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Don Quixote

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Don Quixote
Opposing Roles in Don Quixote: How Conflicting Characters Develop and Enhance Themes in Literature
Don Quixote tells the story of Alonso Quixano, a Spanish gentlemen who is obsessed with reading books of chivalry. He sells most of his land to buy more books and spends his entire life reading them, often neglecting to eat or sleep. He decides to become a knight-errant himself and finds a horse, a squire, and a lady to honor (although she has no idea). Throughout his adventures he is brought home by some of the men in the village who hope to cure him of his insanity. Don Quixote has little understanding of reality and often mistakes mundane things like windmills for more fantastical things like giants or castles.
The main purpose of Don Quixote is to parody the popular ideas of romance and chivalry. Cervantes highlights the humorous relationships between chivalry and everyday life and the various exaggerated characters are used to illustrate these themes. Cervantes attacks the nobility, classism, chivalry, and the misguided romantic notions of the time with his satirical story of an insane man in search of justice and glory. Cervantes also develops the idea that the old chivalric code is outdated and no longer necessary as no one but Sancho even begins to understand what Quixote is attempting to do.
The use of exaggerated and opposite roles is used in Don Quixote to highlight and develop the various themes. Don Quixote is an idealist, or a madman depending on which way you look at it while Sancho Panza is a realist. Don Quixote is educated and from a higher class whereas Sancho Panza is an uneducated commoner. The list goes on with all the characters, and because of how these opposite characters interact the reader is given a much clearer view of what the author is trying to express.
The literary critic Harold Bloom once said that Don Quixote

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