Cervantes & Shakespeare

Commentary

In the novel of Don Quijote de la Mancha the dialogues between Don Quijote and Sancho Panza play a fundamental role. Its main characteristic is their naturality, their serious tone, the fluent speech and the colloquial style. It has several functions, one of them being the narrative function because the dialogues substitute a narrator, another one being characterisation: with its chivalrous and formal registers Don Quijote represents the aristocracy and Sancho Panza, with a more colloquial register, the lower social classes. Through the dialogues we not only learn about their social class, but we also learn about their personality: Don Quijote represents the perspective of the ideal knight, the romantic dreamer that refuses to see the reality, who believes innocently that there is only right and wrong and that he can make a difference. Sancho is a down to earth person, realistic and cautious, and at the same time very comic through his use of popular proverbs. Just like Falstaff, he accompanies his master through different adventures, always trying to bring Don Quijote closer to the reality he refuses to see.

Like the characters of Falstaff and Prince Harry, they complement each other in their speech: if Don Quijote masters the more poetical and formal registers, he does often switch to a more colloquial style when he is trying to explain the world of chivalry to Sancho, and so does Sancho try to adapt his vulgar, more colloquial way of speaking with a more elevated style that will show his politeness towards his master. To show how this works, we will have a look at Chapter XXXI, of the first part of the novel.

This is an example of a parody of a chivalrous situation: Sancho Panza has been sent to hand a letter to Dulcinea del Toboso, where Don Quijote expresses his love for her, as is the manner in the code of knights, however nothing turns out to be like the chivalric novels that Don Quijote has read and he is puzzled by the account Sancho Panza gives when he returns from his mission.

A proof of Don Quijote idealistic vision of the world can be found in his use of similes and metaphors: he calls Dulcinea “aquella reina de la hermosura” (line 2) or “que los granos de aquel trigo eran granos de perlas, tocados de sus manos”, or “aquella rosa entre espinas, aquel lirio del campo, aquel ámbar desleído”(line 34-35). He uses a very poetic language every time he refers to his beloved one, juxtaposed to the reality explained by Sancho. Don Quijote uses formal language when he tries to imagine what Dulcinea must have been doing or to explain the ceremony of receiving such a letter according to the chivalric code, but he also uses quite frequently imperative verbs such as “prosigue”, “haz”, “pasa”, “acaba, cuétamelo”, which on the one hand portray his eagerness to hear Sancho’s account and on the other hand convey the hierarchical relation master-servant. Don Quijote’s blindness to see the reality is emphasized by the use of adverbs and verbs of certainty or probability : “A buen seguro que” (line 2), “Pues yo te aseguro” (line 8), “sin duda alguna” (line 8-9), “eso debió ser”(line 14), he claims to know how Dulcinea reacted to the letter, but what Sancho tells is quite a different story, and that is why Sancho uses frequently negative sentences to answer Don Quijote: “No la hallé sino…” (line 4), “No era sino…” (line 7),“no la leyó” (line 41), “no sabía leer ni escribir” (line 41).

In the formal language of Don Quijote repetitions are avoided with circumlocutions like the one in line 15: “Y en tanto que estaba en su menester”. Cervantes also uses archaic overloaded expressions, such as in line 15: “¿qué coloquios pasó contigo?”. Don Quijote’s language becomes at some points more poetic through the use of hyperbaton, like in line 21: “En decir que maldecía mi fortuna dijiste mal”. When a word has a double meaning, Don Quijote understands and uses only the metaphorical sense and fails to understand the literal sense, for example with the word “alta”, that Sancho uses all the time in a literal sense and that Don Quijote understands only in a metaphorical sense (lines 23 to 28).

The chivalrous register in Don Quijote’s speech is quite obvious when he tries to explain the customs in the chivalric code in the novels he has read: “Porque es usada y antigua costumbre entre los caballeros y damas andantes dar a los escuderos, doncellas o enanos que les llevan nuevas, de sus damas a ellos, a ellas de sus andantes, alguna rica joya en albricias, en agradecimiento de su recado”.(lines 53 to 55)

Sancho’s language represents here the juxtaposition of the chivalric world with the real one: not only does he use the negative sentences mentioned before to try to convince Don Quijote that the world of knightly customs does not correspond to reality but he also does so in a very comic, naive way. He uses mainly the colloquial register, with common vocabulary, as opposed to the more prosaic language of Don Quijote: “ahechando dos anegas de trigo en un corral de su casa” (line 4), “ella estaba en la fuga del meneo de una buena parte de trigo que tenía en la criba” (lines 12). As he tells the story of what happened, he even brings up a topic which is taboo in the chivalric world, the one of the smell of Dulcinea’s sweat, and he describes it with plain words: “un olorcillo algo hombruno”, “estaba sudada y algo correosa” (line 32), juxtaposed to Don Quijote’s previous poetic suggestions: “un olor sabeo, una fragancia aromática” (line 29). This dialogue also contains one of the so called “sanchismos”, one of his proverbs: “pero no hay de qué maravillarse, que un Diablo parece a otro” (line 37), diametrically opposed to the initial description of Dulcinea as “reina de la hermosura” (line 2). The whole chivalric world that Don Quijote tries to build through his choice of metaphors, similes, complex sentences, clashes and at the same time complements itself in the colloquial register of Sancho, who also tries to show politeness by expressions such as “vuestra merced” every time he mentions Don Quijote. Sancho includes in his speeches some elements from an elevated style but fails to do so till the end, as can be seen in the sentence lines 17to 20: “mas yo le dije de la manera que vuestra merced, por su servicio, quedaba haciendo penitencia, desnudo de la cintura arriba, metido en estas tierras como si fuera salvaje, durmiendo en el suelo, sin comer pan a manteles ni sin peinarse la barba, llorando y maldiciendo su fortuna”, where the first part of the sentence corresponds to a more prosaic, elevated style and the second part becomes again more colloquial.

Therefore what has been observed in this chapter of Don Quijote de la Mancha is something equivalent to what Shakespeare does in Henry IV: a masterly alternation of registers within a continuum ranging from formal language to colloquial style. Don Quijote’s elevated poetic speech is at points influenced by Sancho’s colloquial style and so does Sancho try, not only to stick to colloquial language but to honour the person he serves by using some aspects of his master’s language. It is this juxtaposition of speech styles that creates the fantastic parody of the chivalric world that only exists in books, not in the 17th century castillian Spain full of Sanchos.





Commentary In the novel of Don Quijote de la Mancha the dialogues between Don Quijote and Sancho Panza play a fundamental role. Its main characteristic is their naturality, their serious tone, the fluent speech and the colloquial style. It has several functions, one of them being the narrative function because the dialogues substitute a narrator, another one being characterisation: with its chivalrous and formal registers Don Quijote represents the aristocracy and Sancho Panza, with a more colloquial register, the lower social classes. Through the dialogues we not only learn about their social class, but we also learn about their personality: Don Quijote represents the perspective of the ideal knight, the romantic dreamer that refuses to see the reality, who believes innocently that there is only right and wrong and that he can make a difference. Sancho is a down to earth person, realistic and cautious, and at the same time very comic through his use of popular proverbs. Just like Falstaff, he accompanies his master through different adventures, always trying to bring Don Quijote closer to the reality he refuses to see. Like the characters of Falstaff and Prince Harry, they complement each other in their speech: if Don Quijote masters the more poetical and formal registers, he does often switch to a more colloquial style when he is trying to explain the world of chivalry to Sancho, and so does Sancho try to adapt his vulgar, more colloquial way of speaking with a more elevated style that will show his politeness towards his master. To show how this works, we will have a look at Chapter XXXI, of the first part of the novel. This is an example of a parody of a chivalrous situation: Sancho Panza has been sent to hand a letter to Dulcinea del Toboso, where Don Quijote expresses his love for her, as is the manner in the code of knights, however nothing turns out to be like the chivalric novels that Don Quijote has read and he is puzzled by the account Sancho Panza gives when he returns from his mission. A proof of Don Quijote idealistic vision of the world can be found in his use of similes and metaphors: he calls Dulcinea “aquella reina de la hermosura” (line 2) or “que los granos de aquel trigo eran granos de perlas, tocados de sus manos”, or “aquella rosa entre espinas, aquel lirio del campo, aquel ámbar desleído”(line 34-35). He uses a very poetic language every time he refers to his beloved one, juxtaposed to the reality explained by Sancho. Don Quijote uses formal language when he tries to imagine what Dulcinea must have been doing or to explain the ceremony of receiving such a letter according to the chivalric code, but he also uses quite frequently imperative verbs such as “prosigue”, “haz”, “pasa”, “acaba, cuétamelo”, which on the one hand portray his eagerness to hear Sancho’s account and on the other hand convey the hierarchical relation master-servant. Don Quijote’s blindness to see the reality is emphasized by the use of adverbs and verbs of certainty or probability : “A buen seguro que” (line 2), “Pues yo te aseguro” (line 8), “sin duda alguna” (line 8-9), “eso debió ser”(line 14), he claims to know how Dulcinea reacted to the letter, but what Sancho tells is quite a different story, and that is why Sancho uses frequently negative sentences to answer Don Quijote: “No la hallé sino…” (line 4), “No era sino…” (line 7),“no la leyó” (line 41), “no sabía leer ni escribir” (line 41). In the formal language of Don Quijote repetitions are avoided with circumlocutions like the one in line 15: “Y en tanto que estaba en su menester”. Cervantes also uses archaic overloaded expressions, such as in line 15: “¿qué coloquios pasó contigo?”. Don Quijote’s language becomes at some points more poetic through the use of hyperbaton, like in line 21: “En decir que maldecía mi fortuna dijiste mal”. When a word has a double meaning, Don Quijote understands and uses only the metaphorical sense and fails to understand the literal sense, for example with the word “alta”, that Sancho uses all the time in a literal sense and that Don Quijote understands only in a metaphorical sense (lines 23 to 28). The chivalrous register in Don Quijote’s speech is quite obvious when he tries to explain the customs in the chivalric code in the novels he has read: “Porque es usada y antigua costumbre entre los caballeros y damas andantes dar a los escuderos, doncellas o enanos que les llevan nuevas, de sus damas a ellos, a ellas de sus andantes, alguna rica joya en albricias, en agradecimiento de su recado”.(lines 53 to 55) Sancho’s language represents here the juxtaposition of the chivalric world with the real one: not only does he use the negative sentences mentioned before to try to convince Don Quijote that the world of knightly customs does not correspond to reality but he also does so in a very comic, naive way. He uses mainly the colloquial register, with common vocabulary, as opposed to the more prosaic language of Don Quijote: “ahechando dos anegas de trigo en un corral de su casa” (line 4), “ella estaba en la fuga del meneo de una buena parte de trigo que tenía en la criba” (lines 12). As he tells the story of what happened, he even brings up a topic which is taboo in the chivalric world, the one of the smell of Dulcinea’s sweat, and he describes it with plain words: “un olorcillo algo hombruno”, “estaba sudada y algo correosa” (line 32), juxtaposed to Don Quijote’s previous poetic suggestions: “un olor sabeo, una fragancia aromática” (line 29). This dialogue also contains one of the so called “sanchismos”, one of his proverbs: “pero no hay de qué maravillarse, que un Diablo parece a otro” (line 37), diametrically opposed to the initial description of Dulcinea as “reina de la hermosura” (line 2). The whole chivalric world that Don Quijote tries to build through his choice of metaphors, similes, complex sentences, clashes and at the same time complements itself in the colloquial register of Sancho, who also tries to show politeness by expressions such as “vuestra merced” every time he mentions Don Quijote. Sancho includes in his speeches some elements from an elevated style but fails to do so till the end, as can be seen in the sentence lines 17to 20: “mas yo le dije de la manera que vuestra merced, por su servicio, quedaba haciendo penitencia, desnudo de la cintura arriba, metido en estas tierras como si fuera salvaje, durmiendo en el suelo, sin comer pan a manteles ni sin peinarse la barba, llorando y maldiciendo su fortuna”, where the first part of the sentence corresponds to a more prosaic, elevated style and the second part becomes again more colloquial. Therefore what has been observed in this chapter of Don Quijote de la Mancha is something equivalent to what Shakespeare does in Henry IV: a masterly alternation of registers within a continuum ranging from formal language to colloquial style. Don Quijote’s elevated poetic speech is at points influenced by Sancho’s colloquial style and so does Sancho try, not only to stick to colloquial language but to honour the person he serves by using some aspects of his master’s language. It is this juxtaposition of speech styles that creates the fantastic parody of the chivalric world that only exists in books, not in the 17th century castillian Spain full of Sanchos.