Anguish

Primary Image (Left): Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de. Vida y hechos del ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de La Mancha. vol. 1, Londres: J. Y R. Tonson, 1738. Artist: John Vanderbank, Engraver: Gerard Van der Gucht

Secondary Iamge (Right): Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de. Don Quixote de La Mancha: Translated from the Spanish. Translated by Mary Smirke, London: Printed for T. Cadell and W. Davies by W. Bulmer and Co., 1818. Artist: Robert Smirke

This image illustrates the scene in part I in which Don Quixote, driven by his delusions, allows himself to be fooled and humiliated by placing his arm through an opening and being forced to dangle, barely supported by his horse. This episode shows both Cervantes’ rejection of chivalric tales, but also the changing character of Don Quixote and how the world is not as ideal as he pictured. Until this point, he viewed himself in a fantasyland where he could commit no wrong and could succeed at all things he attempts. Now, with this frame shi , the reader must acknowledge the character changes taking place in Don Quixote as well as the anguish that he must feel by being thrust out of his fantasyland. This is only just the beginning of the cruelty he will face. As Don Quixote suffers, so do the ideals he represents.

Pardis Ghamasaee
Alec Kaufman
Ciara O’Connor
Sabrina Villanueva