Don Quixote of La Mancha

Cervantes was the fourth child born of seven to a father, Rodrigo de Cervantes, who was a surgeon and a mother of minor nobility, Leonor de Cortinas (Miguel 2003). CervantesÆ father routinely moved from town to town looking for employment. The young Cervantes studied in Madrid before serving in Rome under Guilio Acquavita, who later became a cardinal. Though CervantesÆ family was distinguished, they eventually came to know hard times. In 1570 Cervantes joined a Spanish regiment in Napes and participated in the naval Battle of Lapardo in the Spanish war against the Ottomans. Cervantes took great pride in his participation in the victory at Lapardo, earning a nickname of ôEl manco de Lepardoö (the cripple of Lapardo) because of a wound that permanently maimed his left hand, (Miguel 2003, 1).

On his return to Spain in 1575, Cervantes was kidnapped by pirates along with his brother Rodrigo. Both of the Cervantes were enslaved in Algiers. Two years later Rodrigo would be ransomed but Miguel w

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One of the biggest ironies is that Don Quixote believes in an epic destiny for himself. The problem is that Don QuixoteÆs travels to fulfill this destiny often equate to aimless wandering. We see this illustrated at various points in the novel. Once he kills a caged lion and earns the hospitality of Don Diego, Don Quixote claims his ultimate destination is Zaragoza. Despite this being his professed true destination, Don QuixoteÆs route leads him astray and he never makes it to Zaragoza. We see this inability to pursue his destiny in a linear fashion elsewhere in the novel. Don Quixote attends a puppet show narrated by Maese Pedro. When the narrator stops the show to include remarks on Muslim jurisprudence, he is chastised by Don Quixote who admonishes him to follow a straight path. As MacPhail (1995) argues, ôHere the very champion of digression and interruption condemns anotherÆs digression in the name of the unity of action, figured by the straight line, that proves so elusive in his own life,ö (292). While the central purpose or goal of Cervantes in Don Quixote was to ridicule and parody the romances of chivalry whose popularity had been enormous in the sixteenth century, the novel is more than a satire on the contemp
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Approximate Word count = 2058
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)

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