Miguel de Cervantes wrote the very popular Spanish novel, “El ingenioso hidalgo don Quixote de la Mancha”, which was published in 1605. In academic circles, this book lampooned chivalry through the protagonist, don Alonso Quixano, who consumes his time reading old medieval books. cavalry His mind becomes so saturated with the knights’ medieval adventures and heroic deeds that he wants to become one himself, 400 years after chivalry slowly became a fad in Europe.

The emaciated Alonso Quixano, 50 years old, decides to dress as a knight through the armor of his great-grandfather, and leaves home to embark on great adventures by becoming a “knight errant” and rides his old horse. , he names, “Rocinante”.

His first adventure begins when he leaves his house and arrives at an inn, which he thinks is a castle. Approaching, he hears a goatherd blow a horn to herd his pigs, whom Quixote believes to be a dwarf blowing a trumpet upon his arrival. He sees prostitutes who he thinks are virgin princesses. He quotes them old and lofty poetry, which they can’t help but laugh at him. Also when Don Quixote sits down to eat, he cannot take the helmet off his head. So you have to give him a straw that he fits in the visor that he uses to sip his food.

Don Quixote wants to become a legitimate knight, so he asks the innkeeper, whom he believes to be the guardian of the castle, to officially name him a knight so that he can go on adventures correcting the mistakes of people who are in trouble. . . However, when Quixote takes off his weapons as was the custom of knights to put them in a chapel to “watch” or guard their armor throughout the night, Quixote thinks he is doing the same thing and puts his arms around a well he believes be a chapel outside the inn. But when two men come to draw water from the well, Quixote is furious to see them move his armor. Don Quixote runs quickly and hits them severely.

In his first adventure, Don Quixote reveals his old-fashioned and flowery Spanish language, which sounds old-fashioned. If this gentleman’s first language was English and he lived today in England, Australia, or the United States, his speech might sound like outdated quotes from the works of William Shakespeare or the King James Version Bible. He also uses this style of ancient language when he addresses an imaginary lady to whom he dedicates the battles he wins.

Throughout the novel, the strange gentleman orders everyone he meets to proclaim his beloved, called “Dulcinea del Toboso”, to be the most beautiful woman on earth. Of course, this act is ridiculous, but this “worshipping” of a woman is only reserved for God.

So much plot happens in this first adventure of Alonso Quixano becoming “Don Quixote de la Mancha”. Such an adventure keeps the reader up all night, devouring the book, engrossed in all the frivolity created by both the “gentleman” and his “squire” Sancho Panza, who then seeks to serve him in his adventures.