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Vicente Quiroga World History, History Since 1500 Professor Diaz Paper 1 February 25, 2012 Don Quixote, Spain, and the Renaissance The Renaissance was a time of art, music, and literature. It was a time of learning and experimenting with new things. At the beginning of the 15th century the western Christian world was about to undergo great changes. A revolution was coming that would destroy the medieval conscience of the time. In both the intellectual and artistic fields new figures appeared who would impose their new vision. The Renaissance was the return to ancient culture. Greece and Rome became examples for what Europe should be; they were held up as the ideal (The Renaissance in Spanish Literature). Don Quixote is the one of the books that was written in the era of the Renaissance by the man named Miguel de Cervantes, who lived from 1547 to 1616. Cervantes started the novel in order to parody the many romances of chivalry which were circulating in those times and which the Church was unsuccessfully trying to check, but the hero got the better of him( The Renaissance in Spanish Literature). This book is a comic novel about an old man who lived in La Mancha, Spain. Quixote was known as Alonso Quijano, a thin country gentleman, familiar to all, and friendly. He spents his time studying medieval romance stories, filled with knights, and castle. As he read more and more he become crazy and starts thinking he is a knight. He starts hears voices in his head that he must change the world and right all wrong. He sees peasant girls as princess and ladies that love for our knight. Don Quixote goes and fights perceived foes, real and imagined in name of who

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stand for purity and perfection. Don Quixote has selective vision of the real world. Windmills are brutes, sheep are armies and slaves are men that are oppressed. This all reflects the Catholic Church at the time and making fun of the Spanish government going to war. The Spanish Inquisition was the most distinctive institution that relied on religious justifications to advance state ends. Throughout the late fifteen and sixteenth centuries, the Spanish Inquisition served political as well as religious position in Spain. Quixote is an idealist seeing things one side at times. He fights impossible symbolic battles while the rest of the world looks at him and mock him. The irony is that a crazy man can show humanity the right way to live. This Novel pokes fun at the Catholic Church because in fifteenth and sixteenth century the church had a huge army and they were being show offish about it and at that time they were the super power at that time and controls most of Europe. He also made fun of Spain going to war with the Dutch. In the story they talk about windmills and they were giants in the story there are many windmills is Netherland. This war eighty year war also now Dutch War of Independence from1568 to 1648. This book was written in the golden age of Spain, they had most control of the Americas and they wanted more in Europe they controlled a lot, but they just want more Spain was very greedy. That is what I believe, they just got too greedy and thats what happened it end up to be there down fall just like the Romans and Greeks they wanted more and more and they end up to extended. They cannot control all their territory people started have different ideas and wanted to be independent from the Spain. According to these interpretations, before anything else one can find in Don Quixote a devastating criticism directed against all those Spaniards who, after having participated in the most glorious battles - those "events of weapons" in which the Spanish Empire was forged - had returned to their homes or to the court as satiate hidalgos and knights ready to live off the rent in

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some in temporal world, content with the memories of their glory days (Gustavo Bueno 13).In the eyes of people, Don Quixote can be seen as the bad in Spain or the good of Spain. It all depends on who is reading it. He is like something you read off the comics in the newspaper. Spain fond him as symbol of heroism and bravery, but other from other countries find him crazy and stupid because how he thought, for example imamate objects coming to life he thinks he is a knight and windmills are giants that he want to attack. He is close to a schizophrenic as one can it an old man that has lost his mind. To me he is a character that raises a lot of question for me. This novel tells a lot about the past of Spain, One just have to figure out what the symbolism is in the story. The sheep and the windmills all meant something in the story and in real life you just had to figure it out. Over all it was a good story from the spark note I read. This story is more of comic novel it, makes fun of a lot of things like Political, church, and the wars that went on against Spanish and Dutch. Over all this was a good story. Should read this story if they want to have a good laugh. With this book I think it change the view of many people back in the fifteenth century and opened their eyes. I think there should make a movie I think they did but a more modern one. So people can enjoy the book with not reading the book. I hope that other people can read this book and enjoy the reading like I have.

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Work Cited 1. Gustavo Bueno, Don Quixote, Mirror of the Spanish Nation, Translated by Brendan Burke, http://www.fgbueno.es/ing/gbm/2005quix.htm 2. The Renaissance in Spanish Literature, 1996 - 2012 don Quijote S.L. All rights reserved. http://www.donquijote.org/spanishlanguage/literature/history/renacimiento.asp