Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas
explored in a literary work.
Perspective and Narration
Don Quixote, which is composed
of three different sections, is a rich exploration of the possibilities
of narration. The first of these sections, comprising the chapter
covering Don Quixote’s first expedition, functions chiefly as a
parody of contemporary romance tales. The second section, comprising
the rest of the First Part, is written under the guise of a history,
plodding along in historical fashion and breaking up chapters episodically,
carefully documenting every day’s events. The third section, which
covers the Second Part of the novel, is different since it is written
as a more traditional novel, organized by emotional and thematic
content and filled with character development. Cervantes alone reports
the story in the first section, using a straightforward narrative
style. In the second section, Cervantes informs us that he is translating
the manuscript of Cide Hamete Benengeli and often interrupts the
narration to mention Benengeli and the internal inconsistencies
in Benengeli’s manuscript. Here, Cervantes uses Benengeli primarily
to reinforce his claim that the story is a true history.
In the third section, however, Cervantes enters the novel
as a character—as a composite of Benengeli and Cervantes the author. The
characters themselves, aware of the books that have been written
about them, try to alter the content of subsequent editions. This complicated
and self-referential narrative structure leaves us somewhat disoriented,
unable to tell which plotlines are internal to the story and which
are factual. This disorientation engrosses us directly in the story
and emphasizes the question of sanity that arises throughout the
novel. If someone as mad as Don Quixote can write his own story,
we wonder what would prevent us from doing the same. Cervantes gives
us many reasons to doubt him in the second section. In the third
section, however, when we are aware of another allegedly false version
of the novel and a second Don Quixote, we lose all our footing and
have no choice but to abandon ourselves to the story and trust Cervantes.
However, having already given us reasons to distrust him, Cervantes
forces us to question fundamental principles of narration, just
as Quixote forces his contemporaries to question their lifestyles
and principles. In this way, the form of the novel mirrors its function,
creating a universe in which Cervantes entertains and instructs
us, manipulating our preconceptions to force us to examine them
more closely.
Incompatible Systems of Morality
Don Quixote tries to be a flesh-and-blood example of a
knight-errant in an attempt to force his contemporaries to face
their own failure to maintain the old system of morality, the chivalric
code. This conflict between the old and the new reaches an absolute impasse:
no one understands Don Quixote, and he understands no one. Only
the simple-minded Sancho, with both self-motivated desires and a
basic understanding of morality, can mediate between Don Quixote
and the rest of the world. Sancho often subscribes to the morals
of his day but then surprises us by demonstrating a belief in the
anachronistic morals of chivalry as well.
In the First Part of the novel, we see the impasse between
Don Quixote and those around him. Don Quixote cannot, for instance, identify
with the priest’s rational perspective and objectives, and Don Quixote’s
belief in enchantment appears ridiculous to the priest. Toward the
end of the Second Part, however, Cervantes compromises between these
two seemingly incompatible systems of morality, allowing Don Quixote’s
imaginary world and the commonplace world of the Duke and the Duchess
to infiltrate each other. As the two worlds begin to mix, we start
to see the advantages and disadvantages of each. Sancho ultimately
prevails, subscribing to his timeless aphorisms and ascetic discipline
on the one hand and using his rational abilities to adapt to the
present on the other.
The Distinction between Class and Worth
Distinguishing between a person’s class and a person’s
worth was a fairly radical idea in Cervantes’s time. In Don
Quixote, Cervantes attacks the conventional notion that
aristocrats are automatically respectable and noble. The contrast
between the Duke and Duchess’s thoughtless malice and Sancho’s anxiety-ridden
compassion highlights this problem of class. Despite his low social
status, the peasant Sancho is wise and thoughtful. Likewise, the
lowly goatherds and shepherds often appear as philosophers. In contrast,
the cosmopolitan or aristocratic characters like the Duke and Duchess are
often frivolous and unkind. Cervantes’s emphasis on these disparities
between class and worth is a primary reason that Don Quixote was
such a revolutionary work in its time.
