Love in La Mancha

One of the most fascinating aspects of reading Don Quixote is the chance to take a journey into a different time. Much of the book is about love and it is very different from the way a love story (or stories) would be written today.

Although Don Quixote professes his love for Dulcinea, he is more in love with love than he is with the woman he has chosen to hold in his heart. But that aspect of his character could be unique to him rather than an indication of life in the sixteenth century.

But Cervantes has told a number of love stories in his novel and they all have common threads. For example, there is the story of Cardenio, Luscinda, Don Fernando, and Dorotea. These are people Don Quixote encounters while he and Sancho Panza are traveling about, seeking out adventures. Cardenio is engaged and in love with Luscinda, but Don Fernando tries to steal the fiancé away. The Don drops his own love, Dorotea, to do this. And Cardenio is so upset he ends up wandering in the wilderness dressed in rags.

What's interesting here is that Cardenio and Don Fernando both seem to fall in love with Luscinda due to her great beauty. This is common in the book. Beautiful women are wonderful, while plain women are not so worthy. I suppose this says a great deal about attitudes among men throughout history rather than just in the sixteenth century (at least in literature). I recently read Oral History by Lee Smith and that same assumption about women was in that book.

Women in Don Quixote seem to be more concerned with the marriage contract than they are with love. Don Fernando might have proven himself to be a cad, but Dorotea still wants to marry him. This happens throughout the book. If marriage has been promised the woman still wants it no matter how her fiancé’s attitude has changed or what character flaws he has demonstrated. Again, it would be nice to know how much of this is a literary device and how much is true to the times.

Don Quixote

I didn't read Don Quixote in school and I have always regretted that. So for quite awhile it has been a goal of mine to take on that huge book. I've tried reading it previously, but my busy life has always kept me from completing it. Now by combining reading a printed copy with listening to an MP3 version from Project Gutenberg, I'm well on my way to getting through. (I'm on page 668 of 891.)

My impression is that it is a fairly interesting book that could have used some serious editing. Every character who says anything seems to follow his comments with a dissertation on the reasons and moral implications of whatever he has just said. Yes, I'm fairly certain that Don Quixote is on more lists of best novels ever written than any other book. But I believe that opinion has come from people who have studied it rather than people who have just decided to read it. And that most of those people have taken it on in a classroom situation. There is no question that a discussion group improves the experience of reading because it changes it from passive to active. The story of Don Quixote also has the advantage of having been translated into other forms. The song "To Dream and Impossible Dream" is often in my mind as I'm reading the book. Of course, that might again be due to the challenge of its length.

When I'm listening in my car I often think how amazing it is that I'm hearing the thoughts of a man who lived in Spain in the sixteenth century and that for me to understand his thoughts they had to be translated from Spanish and eventually recorded in a digital form that will play on my MP3 player. That alone is awe inspiring.

The thing that surprised me the most about Cervantes' novel is that it is not entirely about Don Quixote. There are many stories within the larger story, although it constantly comes back to the man who attacks windmills and wineskins. There is a romantic aspect throughout the novel that is probably what has kept it alive for so many centuries.

Love is valued for its own sake. Don Quixote constantly talks of the wonderful attributes of his lady, Dulcinea, who hasn't appeared in the book yet. There are also other characters who have lost their ways because of impediments to the satisfaction of their loves. The story of Cardenio, Lucinda, Ferdinand, and Dorothea tells of arrogance and betrayal, but everyone eventually ends up with the lover they want. In a novel set in modern times the discovery that the man a woman loves has betrayed her would send her packing, but in this story Dorothea wants to be married to Ferdinand and the small fact that he dumped her for someone he considered to be better looking doesn't dissuade her.

I'm still not through with this novel (actually two books in one), so I'll probably be writing about it some more. It's been a wonderful experience so far. I should finish it up in a couple of weeks.