Quixote

of the World Literature of the Concerned 20 February Don Quixote Don Quixote as a character tends to evince multiple facets to his personality. When he is in his right mind, he exhibits a marked sense of judgment and poise that makes the people take him for a wise and learned person. However, when Don Quixote’s mind deviates to the realm of chivalry, he readily happens to confuse the sensible and the non-sensical, the reasonable and the unreasonable, mistaking windmills for castles and the sheep grazing in the meadows for armies marching against him. If on the one side Quixote comes out as being grand, eloquent and elegant, on the other side he comes out as being absurd, fantastical and ludicrous. Don Quixote is indeed a character marked by swaying contrasts.
The assertion that Don Quixote happens to be a hero of epical proportions, no less than a revered leader of the stature of Rama may sound absurd to a regular reader. Yet, it is a fact that as Rama in Ramayana is committed to a sacrosanct way of life or Dharma, Don Quixote in his own world is indeed committed to an idea of chivalry and romance. If on the one side the practicality and pragmatic valor of Rama, affiliated to his Dharma accrues respect and reverence, the absurdity and foolhardiness of Don Quixote, an old self claimed knight owing allegiance to an imaginary code of chivalry does cull out a peculiar kind of admiration and respect from the readers, who simply cannot help being impressed by the intensity of his belief and faith.