An Analysis of Cervantes’ Exemplary Novels and Don Quixote
The Exemplary Novels
The Exemplary Novels are a collection of twelve short stories by Miguel de Cervantes. Each story focuses on one or more characters through which Cervantes explores various life lessons and experiences, with love as a central theme. The novels can be categorized into three groups:
Love as a Catalyst for Growth
Novels like The Gypsy Girl, The Generous Lover, The Spanish English Lady, The Force of Blood, and The Illustrious Scullery Maid exemplify this theme. For instance, The Gypsy Girl portrays the love between Juan de Cárcamo, a nobleman, and Preciosa, a gypsy girl. Preciosa demands that Cárcamo prove his love by leaving his family and joining her tribe, which he accepts. They live according to Romani customs until Preciosa’s true identity is revealed – she is the daughter of a mayor who was kidnapped as a child. Ultimately, they marry.
Love and the Necessity of Marriage
The Two Damsels and Lady Cornelia fall under this category, where women pursue men who have left them.
Love as a Mere Episode
In novels like Rinconete and Cortadillo, The Lawyer of Glass, The Jealous Extremaduran, The Deceitful Marriage, and The Dialogue of the Dogs, love and marriage take a backseat to other plot elements. For example, Rinconete and Cortadillo follows two young rogues who travel to Seville and join a guild of thieves led by Monipodio, who has institutionalized thievery as an art form.
El Quixote
Cervantes’ most celebrated work, The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha, was written as a satire of chivalric romances. It was published in two parts.
Plot Summary
Part One
An aging man named Alonso Quijano, driven mad by reading too many chivalric novels, decides to become a knight-errant in the real world. He adopts the name Don Quixote, chooses Dulcinea as his lady love, and sets off on his old horse Rocinante. His first adventure involves being”knighte” at an inn he mistakes for a castle. The innkeeper and other patrons humor him, but ultimately send him home. He then enlists the help of a local peasant, Sancho Panza, as his squire. Don Quixote’s second outing is filled with misadventures, and his neighbors eventually bring him home. The first part ends with the promise of a third departure.
This part is structured as a series of adventures loosely connected by the presence of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. The plot is episodic, with frequent interruptions and interpolated stories from various genres like pastoral, Byzantine, and Moorish.
Part Two
Don Quixote embarks on his third adventure. Sancho’s desire to be governor of an island is fulfilled as a prank by a duke and duchess. Eventually, they tire of the charade and return home. Don Quixote is defeated in a duel by the Knight of the White Moon (actually Samson Carrasco in disguise) and returns home disillusioned. He recovers his sanity but dies shortly after.
Themes
- Utopia and Reality: The conflict between Don Quixote’s desire to live out his fantasies and the reality of the world around him.
- Justice: Don Quixote’s chivalric code compels him to fight for justice, however misguided his attempts may be.
- Love: Don Quixote’s idealized notion of love is embodied in Dulcinea, a woman he has constructed in his imagination.
- Literature: The novel is replete with literary allusions and critiques of the chivalric genre.
Characters
Don Quixote features a large cast of characters, but two stand out:
- Don Quixote: A complex character who is both foolish and wise. He represents the duality of human nature, capable of both great idealism and profound delusion. His madness gradually diminishes throughout the novel, and he eventually regains his sanity.
- Sancho Panza: Don Quixote’s pragmatic and down-to-earth squire. He provides a foil to Don Quixote’s idealism, but their relationship evolves into a deep friendship. Sancho undergoes a transformation as well, becoming increasingly”quixoti” in his thinking.
Style
Don Quixote exhibits a Mannerist style, blending Renaissance simplicity with Baroque complexity. Cervantes masterfully employs various stylistic techniques, including:
- Narrative Perspectivism: Cervantes presents himself as the editor of a manuscript purportedly written by a fictional Arab historian named Cide Hamete Benengeli. This technique, known as manuscript fiction, adds a layer of realism to the story.
- Irony and Parody: Cervantes constantly undermines the conventions of chivalric romances through irony and parody.
- Dialogue: Much of the novel’s action and character development unfolds through dialogue.
Don Quixote and the Creation of the Modern Novel
Don Quixote is the beginning of the novel genre. Cervantes’s work presents new structural and formal:
– Realism or verisimilitude: the work involves the creation of a universe like real and away from the idealization.
– Non-heroic protagonist, there are no heroes, but characters with misery and greatness.
– Evolution of the figures: the novelistic characters are forged in the eyes of the reader.
– Clashes between the individual and society: the novel puts us between desire and reality.
– Internal consistency of the story: Cervantes manages to integrate all the narrative elements surrounding Don Quixote, which gives coherence and unity.
– Narrative dialogue: the action progresses through dialogue of the characters.