Don Quixote Ch 19-27

As we did for Tuesday's class, please bring in your own analysis of two episodes which you find reflect either 1) themes we have already discussed in class or 2) new themes that you deem revolutionary/ important.

Throughout the novel, Don Quixote struggles with being able to view the world as it is. His intentions are good and he wants everyone to be equal, but he winds up causing more harm than good. He is so obssessed with his books and vision of knighthood that he cannot distinguish reality from his fantasy world in the books he reads. In Chapter 21 Sancho and Don Quixote see a person approaching them. Sancho says, "All I can make out is a bloke on a donkey, brown like mine, with something shiny on his head" (166). Don Quixote, on the other hand, sees a knight coming toward them on a dapple-grey steed and wearing a helmet of gold. Sancho laughs at Don Quixote when he says that he thinks it is a knight. In reality, the person coming towards them was a barber who put his brass basin on his head to prevent the rain from ruining his hat. Cervantes writes, "And this was what made Don Quixote think he saw a dapple-grey steed, and a knight, and a helmet of gold, because he was so ready to accomodate everything he saw to his delirious chivalry and his errant thoughts" (167). The funny part about this is that after he discovers that this person was just a barber, he then tells Sancho that the basin really is an enchanted helmet. He says, "I think this famous piece of this enchanted helmet must, by some strange accident have fallen into the hands of a person who did not understand or appreciate its value and, not knowing what he was doing, he must, on seeing, that it is made of the purest gold, have melted down the other half to sell it, and with the remaining half made this like a barber's basin" (168). Don Quixote steals the basin and wants to use it for chivalrous reasons.


One theme that we talked about in class was storytelling. We mentioned that storytelling is very important and we need fiction to survive. Storytelling is important because stories keep getting passed on and information is spread this way. It is also interesting because every individual has their own story to tell and share. In Chapter 24, the Ragged Knight of the Sorry Countenance, also known as Cardenio, tells Don Quixote and Sancho his story. I think Cardenio and Don Quixote are similar because they both act in rushed ways. Cervantes writes, "Cardenio was peering at Don Quixote: a fit of madness had come over him and he was in no state to continue his history, nor would Don Quixote have heard it even if he had, so enraged was he by those allegations about Madasima" (203). This relates to the theme of madness/insanity/obsession that we talked about. Cardenio and Don Quixote are alike in the fact that they overreact and are "mad" and obsessed with certain things to the point that they physically hurt people. Don Quixote says that it is for chivalrous reasons but sometimes he crosses the line. Cardenio attacks Don Quixote and Sancho tries to protect him and then Cardenio runs off.