Don Quixote, Cervantes, pg. 98
'but there's just one thing, among lots of others, that I don't like about knights errant, and that is that when they're about to undertake some mighty perilous adventure in which there's a clear risk of losing their lives, it never occurs to them to commend themselves to God, as every Christian's meant to do in such moments of danger, but instead they go and commend themselves to their ladies, with as much spirit and devotion as if their ladies were God himself- which seems to me to have a smack of the pagan about it.'
This book is very interesting, it is very witty and entertaining. Don Quixote is the Spanish equivalent of the Odyssey or the Iliad. An interesting aspect of this book, as the quote portrays is the lack of Christianity/religion in it and how full of satire it is. Christianity/religion is often mentioned but only before Don Quixote goes to battle with the assumed enemy. This book is extremely satirical during an age where so much of the focus was on serious matters and on the Roman Catholic church/religion and the principles of the Reformation. In many instances the church is portrayed as an enemy such as when two friars/priests are accompanying a carriage that Quixote imagines contains a captive princess or when Quixote is sure that a young lady is being held in a convent against her will or when groups are going about repenting or praying for rain and Quixote believes the image of the crying woman is being taken against her will. Cervantes gives the opposite perspective of religion than expected from this time period.
'but there's just one thing, among lots of others, that I don't like about knights errant, and that is that when they're about to undertake some mighty perilous adventure in which there's a clear risk of losing their lives, it never occurs to them to commend themselves to God, as every Christian's meant to do in such moments of danger, but instead they go and commend themselves to their ladies, with as much spirit and devotion as if their ladies were God himself- which seems to me to have a smack of the pagan about it.'
This book is very interesting, it is very witty and entertaining. Don Quixote is the Spanish equivalent of the Odyssey or the Iliad. An interesting aspect of this book, as the quote portrays is the lack of Christianity/religion in it and how full of satire it is. Christianity/religion is often mentioned but only before Don Quixote goes to battle with the assumed enemy. This book is extremely satirical during an age where so much of the focus was on serious matters and on the Roman Catholic church/religion and the principles of the Reformation. In many instances the church is portrayed as an enemy such as when two friars/priests are accompanying a carriage that Quixote imagines contains a captive princess or when Quixote is sure that a young lady is being held in a convent against her will or when groups are going about repenting or praying for rain and Quixote believes the image of the crying woman is being taken against her will. Cervantes gives the opposite perspective of religion than expected from this time period.
No comments:
Post a Comment