Don Quixote: Themes, Characters, and Literary Innovation

Intent and Meaning of Don Quixote

Cervantes' main purpose was parody, which is why Don Quixote was read as a comic book during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. However, starting with Romanticism, other qualities of the protagonist were highlighted: his courtly love, yearning for freedom, and pursuit of justice. Consequently, the novel came to represent a defense of high ideals.

Furthermore, Don Quixote is a portrait of the society of its time. Cervantes portrays the beginning of the decline of Spanish political power. It is also a work of literary criticism and theory.

Language and Stylistic Techniques

Regarding the narrative development, Cervantes starts with the literary device of a found manuscript, a trick that allows for the use of successive narrators. He also employs novel techniques that establish Don Quixote as the first modern novel:

• Counterpoint: The simultaneous movement of two actions that are developed without regard to linear time.
• Perspectivism: The inclusion of views from various characters on the same issue, offering different impressions.
• Metanarrative: The novel speaks about the act of narration within the narrative itself.
• Intertextuality: Through comparison with other literary texts, the work facilitates parody, literary criticism, and self-analysis.

Major Themes in Don Quixote

• Parody of Chivalric Novels: The chivalric novel is the primary subject of parody. Cervantes critiques these books for their poor imagination and literary quality.
• Courtly Love: The theme of love is approached from the perspective of courtly love.
• Literary Criticism: The novel offers a critique of authors, works, and trends of the time. This can be seen in reflections on comedy, showing Cervantes' disagreement with the dramatic ideas of Lope de Vega.
• Existential Struggle: The conflict between human ideals and reality is a central theme.
• Arms vs. Letters: The debate over the superiority of a life of military action versus a life of scholarly pursuits, a prominent theme throughout the Renaissance.
• Humor: Humor arises from ingenuity, parody, and burlesque elements.

Key Characters and Their Dynamics

• Don Quixote: A modest gentleman from a village in La Mancha, Alonso Quijano, who is driven mad by reading books of chivalry and decides to become a knight-errant. Outside of his folly, he shows wisdom and exhibits precise views on diverse subjects.
• Sancho Panza: The squire who accompanies the knight. His characteristics include being simple, rustic, pragmatic, and loyal.

A key feature of the characters is the transfer of traits from one to another, leading to what is known as the Quixotization of Sancho and the Sanchification of Don Quixote.