Cervantes and Don Quixote: Literary Analysis and Historical Context

Cervantes and the Printing of Don Quixote

We recently discovered a request in Cervantes's own hand, addressed to the authorities, in which he authorized the printing of Don Quixote. This discovery is significant for three reasons:

• It provides a new autograph of Cervantes.
• It reveals the title Cervantes himself conceived for his work: The Ingenious Gentleman of La Mancha.
• It offers a key to reading Don Quixote as a celebration of the pleasure of fiction.

Structure of the Quixote

The structure of the work is built upon two pillars: the observation of reality and the symbolic nature of madness, both directly influenced by the literature of the time.

Elements, Qualities, and Temperaments

The work reflects the medical knowledge of the era regarding the four humors:

• Fire: Hot, blood, sanguine, heart.
• Earth: Cold, black bile, melancholic, spleen.
• Air: Dry, yellow bile, choleric, liver.
• Water: Damp, phlegm, phlegmatic, brain.

The Entremés of the Romances

This work features a character named Bartolo who goes insane due to his passion for romances, which he attempts to revive in his madness. Cervantes was likely familiar with this piece, as the early adventures of Don Quixote clearly show the influence of these ballads.

Powers of the Soul

According to the period's psychology:

• Imagination: Receives images.
• Memory: Stores images.
• Fantasy: Refines and combines data from the imagination.
• Estimation: Distributes agreement or disagreement.

Don Quixote's madness is a disorder of the imagination and fantasy, causing reality to be transformed into the fantastic world of chivalric novels. His condition is described as a drying of the brain and a lesion of the imaginative faculty. Don Quixote corresponds to the choleric temperament, characterized as angry, proud, strong, outspoken, bold, righteous, resourceful, and subtle.

Madness as a Symbol of Justice

Erasmus of Rotterdam wrote In Praise of Folly, a satirical dialogue that critiques social reality through a character who personifies madness. Cervantes utilizes this same technique, using madness to provide a critical vision of reality, as seen in the speech on the Golden Age of arms and letters or the episode of the galley slaves.

Cervantes and Social Context

It is suspected that Cervantes may have been a converso (a descendant of New Christians). Jews were victims of social exclusion, which may explain why Cervantes remained marginalized, failing to secure official positions in the Indies or formal recognition. His fine irony may have been a response to a hostile society, and he frequently mocked the superstition of limpieza de sangre (purity of blood). Furthermore, his time in captivity led him to reflect deeply on freedom, a central theme throughout his work.