themes of cervantes don quixote Essay -- essays research papers

Themes of Cervantes’ Don Quixote Miguel de Cervantes’ greatest work, The Ingenious Gentleman, Don Quixote De La Mancha, is a unique book of multiple dimensions. From the moment of its creation, it has amused readers, and its influence has vastly extended in literature throughout the world. Don Quixote is a county gentleman disillusioned by his reading of chivalric romances, who rides forth to defend the oppressed and to right wrongs. Cervantes presented the knight-errant so vividly that many languages have borrowed the name of the hero as the common term to designate a person inspired by magnificent and impractical ideals.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Cervantes’ theme throughout the novel is consistent and straightforward. Despite the lengthy digressions and numerous episodic adventures, the theme of the novel is clear- the values of the Golden Age have been lost over the centuries and must be restored for the good of society. Before the fall of man when the earth was still a paradise, Don Quixote explained to some goatherds, â€Å"all things were held in common, and to gain [man’s] daily sustenance no labor was required of any man save to reach forth his hand and take it from the sturdy oaks that stood liberally inviting him with their sweet and seasoned fruit (134),† making it needless to steal, cheat or lie. He went on, â€Å"fraud, deceit, malice had not yet come to mingle with truth and plain-speaking.† Because the world is no longer in such a state, however, â€Å"the order of knigh...