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Setting
Definition of Simile
A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two unlike things. To make the comparison, similes most often use the connecting words "like" or "as," but can also... read full definition
A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two unlike things. To make the comparison, similes most often use the connecting words "like... read full definition
A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two unlike things. To make the comparison, similes most often... read full definition
Part 1, Chapter 4
Explanation and Analysis—Carloto and Baldwin:
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 [...]
Previously, Don Quixote challenged a group of merchants and was beaten by one until he could no longer move. Unsure of how he should respond to this predicament, he now turns, as he often does, to “some passage from his books.” Here, he thinks about a popular ballad in which Carloto defeats Baldwin, nephew of the Marquis of Mantua, leaving him “wounded in the forest.” Carloto and other members of Charlemagne's family were frequent subjects in chivalric literature concerning the history of France. This allusion reflects Don Quixote’s reliance upon chivalric literature, which he uses as a template for navigating his own life despite the fact that it offers only impractical solutions.
Related Themes:
Part 1, Chapter 5
Explanation and Analysis—Like Heretics:
After Don Quixote, injured and exhausted, returns from his first attempt to seek adventure, his family and loved ones gather together in his home to care for him and find a solution to his apparent “madness.” After agreeing that his books have had a negative effect on his mental health, they decide to burn them. Don Quixote’s niece uses a simile that compares the books to “heretics” and the priest, following from her rhetoric, uses a series of metaphors drawn from religion and law:
‘I’m the one to blame for it all, not telling you gentlemen about my uncle’s madness so you could have done something about it and burned those unchristian books of his before it came to all this; he’s got lots and lots of them, and they do deserve to be put to the flames, like heretics.’
‘I agree with that,’ said the priest, ‘and I swear that before another day has passed they’ll be put on public trial and condemned to the flames so that they can’t make anyone reading them do what my friend must have done.’
Don Quixote’s niece describes the “unchristian books,” in a simile, as being “like heretics” insofar as she believes they should be burned at the stake, a typical punishment for religious heresy in early modern Europe. The priest, who agrees that the books should be burned, metaphorically suggests that they should be put on “public trial and condemned to the flames,” again invoking both the law and religion and figuring the burning of the books as a sort of legal punishment. Later, they sort through Don Quixote’s library to find those books they regard as responsible for his erratic behavior.
Related Themes:
Part 1, Chapter 7
Explanation and Analysis—Like a Patriarch:
In an ironic simile, the narrator compares Sancho Panza to a “patriarch” when he and Don Quixote first set off on their adventure:
Don Quixote stocked up with shirts and everything else he could, following the advice that the innkeeper had given him; and [...] without Panza saying goodbye to his wife and children, or Don Quixote to his housekeeper and niece, they left the village unseen one night, and by daybreak they’d ridden so far they felt certain no one would be able to find them however hard he looked. Sancho Panza rode his ass like a patriarch, complete with saddle-bags and leather bottle, longing to be the governor of the island his master had promised him.
Without telling others, even Sancho’s wife and children, the two leave their village “unseen” in search of glory and renown. Sancho, the narrator notes, “rode his ass like a patriarch, complete with saddle-bags and leather bottle.” In this simile, the narrator compares Sancho to a biblical patriarch, one of several figures such as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, whom the Bible presents as fathers of the Israelites. Just as the patriarchs, in many biblical stories, travel through the desert on beasts of burden to lead their people, Sancho is well-equipped for a long journey. However, there is also a clear sense of irony in this simile, as Sancho is a humble, working class man who rides a donkey rather than a horse. Sancho, then, has started to comport himself in a more grand manner in anticipation of someday being the governor of an island, as “promised” by Don Quixote.
Related Themes:
Part 1, Chapter 8
Explanation and Analysis—Like the Sabbath :
Cervantes employs verbal irony and a simile in a scene in which Don Quixote forbids Sanch Panzo from aiding him if he is engaged in combat with another knight, as he claims that it is forbidden in the rules of chivalry for a commoner to attack a knight:
‘You can be sure, sir,’ replied Sancho, ‘of being fully obeyed there [...] Though I do have to say that when it comes to defending myself I’m not going to take much notice of those there laws of yours, because divine and human justice both let anyone defend himself against attack.’
‘I do not disagree in the slightest,’ replied Don Quixote, ‘but as regards assisting me against knights, you must keep your natural impetuosity under control.’
‘I’ll do that all right,’ replied Sancho. ‘I’ll keep that particular promise as strictly as the Sabbath.’
Here, Sancho’s remarks are suffused with verbal irony as he presents himself as obedient to the rules of chivalry when, in fact, he has no desire to fight against knights anyway. Throughout the novel, he demonstrates a fear of danger and a clear sense of self-preservation, unlike the bold and reckless Quixote. Sarcastically, he vows to “keep that particular promise as strictly as the Sabbath.” His religious simile suggests that he regards it a serious duty to follow the dictates of chivalry, just as a Christian is expected to observe a day of rest on Sunday. There is some ironic humor in this simile, as Sancho is not particularly pious and does not otherwise observe the Sabbath in the novel.
Part 1, Chapter 33
Explanation and Analysis—A Chaste Woman:
After rejecting his friend Anselmo’s plan to test his wife’s virtue, Lotario uses a series of similes and metaphors to describe female virtue:
The pure, chaste woman is an ermine, and the virtue of chastity is whiter and purer than snow, and the man who wants her not to lose it, but on the contrary to keep and preserve it, shouldn’t do as huntsmen do with ermine [...] A good woman is also like a mirror of clear, shining glass, but any breath that touches this mirror will cloud and dim it. She should be treated like a holy relic, adored but not touched. She should be guarded and prized like a beautiful garden full of roses and other flowers [...]
Here, Lotario uses a series of conventional metaphors, first describing a “pure, chaste woman” as an “ermine,” a small, white, weasel-like mammal. In early modern Europe, it was believed that an ermine would rather be caught by a hunter than dirty its white fur with mud, and so ermine traditionally represented purity and virtue. Next, he describes a “good woman” as a “mirror of clear shining glass." Any “breath that touches the mirror,” he warns, will “cloud and dim it.” Additionally, he notes, in a simile, that a woman should be treated “like a holy relic” that is “adored but not touched.” Last, he characterizes a woman as a “beautiful garden” that strangers are barred from entering. These metaphors and similes reflect the highly traditional and misogynistic perception of Lotario, who believes that a woman is only valuable if she is kept away from other men, whose attention might sully her virtue. Though he praises female virtue and chastity, he nevertheless suggests that these values are easily tarnished.
Part 1, Chapter 52
Explanation and Analysis—Like Pouring Gunpowder:
While Don Quixote is fighting a goatherd in an inn, they are interrupted by the sound of trumpets. Putting a temporary pause on their fight, Quixote goes outside and sees a group of penitents carrying an image of the Virgin Mary and praying for rain. Mistaking the image for that of a real woman and believing that she has been kidnapped, Quixote threatens the penitents, and when they respond with laughter, the narrator uses a simile that compares their laughter to gunpowder:
‘I shall say it all in one word,’ replied Don Quixote, ‘and it is this: you must at this very instant set free that beautiful lady, whose tears and sorrowful face are clear proof that you are bearing her off against her will and that you have done her some very great mischief’ [...] These words made all those who heard them realize that Don Quixote must be some madman, and they burst into hearty laughter, which was like pouring gunpowder on to the fire of Don Quixote’s wrath: without another word he drew his sword and charged at the platform.
When Quixote vows to protect "that beautiful lady," which is actually a religion icon, the worshippers believe that he is "some madman" and burst into "hearty laughter." Unfortunately, as the narrator notes, this laughter was "like pouring gunpowder on to the fire of Don Quixote's wrath" and he launches into an attack. Through this simile, the narrator suggests that Quixote is particularly sensitive to laughter. Earlier in the same chapter, his fight with the goatherd was similarly provoked by mockery. Ultimately, Quixote is savagely beaten by one of the penitents.
Related Themes:
Part 2, Chapter 64
Explanation and Analysis—Like Smoke:
In a climactic moment in the novel, a man identifying himself only as the Knight of the White Moon challenges Quixote to a duel. If Quixote loses, he must return home and give up adventuring for a year. With his faster horse, the Knight of the White Moon, later identified as the student Sansón Carrasco, swiftly knocks Quixote off Rocinante, leaving him in a weakend state. Describing Sancho's disillusionment, the narrator uses a simile that compares their shared hopes and dreams to smoke:
Don Quixote was hauled to his feet and his face was uncovered, colourless and sweating. Rocinante was in such a sorry state that he couldn’t move. Sancho, in the depths of despondency, had no idea what to say or do: he fancied it was all a dream or something worked by magic. Here was his master, defeated and forbidden to take up arms for a whole year; and he saw the light of the glory of his master’s exploits dimmed, all the hopes of his latest promises wafted away like smoke before the wind.
The loss is an embarrassing one for Quixote. He is conclusively defeated and forced to retire from his role as a knight errant for a year. Surprisingly, Sancho is just as strongly affected by Quixote's loss, feeling as though "it was all a dream or something worked by magic." The narrator notes that, in the cold light of this defeat, Sancho sees "all the hopes" of Quixote's "latest promises" disappear "like smoke before the wind." Just as Sancho had truly begun to believe in Quixote's fantasies, their shared vision of an improbable future vanishes, leaving him in a despondent state.
