SPAN 300: Cervantes' Don Quixote
Lecture 20 - Don Quixote, Part II: Chapters XXXVI-LIII (cont.). According to Gonzalez Echevarria, Don Quixote's epic task within the novel is to control his madness by accepting the vanity of his dreams and the futility of his quest. The protagonist's change started with Sancho's enchantment of Dulcinea, and peaked in the cave of Montesinos. Now, he displays his deepened wisdom in the counsel to his squire on how to govern the island of Barataria. The good government of Sancho, together with the fact that the cleverest character in the second part is the steward, reflects a crumbling society: Barataria is related to the breakdown of aristocratic authority and the emergence of the common man as potential ruler. The island, too, like a mock Utopia, is a laboratory of fiction making, in which the steward, who is the author, ironically gets trapped. In a very baroque like inversion, Sancho and Don Quixote endure all the pranks from the duke and duchess with their dignity untouched, proving that the mockers are the ones finally mocked. (from oyc.yale.edu)
| Lecture 20 - Don Quixote, Part II: Chapters XXXVI-LIII (cont.) |
| Time | Lecture Chapters |
| [00:00:00] | 1. Revisiting Major Themes in "Don Quixote" |
| [00:13:13] | 2. An Introduction to the Island of Barataria |
| [00:24:58] | 3. Sancho's Good Government |
| [00:33:24] | 4. The Island of Barataria as a Mock Utopia |
| [00:39:35] | 5. Freud's Interpretation of the Island of Barataria |
| [00:44:41] | 6. Additional Analysis about the Island of Barataria |
| References |
| Lecture 20 - Don Quixote, Part II: Chapters XXXVI-LIII (cont.) Instructor: Professor Roberto Gonzalez Echevarria. Transcript [html]. Audio [mp3]. Download Video [mov]. |
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