Sociocultural Relevance of 'Don Quixote' the Novel Term Paper

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Sociocultural Relevance of 'Don Quixote'

The novel "Don Quixote" discusses the adventures of Don Quixote, whose true name is Alonso Quixano. As Don Quixote, Alonso Quixano pursued his adventures of rescuing "princesses in distress" and in helping out the peasants and poor people of La Mancha. However, what is remarkable in the novel's story is that instead of princesses, Don Quixote manages to save women that are far from the image of a princess, and he even sometimes helps people who are actually outlaws and thieves, which is actually a contradiction of his own concept of chivalry. In effect, Don Quixote is the anti-thesis of the usual image of chivalrous knights, and this is actually a point made by Cervantes, that is, that the common notion of chivalry and image of "knights in shining armor" are hardly the case in reality. Apart from this criticism of the romanticized, detached view of the world, Cervantes also gives a criticism of the social reality in the European society, particularly in the Spanish society, wherein social stratification is high, and there is a clear distinction between the higher and the lower classes of the society.

One good example of such criticism can be found in Chapters 69-71 of the Second Volume of "Don Quixote.

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" In the said chapters, Don Quixote and his sidekick Sancho Panza arrive at the court of the Duke and Duchess and bear witness to the funeral of Altisidora. Altisidora is said to be a female servant of the royal couple who loved Don Quixote so much, but this love was never reciprocated by Don Quixote, who loves Dulcinea (his imagined lover) so much. The Duke and Duchess declare that Altisidora will be spared from death, that is, she will live again, if and only if Don Quixote will allow Sancho Panza to be slapped and pricked by the Duchess' female servants. Because of the great responsibility that was given to him, and amazed of the fact that Sancho Panza has the power to return the dead from the living again, he consented to the Duchess and Duke's appeal after conferring and pleading with Sancho. However, all that had occurred in the Duke and Duchess' court was only a deception and was conceived by the royal couple to fool and make fun of both Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. After the 'required….....

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