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Style
Definition of Tone
The tone of a piece of writing is its general character or attitude, which might be cheerful or depressive, sarcastic or sincere, comical or mournful, praising or critical, and so on. For instance... read full definition
The tone of a piece of writing is its general character or attitude, which might be cheerful or depressive, sarcastic or sincere, comical or mournful, praising or critical... read full definition
The tone of a piece of writing is its general character or attitude, which might be cheerful or depressive, sarcastic or sincere, comical... read full definition
Part 1, Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis:
The tone of Don Quixote is highly ironic and satirical. Throughout the novel, Cervantes highlights the gap between Don Quixote’s expectations, which are based upon the chivalric literature he reads, and reality, contributing to the novel's ironic tone. This combination of irony and critique, characteristic of satire, is reflected in a passage in which the narrator provides context for Don Quixote's apparent madness:
In short, our hidalgo was soon so absorbed in these books that his nights were spent reading from dusk till dawn, and his days from dawn till dusk, until the lack of sleep and the excess of reading withered his brain, and he went mad. Everything he read in his books took possession of his imagination: enchantments, fights, battles, challenges, wounds, sweet nothings, love affairs, storms and impossible absurdities. The idea that this whole fabric of famous fabrications was real so established itself in his mind that no history in the world was truer for him.
Don Quixote, the narrator notes, is “so absorbed” in his books of chivalric legend that he reads “from dusk till dawn” and “from dawn till dusk.” Ultimately, he notes with deadpan humor, “the excess of reading withered his brain, and he went mad.” Soon, Don Quixote begins to imagine the conventional features of chivalric poems, from “enchantments” to “battles,” all around him. Ironically, these “famous fabrications” become “truer” for him than reality itself. Here, as elsewhere in the novel, Cervantes assumes an ironic and satirical tone in order to criticize what he regards as the “impossible absurdities” of chivalric literature.
Related Themes:
