Don Quixote: The Misadventures
In the Medieval Period, noblemen known as knight-errants roamed the countryside of Europe, searching for adventure. They rescued damsels in distress and vanquished enchanters, witches, and evil lords. The novel Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra takes place in this magical time. Don Quixote, formerly Quixana, loved to read books of chivalry. In fact, he was not a don at all. He was a wealthy, intelligent farmer who read too many books about knight-errantry and went crazy. Don Quixote felt he needed a sidekick, so he convinced a simple-minded peasant named Sancho to be his squire by promising him great wealth and a high position in society. Don Quixote is composed of the many "adventures" that this duo experienced. They believed that they were performing great acts of chivalry and great deeds, when they were actually two idiots running around the countryside causing chaos. However, Don Quixote also did many good things while on his misadventures. He was an idealist, which means he saw things as he wanted them to be. He spread his idea of idealism throughout the cynical world in which he lived. The Don's idealism affected people on both positive and negative ways, and he had the greatest impact on Sancho, Carde
On one of their adventures, Don Quixote and Sancho meet a boy who is being whipped by his master because he lost a sheep from the flock. Naturally, Don Quixote attempts to stop the whipping of the boy. The don challenges the farmer: "by the sun that shines on us I will pierce you through and through with this lance of mine"(p.29). The farmer agreed to let the boy, Andrew, go, and the don made him promise to pay Andrew immediately. Andrew was grateful and the don's idealism began to rub off on him. Don Quixote thought he could trust the farmer to honor his word, so he left. No sooner was Don Quixote out of earshot that the farmer tied Andrew up again and gave him the harshest beating of his life. Every bit of idealism in Andrew's mind disappeared. Later in the novel, Andrew finds Don Quixote and Sancho again and gave the don a piece of his mind. He told the don: "you, sir, are to blame, for if you had ridden on your own way, and not meddled in other folk's affairs, perhaps my master would have...let me go and paid me what he owed"(p. 158). In this example of idealism in a cynical world, Don Quixote was not successful in spreading his ideal; however, he did try, but did not do enough. While in the mountains of the Sierra Morena, Don Quixote and Sancho encounter Cardenio, an unfortunate soul who lost his ladylove and decided to live in the mountains as a hermit. When Cardenio first tell
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Approximate Word count = 948
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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