Lesson 45 Assignment – “How was Don Quixote’s knight-errant oath in conflict with his deathbed oath?”

Don Quixote of La Mancha, whose real name we discover to be Alonso Quixano near the end of the book, is the famous protagonist of the novel “Don Quixote” by Miguel de Cervantes. It is about a man who, due to his habit of barely sleeping and extensively reading literary works of chivalry & fantasy, had become insane. He was a man who had time on his hands, and everything else anyone at the time needed or wanted. He had properties, servants, fine clothing and various other assets that would allow him to live a very comfortable life. One day he decided to leave it all behind, put on his grandfather’s rusty, old armour and embark upon various adventures with his steed, Rocinante.

He considered himself a Knight, yet hadn’t been a squire, been dubbed a knight or even taken a proper oath. This is the first thing we must recognize, as Quixote was never even a knight in the first place. Sure, he proclaimed his love for his imaginary damsel, Dulcinea, he went forth on adventures, wore armor and rode a horse, yet was not a knight. He was a madman who believed that windmills were giants, inns were castles and prostitutes were princesses. His “Knight-errant oath” was inherently conflicted with the truth. He lured an uneducated peasant to become his squire, whose name was Sancho Panza, to abandon his family with the promises of laurels, glory, and governance over an island. It seemed that Quixote was doing more bad than good, and this is evident throughout certain encounters during his adventures.

He, later on, recognizes that he had wasted so much time reading books of chivalry that he had gone completely insane. That he had abandoned his true purpose as the head of his household and community, for imaginary adventures of grandeur from a bygone era.