Essay - The Sociocultural Relevance of 'Don Quixote' the Novel 'Don Quixote'...

The Sociocultural Relevance of 'Don Quixote'

The novel "Don Quixote" discusses the adventures of Don *****, whose true name is Alonso Quixano. As Don Quixote, Alonso ***** pursued h***** adventures of rescuing "princesses in distress" and ***** helping out ***** peasants ***** poor people of La Mancha. However, what is remarkable in the novel's story ***** that instead of princesses, Don Quixote manages to save women that are far from the image of a princess, *****nd he even sometimes helps people who are actually outlaws and thieves, which is ***** a contradiction of his own concept of chivalry. In effect, Don Quixote is the anti-thesis of the usual image ***** chivalrous knights, and t***** is actually a point made by Cervantes, that is, that the common notion of ***** and image ***** "knights in sh*****ing armor" are hardly the case in reality. Apart from this criticism of the romanticized, detached view of ***** world, Cervantes also gives a ***** ***** the social ***** in the European society, particularly in the Spanish society, wherein ***** stratification is high, ***** *****re ***** a clear distinction between the higher and the lower classes of ***** *****.

***** good example of such criticism can be found in Chapters 69-71 of the Second Volume ***** "Don *****." In the said chapters, Don Quixote and his sidekick Sancho Panza arrive at ***** court of the Duke and Duchess and bear witness to the funeral ***** Altisidora. ***** is said ***** be a fem*****le servant of the royal couple ***** loved Don Quixote so much, but t***** love was never reciproca*****ed by Don *****, who loves Dulcinea (his imagined lover) so much. The ***** and ***** declare ***** Altisidora will be spared ***** death, that is, she will live again, if ***** only ***** ***** Quixote will allow ***** Panza to ***** slapped and pricked by ***** Duchess' female *****s. Because of the great responsibility ***** ***** given to him, and amazed of ***** fact that Sancho Panza has the power ***** return the dead from the living again, he consented to ***** Duchess and Duke's appeal after conferring ***** pleading with *****. *****, all that had occurred in the Duke and Duchess' court was ***** a deception and ***** conceived by the royal couple to fool and make fun of both Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. After the 'required punishment' was made to Sancho, ***** miraculously was brought back to life, illustrating the truth that ***** ***** been alive after all.

The Duke and ***** deception of Don Quixote and ***** Panza shows us the dichotomy between the higher (***** royal *****) and the lower (***** Quixote and Sancho) class in their society. The fact that the royal couple ********** the two men into thinking ***** they are the cause of Altisidora's death and they ***** bring her back to life only emphasizes that the royal couple (and in *****, the hig***** class) think ***** lower class people like Sancho ***** Alonso (Quixano) can be easily