in general, it brought back the ideals of this genre. The legacy of Don Quixote continues with Joe Darion’s songs from the 1965 musical Man of La Mancha.†¦show more content†¦The mocking tone continues to tease Quixote when the character decides that he will not only become and knight in reality, but will also change his name to â€Å"Don Quixote†- which means â€Å"Sir Thigh Pieceâ € . The already degrading tone because even more blunt when Quixote decides to use his â€Å"ingenuity† to refurbish an undeveloped helmet: â€Å"†¦he was ingenious enough, however, to overcome this problem, constructing out of cardboard something resembling a visor and face-guard which, once inserted into the steel cap, gave it the appearance of a full helmet†(Cervantes 827). Stating that Quixote’s cleverness only allowed him to construct the helmet with pasteboard is a rather direct insult the character. This again proves how foolhardy, naà ¯ve, and how much of a foil Quixote is to the traditional admired knight in medieval romances. The parody continues in chapter eight, when Quixote and his friend Sancho Panza (who he appoints as his squire) go on an adventure together. Quixote states that he must slay the monstrous giants that stand before them, but there are only windmills in front of him. Panza attempts to convey this obvious fact to him, but t he ignorant Quixote refuses to listen and instead hints that Panza may be acting out of cowardice: â€Å"â€Å"It is perfectly clear,† replied Don Quixote, â€Å"that you are but a raw novice in this matter of adventures. They are giants; and if you are frightened, you can take yourself away and say yourShow MoreRelatedUse Of Don Quixote De La Mancha By Miguel De Cervantes1324 Words   |  6 PagesDaniela Dicheva Professor Salena Fehnel ENG 106 08/19/2014 The Character of Don Quixote De La Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes A writer, no matter how great, no matter how brilliant his work, does not exhaust the literary wealth of a nation in a given era, but with all your heritage or just one of his work, he can score the highest peaks of the literature. Based on merit and dignity Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra takes the first place in the literature of the Spanish Renaissance, because most profoundRead More Don Quixote Essay466 Words   |  2 Pages Don Quixote Don Quixote is a fool in many respects. His speech is ridiculous, his ideas are hopelessly out of date, and he has lost touch with reality. Yet readers admire him and know immediately he is the hero of the story. All the things which make him a fool, however unbelievable as it may be, add to his heroic appearance and lets the reader know where Quixote is coming from. Along with this, his foolish nature adds a sense of artlessness and purity, very heroic aspects. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;DonRead MoreSummarys on Don Quixote, Othello, Paradise Lost and Popol Vuh1818 Words   |  8 PagesSummarys on Don Quixote, Othello, Paradise Lost and Popol Vuh Fools and tricksters are very closely related and are used simultaneously in poetry and other literary works. A fool can be described as one who is deficient in judgment, sense, or understanding and also can be someone who acts unwisely on a given occasion. A trickster is defined as someone that swindles or plays tricks. Often a trickster is a mischievous or roguish figure in myth or folklore.(Websters Online Dictionary) Fools and tricksterRead More##sanity And Reality In Don Quixote By Miguel De Cervantes893 Words   |  4 Pagesdistinction being ideals. A novel that heavily delves into this topic is Don Quixote, written Miguel de Cervantes. First published in 1605, this novel has remained a prevalent novel because of the timeless concepts it presents and the powerful imagery it produces to entrance the readers in following the journey of the title character. In one way or another, this novel can be considered the most truthful tale of an adventure of a hero. In this novel, the author attempts are to make the readers questionRead More Don Quixote de la Mancha Essay5548 Words   |  23 PagesTwo lost tales concerning the valiant knight Don Quixote de la Mancha and other such interesting things Prologue After reading for the first time the true history of The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha, originally scribed by the brilliant Arab historian Cide Hamete Benengeli, I was captivated by it and somehow began to relate it to all that happened to me in my daily life, wondering how our famous hero would interpret these things in my life and what I might learn from his good senseRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s A Midsummer Night s Dream1752 Words   |  8 Pagesâ€Å"Lord, what fools these mortals be!†Ã¢â‚¬Å"The world is a tragedy to those who feel, but a comedy to those who think.† â€Å"A tragedy is a tragedy, and at the bottom, all tragedies are stupid. Give me a choice and I ll take A Midsummer Night s Dream over Hamlet every time. Any fool with steady hands and a working set of lungs can build up a house of cards and then blow it down, but it takes a genius to make people laugh.† The combination of William Shakespeare, Horace Walpole,and Steven King runRead MoreAn Analysis of the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as a Picaresque Tale2155 Words   |  9 PagesAn Analysis of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as a Picaresque Tale A picaresque novel is based on a story that is typically satirical and illustrates with realistic and witty detail the adventures of a roguish hero of lower social standing who lives by their common sense in a corrupt society. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, is an eminent example of picaresque literature. There are many aspects of the novel that portray picaresque through the history and personality of the mainRead Morewisdom,humor and faith19596 Words   |  79 Pageslaughter is just as admissible in great literature, posing universal problems, as seriousness. Certain essential aspects of the universe are accessible only to laughter.†10 Bakhtin includes the Frenchman Rabelais, the Spaniard Cervantes (author of Don Quixote), and the Englishman Shakespeare as the three great writers of this early era when humor often reflected wisdom. He also mentions the Dutchman Erasmus’s In Praise of Folly (1509) as â€Å"one of the greatest creations of carnival la ughter in world literature