Cervantes’ masterpiece Don Quixote transcends chivalric satire to explore the conflict between human nature, reality, and fantasy. Don Quixote has transcended time, offering laughter and reflection while exerting a profound influence on literary history.

Cervantes and Don Quixote Commentary

A literary giant of Spain, he was born on September 29, 1547, in Alcalá de Henares, near Madrid, Spain, the son of a poor surgeon. He was a novelist, playwright, and poet. He is famous as the author of the novel ‘Don Quixote’ (1605), a parody of the chivalric romances popular in Spain at the time, and was renowned for his masterful character portrayals. He also left behind works such as ‘Novelas ejemplares’.
His father, a poor surgeon who was deaf, could not provide a sufficient income, so the family moved around to places like Valladolid, Madrid, and Seville until Cervantes reached adulthood.
Consequently, he received almost no formal schooling beyond briefly studying under the tutor López de Oyo at a private academy in Madrid in 1569, where he was considered a “secret favorite pupil.”
That same year, Cervantes crossed over to Italy, becoming a page to Cardinal Aquaviva. Subsequently, in 1570, he enlisted in the infantry regiment of Diego de Urbina, commander of the Spanish forces in Italy. He participated in the historically renowned Battle of Lepanto in 1571, sustaining two wounds to his chest and a permanent injury to his left hand. He consoled himself by saying he had “lost his left hand to enhance the honor of his right.” After recuperating, he joined the infantry regiment of Lope de Figueroa, featured in Calderón de la Barca’s ‘El Alcalde de Zalamea,’ and fought in the 1573 Battle of Tunis. In 1575, while returning home with dreams of advancement, bearing a commendation from Don Juan de Austria, the Spanish Admiral-General and the King’s brother, and a letter of recommendation from the Viceroy of Sicily, the Duke of Cesena, He was attacked by pirates rampant in the Mediterranean at the time and taken captive to Algeria. He endured five years of hardship as a slave to Arimami until 1580. He attempted escape multiple times and even led rebellions, but in 1580, after the Council of the Holy Trinity, he regained his freedom through the efforts of the priest Juan Girás and returned to Madrid. However, receiving no recognition from his homeland, he lived in despair until 1584, when he married Catalina de Farajós, the daughter of a wealthy landowner, who was 18 years his junior.
The following year, he published his debut work, the novel ‘La Galatea’. He managed to live somewhat comfortably on the royalties and his wife’s dowry. It is said he wrote 20 to 30 plays until 1587, but only two have survived to this day: ‘Los Baños de Argel’ and ‘El Cerco de Numancia’. Particularly, the tragedy ‘El Cerco de Numancia’ was recognized by Shelley and Goethe during the Romantic era.
However, when this series of works received no response, he abandoned his literary career in 1587 and worked as an ordinary clerk at a grain store in Seville to make ends meet.
His subsequent turbulent life forced him to abandon literature, eking out a living as an obscure tax collector and similar jobs. Later, he was dismissed from his position as a food requisitioner for the naval fleet, quit his administrative post, and struggled in poverty for six or seven years. He became an accountant for a small company but was accused by the bank where he deposited public funds due to an accounting error, leading to several imprisonments.
Then, in 1605, he published the first part of his immortal masterpiece, ‘Don Quixote’, receiving worldwide acclaim upon its release. Yet Cervantes himself remained unable to escape poverty. This is evident from the fact that shortly after publishing ‘Don Quixote’, he was implicated in a suspicious death case, leading to his temporary arrest and detention along with his family. Afterwards, before publishing the second part of ‘Don Quixote’ in 1615, he published ‘Novelas ejemplares’ (a collection of twelve short stories) in 1613, the long poem ‘Viage del Parnaso’ (a critique of contemporary poets) in 1614, and ‘Ocho comedias, y ocho entremeses nuevos’ (Eight Comedies and Eight New Interludes) in 1615.
In his later years, he led a religious life and joined a religious order. He also joined and was active in the literary writers’ group ‘Academia Cervantesca’, founded by Francisco de Silva in 1611. He died in Madrid on April 23, 1616, the same day as William Shakespeare. The following year, his novel ‘The Passion of Peruches and Sigismunda’ was published posthumously.
In Madrid, Spain, there is a square built in 1930 to commemorate Cervantes, the author of ‘Don Quixote’, featuring a monument and a statue of Cervantes.

Cervantes and Don Quixote

Cervantes sought to subvert the prevailing chivalric romances of his time by creating an eccentric character like Don Quixote. The full title of ‘Don Quixote’ is ‘El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha’. As the author himself stated, it was intended ‘to overthrow the popularity of the prevailing chivalric tales’. This work began as a parody of the chivalric romances popular in Spain at the time.
The core of this work lies in the creation of the two characters, Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. The noble ideals of the knight contrast sharply with Sancho Panza’s practical, vulgar materialism. Yet the two complement each other, embodying both sides of human nature. Their universal humanity transcends nationality, race, age, and gender, evoking familiarity and empathy in everyone. Cervantes, alongside Shakespeare, was one of the rare writers who truly mastered the art of characterization.
As the French philosopher and critic, and historian, Hippolyte Taine (1828–1893), argued that to understand a nation’s literature, one must first illuminate its national character and analyze the three major influences of race, era, and environment. Cervantes’s ‘Don Quixote,’ which has retained the largest readership after the Bible to this day, cannot escape this framework.
Scanning world history, few nations have seen religion permeate the very fabric of their people’s spirit—their political history, their literary history—as deeply as Spain.
The Spanish people embraced Christianity in the 1st century. By the 6th century, Christianity served as the unifying bond for all tribes on the Iberian Peninsula. Then, when the Caliph, holding the Quran in one hand and a sword in the other, subdued the Arabian Peninsula, conquered Syria and Persia, advanced through Egypt into Africa, and finally seized the Iberian Peninsula, For eight hundred years thereafter, Spain fought relentlessly against invading, unbelieving peoples, binding together the twin concepts of religion and homeland into a single thread of struggle. With the fall of Granada (1492), the last Moorish stronghold, the golden age of Christian Spain decisively began. They defended the Christian faith of Europe with their theologians and armies, while spreading it worldwide through explorers, inventors, and missionaries.
No European empire had ever experienced such audacious expansion. Internally, it witnessed the flourishing of mystical theology and the founding of the Jesuits against the Counter-Reformation; externally, it achieved the discovery of the Americas and the establishment of colonial empires, expansion into Europe through territories like the Netherlands, and the conversion of distant peoples—truly, these monumental events in Spanish or world history unfolded from Columbus’s voyage (1492) to the Council of Trent (1545–1563). conversion of distant peoples—truly, these great events in Spanish and world history unfolded over nearly half a century, from Columbus’s voyage (1492) to the Council of Trent (1545–1563).
Our Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, descended from pure Castilian blood, received his baptism in the Church of Santa María in Alcalá de Henares, not far from Madrid, in 1547, during Spain’s period of prosperity.
His father, Rodrigo de Cervantes Saavedra, was a surgeon, but the family was impoverished. Much like the lives of most major Spanish writers resembled adventure novels, Cervantes’s own life required overcoming a tumultuous destiny (perhaps explaining why Spanish literature, for instance, is characterized by far richer fantasy than French literature).
From 1563 to 1564, he lived in Seville with his father and attended the Jesuit school there. He likely pursued university studies, though detailed records are scarce. In any case, he was in Madrid in 1565 and it is certain he traveled to Rome as a page to the papal legate, Archbishop Aquaviva.
However, being a man of exceptional ambition from the start, he joined an infantry regiment under the command of General Marco Antonio Colonna in 1570. The moment finally arrived. In 1571, the Saracen Empire, a threat to all of Europe for centuries, advanced once more into the Mediterranean. After seizing Cyprus and the island of Malta, it sought to encroach upon Spanish maritime supremacy.
In response, Philip II of Spain, together with Pope Pius V—who was greatly troubled by the rampant activities of the Ottoman navy and the pirates under its protection—secured the aid of Venice and others. They formed the Holy League against the Ottomans and led a decisive, all-or-nothing battle to victory at Lepanto, off the coast of Greece. This occurred on October 7, 1591 (commemorated annually by the Catholic Church as the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary).
The grand admiral of the allied fleet at that time was the renowned Don Juan of Austria, half-brother of Philip II. Indeed, the Battle of Lepanto stands as one of the great clashes between Eastern and Western powers that recurred throughout antiquity and the Middle Ages, a pivotal confrontation in world history, and the ultimate showdown between Christian and Muslim nations. Simultaneously, the Christian nations achieved their first decisive victory over the invincible Spanish Armada, which had previously dominated both sea and land. With this defeat, the Spanish Armada permanently lost its supremacy in the Mediterranean, setting it on a path of decline.
Just as the Battle of Lepanto marked a turning point in world history with its resounding victory, it also provided a turning point in Cervantes’ life. He participated in that battle as a young man of 24. However, during the battle, he sustained two wounds to his chest and lost his left hand—which he later described as having been “sacrificed to enhance the honor of his right hand.”
From this point onward, his life became marked by repeated trials and tribulations. In September 1575, while aboard a ship returning home, he was attacked by pirates, captured, and taken to Algiers. There he found thousands of Christian captives already held. For five years he lived as a slave among them, attempting escape or becoming a leader of rebellion (Don Quixote’s captivity story appears drawn from this experience). In 1580, he was unexpectedly freed (in 1218, Saint Peter Nolasco founded the Mercedarians, the Order of Our Lady of Mercy. Its purpose was to pay ransoms for Christians held captive by Muslims or for the monks themselves to be taken hostage in their place to secure their release). While Cervantes was imprisoned, a monk named Juan Gil arrived with 500 ducats in gold to ransom an Aragonese man named Jerónimo Palafox. However, the sum was insufficient to free Palafox, a nobleman of his rank. Thus, by a stroke of luck, Cervantes was released instead, using that money.)
He returned to Madrid on December 18, 1580. As a wounded veteran who had already received a medal from Admiral Don Juan de Austria and carried a letter of recommendation from the Duke of Sessa, Governor of Naples, Cervantes expected the country would soon reward him handsomely.
But his country bestowed no silver. The youthful dream of once shining with glorious military exploits was shattered, and the reward he had trusted in for his service turned to dust. So he resolved to rely on the pen instead of the sword. He finally rose as a poet and playwright. Yet the path was by no means smooth.
His wife, Catalina, abandoned him, a wounded soldier unable to earn a penny, and left him for another man. This caused a change in Cervantes’s heart, and he temporarily stopped writing. To secure practical means of living, he took a menial position. He became a naval quartermaster, collecting wheat and olive oil around Seville for the famous ‘Invincible Armada’. Accused of exceeding his authority, he was imprisoned in 1592. In 1597, he was imprisoned a second time when the bank where he had deposited public funds went bankrupt. By 1602, he had become a pauper.
The following year, when summoned to Valladolid regarding the public funds compensation case, he was already carrying the manuscript of ‘Don Quixote’. On his return journey, he reportedly secured a publisher in Madrid. After a series of misfortunes, his ‘The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha’ was finally published when he was 58 years old.
The first part of ‘Don Quixote’ was published in 1605. However, the second part did not appear until 1615, a full ten years later. This stands in stark contrast to Cervantes’s first work, ‘La Galatea’ (1584), which was announced as a sequel but never materialized.
The prologue to the first part of Don Quixote contains no mention of a sequel. Its conclusion features only the epitaphs for Don Quixote and Dulcinea. The fact that it ends with a line from Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso suggests Cervantes had no initial intention of writing a sequel.
However, the success of the first part of ‘Don Quixote’ was astonishing, beyond even the author’s own expectations. Within a year of its publication, it saw two editions in Madrid, two in Lisbon, and two in Valencia. It was reprinted in Brussels in 1607 and again in Madrid in 1608. Consequently, demand for a sequel must have been high among readers and publishers alike, and the author himself likely felt a renewed urge to write.
In any case, Cervantes joined the Academia de los Nocturnos, founded by Francisco de Silva, in 1611. With his basic livelihood finally secured, his surging creative drive probably prompted him to take up his pen again the following year. Given that his death date is recorded as April 23, 1616, it is certain that he completed the sequel in 1615.
What, then, is the significance of this monumental novel, ‘Don Quixote,’ comprising 52 chapters in the first part and 74 in the second, totaling 126 chapters?
Just as the Divine Comedy is known as Dante and Beatrice’s sublime love poem, it goes without saying that the sad reality here in the Far East is that Don Quixote is dismissed as mere nonsense. Yet even in the West, this Don Quixote was not without its misunderstandings at one time. Even the British poet Byron, in Canto VIII, Part II of his Don Juan, attributed the great Spanish author’s achievements to tragic consequences. He sang thus:

Cervantes smiled Spain’s chivalry away
And therefore have his volumes done such harm
That all their glory, as a composition
Was dearly purchased by his land’s perdition

But did Cervantes truly laugh away Spain’s chivalry? Wasn’t the decline of his homeland rather the result of various political, social, and ethical factors inversely proportional to his literary glory? Indeed, José Ortega y Gasset, philosopher, writer, and statesman of Spain itself, stated:

Cervantes’ work is the answer to the great question: ‘O God, what is Spain?’… Here (in Cervantes’ work) I have found the fulfillment of Spain……. If we know where to find the Cervantes-like method of approaching Cervantes’ work—his thought—we can gain everything. For at this spiritual summit, an indissoluble solidarity reigns, and the poetic style encompasses philosophy, ethics, science, and politics. If someone were to outline Cervantes’ style for us tomorrow, this alone would suffice to broaden that outline across all issues, awakening us to a new life. If only we possessed the courage and talent then, we could undertake the purest, most Spanish endeavor.

Thus, the Spanish people venerate their treasure ‘Don Quixote’ as a scripture contributing to their national morality. Then, what would Byron say in response to the statement by Salvá (Vicente Salvá, 1786–1849), a Cervantes admirer a century ago: ‘Cervantes’ purpose was not to mock the spirit of chivalric romance and its fundamental ideas. Rather, it was to rescue it from absurdity. Thus, he added another volume to the essential reading of literature.’ What would Byron have answered to this statement?
Now, let us briefly shift our focus to Shakespeare, the great writer of Cervantes’ time who also shares his date of death (April 23, 1616), and compare ‘Don Quixote’ with ‘Hamlet’.
In a letter Anton Chekhov sent to his beloved sister Mitya, he wrote:

…… Read ‘Don Quixote’. It is a magnificent work. It is Cervantes’s work, which should be placed almost in the same category as Shakespeare. I recommend to my brothers that they read Turgenev’s ‘Hamlet and Don Quixote’—if they haven’t already.

So how did Turgenev interpret Don Quixote? According to him, what Don Quixote symbolizes above all is faith. Faith in the eternal and unchanging, faith in the true. In other words, it teaches faith in the genuine—that which is not easily attained, demanding steadfast service and sacrifice. Don Quixote willingly endures countless hardships to realize this truth on earth, sometimes even fearlessly risking his life. Turgenev states:

“People say this ideal is a figment of his imagination, drawn from the fantastical world of chivalric romances. We share this feeling. Hence, the comic elements of Don Quixote lie within this very aspect. Yet, this does not mean the ‘ideal’ is tainted in the slightest. Don Quixote considered living solely for oneself and thinking only of oneself a disgrace. There is not a trace of egoism in him. … He has forgotten his self. … He is wholly self-sacrifice. … He believes. He believes steadfastly, without wavering. Therefore, he knows no fear and delights in unyielding, relentless struggle.”

“Hamlet is egocentric. He is a skeptic. …… He doubts everything. Of course, he cannot even accept himself. He does not trust himself, yet he possesses vanity. He does not know what he desires or why he lives, yet he clings to life.”

Turgenev said the eternity of ‘Hamlet’ lies in its negative fundamental character. Then, the timelessness of ‘Don Quixote’ must lie in its positive fundamental character. Moreover, just as ‘Hamlet’ is a tragedy of despair because it is based on a distorted Christianity, ‘Don Quixote’ can be called a comedy of hope because it is grounded in the orthodox faith of the golden age of medieval Spanish literature. Yes, it is a comedy.
However, ‘Don Quixote’ differed from the so-called Pantagruélisme of François Rabelais (1494–1559), a representative of the Renaissance and Cervantes’ contemporary, whose motto was ‘Fay ce que voudras’ (‘Do as you will’).
Rabelais’ laughter was revolutionary; he attacked and mocked all of the past, scholasticism, and the religious order. Though he was a Christian, he was equally the darling of the Renaissance. Therefore, his laughter was a jest possible only outside the Church, a crude and dirty laughter.
Cervantes’ laughter, however, is as clear and pure as the skies of southern Spain. Yet it remains optimistic, never forgetting Christian restraint. Moreover, in the final chapter of the second part of ‘Don Quixote’, the knight with the frown has vanished without a trace, replaced by the ‘good Alonso Quijano’, upon whom descends a serene, heavenly smile.
After a deep sleep on his deathbed, Don Quixote’s final words are as absurdly quiet and beautiful as the sunset’s glow.

“Praise be to Almighty God, who has bestowed such great grace upon me. His mercy knows no bounds, and the sins of men cannot diminish or prevent it…”
He called for the priest to receive confession, then asked Sancho for forgiveness and spoke to those at his bedside.
“Let us proceed step by step, my friends. For last year’s birds no longer dwell in this year’s nest. I was mad. But now I have regained my right mind. I, Don Quixote of La Mancha, as I said before, am now ‘Good Alonso Quijano.’ May my repentance and sincerity earn your understanding. Now, Notary, please proceed.”
And after quietly finishing his will, he received the last rites and closed his eyes.
According to the notary present, no knight-errant in any chronicle had ever died as peacefully and Christianly as Don Quixote. Truly, as inscribed on his tombstone, he ‘lived mad and died sober.’

Finally, I wish to conclude by quoting Dostoevsky. On January 23, 1868, Dostoevsky sent the following letter to his niece, Ivanova.

The essential ideal of the novel lies in portraying the absolutely beautiful human being. There is no task more difficult in the world, especially today. All writers, whether ours or those of the West, inevitably strike the rocks when attempting to depict absolute beauty. It is an impossible task.
Beauty is an ideal. Yet this ideal, shared by us and civilized Europe, remains far from purified. In the world, the only existence of absolute beauty is Christ alone. Therefore, the appearance of this infinite being, this transcendent beauty, is undoubtedly an eternal miracle (the entire Gospel of John carries this meaning, where miracles manifest within the unique incarnation of the Holy Son—the unique manifestation of beauty).
I may have digressed, but what I must say is this: among literature’s myriad forms of beauty, the most perfected image of beauty is Don Quixote. Yet Don Quixote is beautiful precisely because he is ridiculous……. When a beautiful figure, unaware of its own worth, is mocked, people feel compassion, and thus the reader’s sympathy arises. To awaken compassion—this is the secret of humor.

Don Quixote, who pursues a great dream so foolishly as to be hateful, and who is so ridiculous that he becomes pitiable! Because he is Cervantes himself, the Spain of that time, and none other than ourselves—naked life—Don Quixote can be life’s long companion: dreaming, fighting, losing, and finally achieving self-realization through defeat.