Cervantes' Masterpieces: Don Quixote and Exemplary Novels

Miguel de Cervantes' Exemplary Novels

Literary critics have classified the Exemplary Novels into two distinct groups: those with realistic characters, because they reproduce social scenes of the underworld, and those with an idealistic tone, reflecting a fictional and poetic mood.

• Realistic Novels: Rinconete y Cortadillo, The Fraudulent Marriage, The Jealous Extremadura, The Dialogue of the Dogs, The Licentiate, The Samurai, and The Illustrious Kitchen Maid.
• Idealistic Novels: The English Spanish, The Liberal Lover (El amante liberal), The Two Maids, The Power of Blood, and Mrs. Cornelia.

The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha

The novel Don Quixote tells the story of an old gentleman from La Mancha who loses his mind by reading books of chivalry and decides to become a knight-errant. With the help of Sancho Panza, he trudges along the roads to seek adventures. The narrative is divided into three outputs (expeditions):

The First Output

Don Quixote is made a knight in an inn that he mistakes for a castle. This exit ends with the beating given to him by some merchants. After that, he returns to the village where the priest requisitions his books and burns all those that seem harmful. He then sets out again with his squire, Sancho Panza.

The Second Output

Accompanied by Sancho, he begins his fictional adventures: the fight against some windmills, believing that they are giants, and the meeting with the goatherds. Don Quixote remains in Sierra Morena, but by sending a letter to his lady via Sancho, his whereabouts are discovered by the priest and the barber. He is brought back to his people in a cage.

The Third Output

After various adventures in which reality and fiction merge, Don Quixote and Sancho Panza travel through Aragon and come to the court of a Duke, who mocks the ambition of Sancho. Later, they go to Barcelona, where Don Quixote is overcome by the Knight of the White Moon, who is the bachelor Sanson Carrasco, one of Don Quixote's friends. After the defeat, he returns home and decides to become a pastor, taking as an example the characters of the pastoral novel. However, he afterwards falls sick, recovers his sanity, renounces the order of chivalry, and dies.

Key Differences Between the Two Parts

There is a key difference between the first part (outputs 1 and 2) and the second part (output 3) regarding the character's attitude toward reality. In the first part, Don Quixote is the one who creates and lives in a fantasy world. In the second part, Don Quixote perceives reality correctly, but it is the characters around him who create fantasies and make him doubt his madness to entertain themselves.