Happy New Year, and the final Stretch: Don Quixote, Book II: chs. 42-51

[bdNM]

Sancho has finally gotten his island to rule, though it is not an island, but a landlocked area called Barataria (notes indicate that "barato" means "cheap" in Spanish, so the town's name is "Cheapsville" or "Cheapsburg").  In this capacity, though the Duke only appoints Sancho as a governor as a joke, Sancho does well in the job, using common sense to get to the heart of problems and solving them.  He also displays mercy as well as common sense in solving cases brought before him.  He does have trouble with a doctor who tries to keep Sancho from eating much of anything -- hence one of the few indulgences Sancho takes advantage of is kept from him.  He finally does get a good meal, but only just before he loses his governorship.

Don Quixote has trouble with Altisidora, a girl at the Duke's estate.

What are we to make of Sancho's successes as governor?  Is Cervantes making a comment on the ruling class?  Certainly the Duke is not happy with Sancho's success, as it suggests that class need not enter into consideration when judging someone's capacity to rule.

Sancho also seems to be a good governor in other ways -- he is eager to dine well, but other than that, does not seem interested in defrauding the villagers, as some in power do.

What's all this about islands?  Why is Sancho so eager to get an island?  And why does the Duke call this an island, even though it is not?  Is there somethng about islands (maybe mystique?)?

And where Sancho has success, the Don has a dickens of a time back at the Duke's estate with Altisidora.  This does seem to suggest that, in a way, Sancho is a more capable person, if not so imaginative, than his master.

[Choisya]

The reference to islands could posssibly be a reference to the Spanish attempt to conquer the British Isles by the Spanish Armada. Cervantes provided goods for the Armada so would have known all about this failed expedition, which cost many Spanish lives.   However, the small islands in mid Atlantic, like the Azores and the Madeiras, which belonged to Portugal, had long been steeped in the myth of the Lost Atlantis and are the more likely references. (NB: These islands are frequently cloaked in mist which adds to their mystery.)  In 1583 Cervantes took part in the second battle of Terceira (then known as the Island of Jesus Christ). In the first attempt the Spanish were again defeated but Cervantes took part in the second battle when the Spanish occupied the islands for a few years, although they eventually reverted to Portugese dominance when Spain was once again defeated.  Like Spain itself, Cervantes' experiences of islands were not good ones and Sancho's 'governance' no doubt bodes ill too!   

I think Cervantes intends to show here that an ordinary person could rule as well as a noble and not dining well is in marked contrast to the over-indulgent meals of the nobility.There appear to be inferences about greed here - the greed of Spain perhaps in trying to conquer other nations, especially small islands, and the greed of its nobility.  

---

bdNM wrote:

Sancho has finally gotten his island to rule, though it is not an island, but a landlocked area called Barataria (notes indicate that "barato" means "cheap" in Spanish, so the town's name is "Cheapsville" or "Cheapsburg").  In this capacity, though the Duke only appoints Sancho as a governor as a joke, Sancho does well in the job, using common sense to get to the heart of problems and solving them.  He also displays mercy as well as common sense in solving cases brought before him.  He does have trouble with a doctor who tries to keep Sancho from eating much of anything -- hence one of the few indulgences Sancho takes advantage of is kept from him.  He finally does get a good meal, but only just before he loses his governorship.

Don Quixote has trouble with Altisidora, a girl at the Duke's estate.

What are we to make of Sancho's successes as governor?  Is Cervantes making a comment on the ruling class?  Certainly the Duke is not happy with Sancho's success, as it suggests that class need not enter into consideration when judging someone's capacity to rule.

Sancho also seems to be a good governor in other ways -- he is eager to dine well, but other than that, does not seem interested in defrauding the villagers, as some in power do.

What's all this about islands?  Why is Sancho so eager to get an island?  And why does the Duke call this an island, even though it is not?  Is there somethng about islands (maybe mystique?)?

And where Sancho has success, the Don has a dickens of a time back at the Duke's estate with Altisidora.  This does seem to suggest that, in a way, Sancho is a more capable person, if not so imaginative, than his master.

---

[Peppermill]

"...They {the cats} dashed at the grating and escaped by it, save one that, finding itself hard pressed by the slashes of Don Quixote's sword, flew at his face and held on to his nose tooth and nail, with the pain of which he began to shout his loudest. The duke and duchess hearing this, and guessing what it was, ran with all haste to his room, and as the poor gentleman was striving with all his might to detach the cat from his face, they opened the door with a master-key and went in with lights and witnessed the unequal combat. The duke ran forward to part the combatants, but Don Quixote cried out aloud, "Let no one take him from me; leave me hand to hand with this demon, this wizard, this enchanter; I will teach him, I myself, who Don Quixote of La Mancha is." The cat, however, never minding these threats, snarled and held on; but at last the duke pulled it off and flung it out of the window. Don Quixote was left with a face as full of holes as a sieve and a nose not in very good condition,...."

Don Quixote, Chapter 46, Book II

I know Spain was a country of the Inquisition, the rack, and other medieval torture, but I just can't even begin to imagine the (unnecessary) pain of all this. 

I must admit that I often just take the text as it is, without trying to fathom the political or symbolic role that it is playing, but here I felt deep sympathy for dear DQ, whatever the motives.  Also, support for Nabokov's view that many of the stories are ones of cruelty.

[Peppermill]

"Exceedingly moody and dejected was the sorely wounded Don Quixote, with his face bandaged and marked, not by the hand of God, but by the claws of a cat, mishaps incidental to knight-errantry. Six days he remained without appearing in public, and one night as he lay awake thinking of his misfortunes and of Altisidora's pursuit of him, he perceived that some one was opening the door of his room with a key, and he at once made up his mind that the enamoured damsel was coming to make an assault upon his chastity and put him in danger of failing in the fidelity he owed to his lady Dulcinea del Toboso. "No," said he, firmly persuaded of the truth of his idea (and he said it loud enough to be heard), "the greatest beauty upon earth shall not avail to make me renounce my adoration of her whom I bear stamped and graved in the core of my heart and the secret depths of my bowels; be thou, lady mine, transformed into a clumsy country wench, or into a nymph of golden Tagus weaving a web of silk and gold, let Merlin or Montesinos hold thee captive where they will; whereer thou art, thou art mine, and where'er I am, must he thine." The very instant he had uttered these words, the door opened. He stood up on the bed wrapped from head to foot in a yellow satin coverlet, with a cap on his head, and his face and his moustaches tied up, his face because of the scratches, and his moustaches to keep them from drooping and falling down, in which trim he looked the most extraordinary scarecrow that could be conceived."

Don Quixote, Chapter 48, Book II

I think this is the most extra-ordinary physical description of a character that I can recall reading!  For some reason, the detail of DQ standing on his bed wrapped in a "yellow satin coverlet" captured my imagination -- somewhere between a nightmare and a dream.  Then, with the bandaged face and the tied up moustaches!

All amidst this valiant knight's fear of his chastity being assaulted by a woman other than his true love!

No wonder Senora Dona Rodriguez screamed, dropped her candle, tripped over her skirts, and fell in attempting to flee in the ensuing darkness.

[Peppermill]

"Exceedingly moody and dejected was the sorely wounded Don Quixote, with his face bandaged and marked, not by the hand of God, but by the claws of a cat,..."

The Florida Panther has long had a special place in the hearts of my family, but it was the bandaged face on this sketch by Serge Bloch in the NYT this morning that reminded me of Don Quixote, even though the characters are reversed!

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/05/science/05angi.html  (I couldn't link it to the text for some reason just now -- not certain whether my error or another system glitch.)

[Choisya]

I agree P and one of the most amusing too!.  I have searched the web for a portrait of DQ in this extraordinary guise but apparently no artist has undertaken the task.  

However, Purcell wrote 'From rosy bow'rs' otherwise known as the Mad Song of Altisdora in The Comical History of Don Quixote (scroll down to hear it). 

[Peppermill]

Well, as of this morning, there are only four more CD's (of the 35 total) to go.  This has been some experience!

Sancho has returned from "purgatory" on his poor grey.  He and his master have cavorted in Arcadia -- it is hard for me to imagine elegantly dressed shepherds and shepherdesses, although I know china figurines of them abound.

[Choisya]

Yes, I am not sure whether it is possible for a real shepherd or shepherdess to be elegant, considering the dirty and hard work they do but it was certainly an idea which took hold during the Rennaisance and there are number of paintings of Arcadia, with and without shepherds as well as numerous references in literature. Queen Marie Antoinette and her ladies dressed as Shepherdesses when at her 'hamlet' in the grounds of the Palace of Versailles. (The house and gardens have recently been restored at enormous expense and are probably well worth a visit if you are thinking of visiting France.)  The figurines you refer to P, were produced at the same time as Marie Antoinette's masquerades which, in turn, were based upon the philosopher's Rousseau's 'back to nature' theories (about which we read in Tolstoy's War and Peace.)

Arcadia was a beautiful pastoral region in Ancient Greece and it is significant that Cervantes, writing during Spain's Golden Age, evokes the ancient Golden Age of Greek mythology.

I have often thought that the descriptions of Paradise in both the Hebrew Bible and the Koran are probably based upon the older stories about Arcadia in Hindu and Greek texts.  

It is after Don Quixote and Sancho realise there is really no Arcadia, no Utopia, that they both return to reality and sanity.  What a pity.