Don Quixote

In the Prologue, Cervantes makes multiple allusions to key figures in philosophy and theology in order to satirize the authors of his own day. Noting that his own book, Don Quixote, has no “marginalia or endnotes,” he writes:

I’m coming out with a book as dry as esparto grass, [...] without any marginalia or endnotes, unlike other books I see that, even though they are fictional and not about religious subjects, are so crammed with maxims from Aristotle, Plato and the whole herd of philosophers that they amaze their readers, who consider the authors to be well-read, erudite and eloquent men? And when they quote the Holy Scriptures! Anyone would take them for no less than so many St Thomases and other doctors of the Church. 

Cite this Quote

Cervantes parodies numerous other authors, such as Feliciano de Silva, who wrote within the chivalric literary tradition that is satirized extensively throughout Don Quixote. When describing Don Quixote’s tastes in literature, for example, the narrator states that: 

[He] liked none of them so much as those by the famous Feliciano de Silva, because the brilliance of the prose and all that intricate language seemed a treasure to him, never more so than when he was reading those amorous compliments and challenges delivered by letter, in which he often found: ‘The reason for the unreason to which my reason is subjected, so weakens my reason that I have reason to complain of your beauty.’

Cite this Quote

Cervantes employs verbal irony and numerous allusions in a scene in which an innkeeper decides to “humour” Don Quixote after recognizing that the knight isn’t “in his right mind”:

The innkeeper, who, as I’ve said, was something of a wag, and had already suspected that his guest wasn’t in his right mind [...] decided to humour him; so he said that he was quite right to pursue these objectives [...] and that he himself in his younger days had followed the same honourable profession, roaming through different parts of the world in search of adventure, without omitting to visit such districts as Percheles and Islas de Riarán in Malaga, Compás in Seville, Azoguejo in Segovia, Olivera in Valencia, Rondilla in Granada, Playa in Sanlúcar, Potro in Cordova and Ventillas in Toledo. 

Cite this Quote

The novel contains countless allusions to popular literature of Cervantes’s day, reflecting Don Quixote’s tendency to turn to fiction, especially stories concerning knights and heroes, as a guide for his own conduct. In one notable example, Don Quixote alludes to Carloto, son of the emperor Charlemagne in many legends, after he is beaten by a traveling merchant: 

Finding, then, that he couldn’t move, it occurred to him to resort to his usual remedy, which was to think about some passage from his books; and his madness brought to his memory the episode from the story of Baldwin and the Marquis of Mantua in which Carloto leaves Baldwin wounded in the forest, a tale known to every little boy, not unfamiliar to youths, celebrated and even believed by old men [...] 

Cite this Quote

Cervantes uses an extended metaphor and numerous allusions in a comic scene in which the members of Don Quixote’s household put the books of his library on trial, condemning many of them to the flames in order to weaken their influence on him. In one passage, they examine The Four Books of Amadis of Gaul after Don Quixote’s niece recommends burning all of the books without further examination: 

The housekeeper said much the same, so anxious were both women to see those innocents massacred, but the priest wouldn’t agree without at least reading the titles. The first one that Master Nicolás put into his hands was The Four Books of Amadis of Gaul, and the priest said: ‘This is a strange coincidence: I’ve heard that this was the very first chivalry romance to be printed in Spain [...] so it seems to me that, as the prophet of such a pernicious sect, it should be condemned to the flames without delay.’ 

Cite this Quote

In a moment in the novel that exemplifies Cervantes’s playful treatment of fact and fiction, he alludes to himself and to his own writing. While combing through Don Quixote’s library, the priest asks about a book that the barber identifies as Galatea: 

‘But what’s this other one by its side?’ 

‘Galatea, by Miguel de Cervantes.’ 

‘That fellow Cervantes has been a good friend of mine for years, and I know he’s more conversant with adversity than with verse. His book’s ingenious enough; it sets out to achieve something but doesn’t bring anything to a conclusion; we’ll have to wait for the promised second part; maybe with correction it’ll gain the full pardon denied it for the time being; so while we wait and see, you keep it a captive in your house, my friend.’

Cite this Quote

In a lengthy speech delivered to a group of perplexed but kind goatherds, Don Quixote employs allegory and allusion in order to describe the relative peace and prosperity of the so-called Golden Age: 

Justice kept within her own bounds, and favour and interest, which now depreciate, confound and persecute her, did not dare assail or disturb her. As yet the judge could not make his whim the measure of the law, because there was nothing to judge and nobody to be judged. Maidens and modesty roamed, as I have said, wherever they wished, alone and mistresses of themselves, without fear of harm from others’ intemperance and lewd designs [...] And now, in these detestable times of ours, no maiden is safe, even if she is hidden away in the depths of another Cretan labyrinth. 

Cite this Quote

In a heavily satirical scene in which Don Quixote, the priest, and the barber debate about politics, Cervantes alludes to historical and mythological figures associated with statecraft and governance: 

And as the conversation developed they came to the subject that is sometimes called reason of state and methods of government, and they all corrected this abuse and condemned that one, and reformed one custom and forbad another, and each of the three men turned into a new legislator, a present-day Lycurgus or a modern Solon; and they subjected society to such radical reforms that anyone would have thought they’d taken it to a forge and brought away a different one  [...]

Cite this Quote

In Part 2 of the novel, Sancho Panza presents Don Quixote with some surprising news: though many people regard him as mad, his adventures have become the subject of a popular book and Quixote is now quite famous. Quixote receives this news ambivalently, unsure of whether he should be flattered or insulted. Sancho fetches a young college student named Sansón Carrasco to tell them more about the book, and in the course of their conversation, Quixote alludes to various heroes from epic poetry: 

‘For all that,’ the young graduate replied, ‘some of those who’ve read the history say that they’d have been happier if its authors had overlooked some of the countless beatings that Don Quixote received in various confrontations.’ 

‘That’s where the truth of the history comes in,’ said Sancho. 

‘But they could, in all fairness, have kept quiet about them,’ said Don Quixote [...] 'I am sure that Aeneas was not as pious as Virgil depicts him, nor was Ulysses as prudent as Homer says.’

Cite this Quote

In Part 2 of the novel, Don Quixote and Sancho Panza learn of a spurious sequel to the book written about their exploits, written by a man named Avellaneda from Tordesillas, which contains many inaccuracies. Cervantes, then, alludes to a real book, published under the pseudonym Avellaneda, which falsely claimed to be a sequel to Part 1 of Cervantes's own Don Quixote. In an inn, they meet a man named Don Tarfe who claims to have met Quixote and Sancho. When the man, unaware that he is speaking to the real Sancho, claims that Sancho is not as funny in real life as he is in the book, Sancho responds with hyperbole: 

I’m the real Sancho Panza, and I’m so funny it’s as if fun had rained down on me from heaven, and if you don’t believe me just give me a try, and follow me around for a year or so, and you’ll see how the fun gushes out of me at every turn, so much of it and such high quality that even though most of the time I don’t know what I’m saying I make everyone listening to me laugh.

Cite this Quote

In the closing lines of the novel, Cervantes alludes to Homer when describing the death of Don Quixote: 

This was the end of the Ingenious Hidalgo of La Mancha, the name of whose village Cide Hamete couldn’t quite recall, so that all the towns and villages of La Mancha could fight among themselves for the right to adopt him and make him their own son, just as the seven cities of Greece contended for Homer. The lamentations of Sancho, the niece and the housekeeper are omitted from this account, as are the fresh epitaphs that were placed upon his tomb [...]

Cite this Quote