Don Quixote’s And Sancho Panza’s Perspective
During the Middle Ages, the ideals of honor and chivalry became dominant themes in literature. Stories about gallant knights and courtly love seized minds of medieval readers, and this obsession carried over into the Renaissance. Influence of these ideas is clearly seen in the Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes’ novel, Don Quixote. In his novel, Cervantes shows the idealistic character of Don Quixote, who is deluded by chivalric ideas of heroism and honor. Don Quixote wants to reform the world along with his faithful companion Sancho Panza. Through this use of characters Cervantes reveals the need for a proper balance between the extremes of idealism and rationalism. The novel itself is a parody of the chivalric novels where imagination faces harsh reality.
The main character of the novel, Don Quixote, is a middle-aged man, who having gone mad from reading too many books about chivalrous knights, determines to set off on a great adventure to win honor in the name of his beloved imaginable lady, Dulcinea. Being a simple peasant women, Dulcinea is unknown inspiration for all of Don Quixote’s exploits. Don Quixote is searching for love and beauty, but unfortunately, all his attempts to make world better do only harm to those he meets. Until his final illness, Don Quixote remains true to his chivalric conception of right and wrong. Even though his mind clears enough to see that the inns he sees are just inns, not the castles as he used to believe, and windmills are not the dragons as he previously imagined, he never stopped thinking that Dulcinea can save him from misfortune. More over, when he has to retire from knight-errantry, he accepts his retirement as the final part of his heroic journey. Despite his delusions, Don Quixote is intelligent and from time to time seemingly sane.
There is no analysis which could adequately explain the Don Quixote’s split between his madness and his common sense. Don Quixote’s character remains versatile throughout the whole story. Sometimes we see Don Quixote as a madman who does not really know what he is doing and what is going on around him, and he ignores the consequences of his disastrous actions. On the other hand, we can understand the Don Quixote character as a warning that even the most intelligent person can fall victim to his own foolishness.
Nevertheless, despite all his madness, he leaves absolutely positive impression. My personal attitude to Don Quixote is sympathetic, he is definitely charming character as his aim is to change the world, to make it better.
Of course, character of Don Quixote would be not as colorful as it is without his companion Sancho Panza. He is a simple peasant who follows Don Quixote out of greed and curiosity. Sancho lives somewhere in between Don Quixote’s imaginable world and the world of his contemporaries, he is able to co-exist in both of them. Sancho Panza represents the good and the bad features of the current era of chivalry, he has the negative side, but he also possesses the honorable features that the other sane characters largely lack. At the beginning of the novel Sancho appears like the contemporaries against whom Don Quixote rebels, he eventually becomes the character with the most varied perspective and the most wisdom, learning from the world around him thanks to his constant curiosity. Sancho observes and thinks about Don Quixote enabling us to judge him, he is a link that connects us with Don Quixote’s imaginary world. Sancho Panza is the hero who humanizes story, who brings humor and compassion as well as dignity and devotion. Though Sancho is ignorant, foolish, illiterate, and cowardly, ha also proves himself as a wise and compassionate, being a better companion than aristocratic and educated Duke. Through Sancho Panza Cervantes critiques the ill-conceived education of class and worth. Sancho gains confidence in himself and ability to solve problems despite his lower-class status. Sancho, as opposed to Don Quixote , usually symbolizes realism. This is most clearly shown when Sancho tells his master, “I sometimes think that all you tell me of knighthood, kingdoms, empires and islands is all windy blather and lies” (Book 1, Part 15). Sancho is also comic relief throughout the novel. He finally returns to his wife and kids at the end, after Quixote has resigned as a knight-errant.
It is often difficult to find the balance between idealism and reality. The struggle between imaginary world and real one is illustrated in Miguel de Cervantes’ novel, Don Quixote. Through the characters of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, Cervantes illustrates the challenges one faces while balancing between idealism and rationalism. His portrayal of Don Quixote’s foolishness in his knightly adventures also illustrates a kind of futility. Depicting both Quixote’s and Panza’s characters, Cervantes reveals that it is worthless to only adopt a single way of thinking. The two ends of idealism and rationalism must co-exist in person’s life, without this balance life is stale and fruitless. In the novel, Don Quixote and Sancho Panza are representatives of two worlds: real and imaginary, they create a perfect balance for each other.
Quixote’s code of knightly conduct is a life-changing belief, his life mission is to right the wrongs that have befallen his world. It shows that the knight-errant values his belief in moral justice over his personal pleasure or happiness. Only Don Quixote is able to remain constantly moral, while the world around him is constantly immoral.
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