Chivalry is not dead
Don Quixote de la Mancha is a well-known Spanish literature that tells the story of a noble gentleman who has decided to become a traveling knight after being inspired by stories of chivalry. In this eBook, you will come to know the many funny yet educational adventures of Don Quixote and his squire as they serve the country while doing chivalric deeds.
Entering knighthood
The novel starts with the introduction of Don Quixote, who we will first come to know as Alonso Quixano. After being sleep-deprived for many nights from reading far too many books about chivalry, his brain is said to have dried up. In his crazed state, he marches off to a brothel and demands for the owner to give him his knighthood, believing that the establishment is a castle and the owner its lord. This marks the start of Don Quixote’s adventures as a newly dubbed knight. He hires Sancho Panza, a poor laborer who he has decided to take as his squire with the promise of making him a governor of a land someday. Together, they venture out on a journey and often put themselves in problematic situations because of Don Quixote’s rather odd and idealistic yet faulty perception of things. He has taken his readings about knights to heart and has based his actions on how these chivalrous men behave. The poor Sancho Panza suffers the brunt of Don Quixote’s actions almost every time. In one instance, Don Quixote refuses to pay the inn they stayed just like how the knights in his books opt to disappear without leaving. In turn, Sancho Panza gets tossed around by angry patrons of the inn and they are not able to leave the place for a while. However, all the trouble that they encounter is yet to discourage the iconic duo from stopping their journey to face reality.
A comedy with morals
Because Don Quixote is a delusional old man, they often land themselves in ridiculous situations that readers will no doubt find funny, not to mention the morals and other delusions that Don Quixote follows. While the themes of the story touch on societal pressures, politics, power, and ethics, it makes you analyze and question certain aspects in the story that will also make you realize certain things. What would you have done if you were in that particular, troublesome situation? What decisions would you make if you were in this character’s shoes? Don Quixote de La Mancha is a really good read because it offers more than just laughs.
