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Reality And Illusion In Miguel De Cervantes's Don Quixote

1081 Words5 Pages

Throughout Miguel de Cervantes novel, Don Quixote, there is a fine line between reality and illusion that seems to vanish portraying a prominent theme in the novel. Don Quixote de La Mancha, a fifty-year-old man, has an insane obsession in reading chivalry books; he is so absorbed in reading these books that he decides to become a knight-errant himself that will set off on adventures for his eternal glory. These books of chivalry have left Don Quixote so deep within his fantasy that there is no risk of him perceiving true reality. There are a plethora of examples where Don Quixote 's perceived reality is his idealistic fantasies. Cervantes expresses these complexities so much that we begin to notice the social criticism Don Quixote receives from people he encounters. Based on Don Quixote, fiction becomes the preferable reality and true reality itself becomes unnecessary. In this novel, fiction is the origin from where Don Quixote 's knightly characteristics derive from and the reason why he perceives the world differently from others. With chivalry books being the start of his knight errant ideas, he is molded into this delusional character who has an imaginative vision. For instance, Don Quixote’s first adventure lies in an Inn; however, “as soon as he saw the inn he took it for a castle with …show more content…

To add on, In the second book, the Duke and Duchess treat Don Quixote according to chivalric traditions, making Don Quixote feel certain that he is a true knight-errant. They both continuously spend so much time and effort rearranging activities and playing pranks on Don Quixote and Sancho to entertain themselves while also playing a part in making Don Quixote’s fantasy world real. The Duke and Duchess encourage Don Quixote in his fantasy by supporting his beliefs in Dulcinea’s enchantment as well as other illusions. Throughout the novel, many other characters also play along with Don Quixote’s notion of reality; this only makes them seem almost as insane as Don Quixote

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