Comedy in Don Quixote
Q.2 Wherein lies the comedy in part one of Don Quixote?
The story Don Quixote is a burlesque, mock epic of the romances of chivalry, in which Cervantes teaches the reader the truth by creating laughter that ridicules. Through the protagonist, he succeeds in satirizing Spain’s obsession with the noble knights as being absurdly old fashioned. The dynamics of the comedy in this story are simple, Don Quixote believes the romances he has read and strives to live them out, and it is his actions and the situations that he finds himself in during his adventures that make the reader laugh. We can define comedy as something that entertains the reader and that makes us want to laugh out loud and Cervantes succeeds in doing this through his use of parody and satire and burlesque, slapstick and simple self-reflexive comedy. To keep the reader entertained, he also uses the shock of the unexpected and creates intervals of lucidity interspersed with insanity in Don Quixote’s character. Cervantes places particular emphasis on the comedy of appearance, comedy of situation and the comedy of action during Don Quixote’s adventures and it is the use of these devices that makes the story so humorous from beginning to end.
The theme of appearance has a very important role from the onset of this story as Cervantes uses it to create a burlesque of chivalry, while also entertaining the reader. The physical appearances of Don Quixote and his horse Rocinante, along with Don Quixote’s outlook on the banal places he encounters during his adventures continuously create grounds for laughter. The description of Don Quixote’s armor makes us laugh - he has altered his helmet by using cardboard as a visor “de cartones hizo un modo de media celada”
This makeshift helmet, which is held together by green ribbons, is ridiculed by Cervantes when Don Quixote refuses to take it off all night at the inn in order to keep it intact “la más graciosa y estraña figura que se pudiera
The story Don Quixote is a burlesque, mock epic of the romances of chivalry, in which Cervantes teaches the reader the truth by creating laughter that ridicules. Through the protagonist, he succeeds in satirizing Spain’s obsession with the noble knights as being absurdly old fashioned. The dynamics of the comedy in this story are simple, Don Quixote believes the romances he has read and strives to live them out, and it is his actions and the situations that he finds himself in during his adventures that make the reader laugh. We can define comedy as something that entertains the reader and that makes us want to laugh out loud and Cervantes succeeds in doing this through his use of parody and satire and burlesque, slapstick and simple self-reflexive comedy. To keep the reader entertained, he also uses the shock of the unexpected and creates intervals of lucidity interspersed with insanity in Don Quixote’s character. Cervantes places particular emphasis on the comedy of appearance, comedy of situation and the comedy of action during Don Quixote’s adventures and it is the use of these devices that makes the story so humorous from beginning to end.
The theme of appearance has a very important role from the onset of this story as Cervantes uses it to create a burlesque of chivalry, while also entertaining the reader. The physical appearances of Don Quixote and his horse Rocinante, along with Don Quixote’s outlook on the banal places he encounters during his adventures continuously create grounds for laughter. The description of Don Quixote’s armor makes us laugh - he has altered his helmet by using cardboard as a visor “de cartones hizo un modo de media celada”
This makeshift helmet, which is held together by green ribbons, is ridiculed by Cervantes when Don Quixote refuses to take it off all night at the inn in order to keep it intact “la más graciosa y estraña figura que se pudiera
Bibliography: John Jay Allen: Don Quijote de la Mancha I (Madrid:Catedra, 2004). --------------------------------------------