Chapter One
By your name, shall your qualities be known.
First, his steed:
". . . después de muchos nombres que formó, borró y quitó, añadió, deshizo y tornó a hacer en su memoria e imaginación, al fin le vino a llamar Rocinante nombre, a su parecer, alto, sonoro y significativo de lo que había sido cuando fue rocín, antes de lo que ahora era, que era antes y primero de todos los rocines del mundo."
". . . after a multitude of names being composed, erased, rejected, combined, taken apart, and turned inside out by his memory and imagination, at last he came to call him Rocinante, which seemed to him lofty, sonorous, and which signified what he had been, a hack before [rocin antes] to what he now had become - from then to now, foremost of all the hacks of all time."Then, himself:
". . . duró otros ocho días, y al cabo se vino a llamar don Quijote. . . . como buen caballero, añadir al suyo el nombre de la suya y llamarse don Quijote de la Mancha, con que, a su parecer, declaraba muy al vivo su linaje y patria, y la honraba con tomar el sobrenombre della."
" . . . he took another eight days, and finally came to call himself don Quijote. . . . like a good knight, adding the name of his [country and kingdom] and calling himself don Quijote of la Mancha, in this way, as it seemed to him, he asserted his lineage to be very much alive and his country very much honored by his taking his surname from it."Then, his Lady, Princess and Queen:
". . . el caballero andante sin amores era árbol sin hojas y sin fruto y cuerpo sin alma. . . . fue, a lo que se cree, que en un lugar cerca del suyo había una moza labradora de muy buen parecer, de quien él un tiempo anduvo enamorado, aunque, según se entiende, ella jamás lo supo, ni le dio cata dello. Llamábase Aldonza Lorenzo, y a ésta le pareció ser bien darle título de señora de sus pensamientos; y, buscándole nombre que no desdijese mucho del suyo, y que tirase y se encaminase al de princesa y gran señora, vino a llamarla Dulcinea del Toboso, porque era natural del Toboso; nombre, a su parecer, músico y peregrino y significativo, como todos los demás que a él y a sus cosas había puesto."
". . . A knight-errant without loves is a tree without leaves or fruit, a body without a soul. . . . there had been, as the story goes, in a locale close to his own, a very good-looking farm-girl, whom he had once fallen for, even though, so it was thought, she never knew or gave a thought to it. She was Aldonza Lorenzo and to her, it seemed to him now, fitting to bestow the title of Señora, upon whom his strivings would be centered; and searching out a name that should not disharmonize with her own and that also should point and lead to a name fit for a princess or a great señora, he hit on calling her Dulcinea of Toboso, since she was from Toboso; this was a name, so it seemed to him, musical, high-minded, profound, exactly like the other names that he had chosen for himself and his accoutrements."I think Cervantes invites us to see through the pitiful pretense to the humor in hidalgo Quixada's deranged preparations.
Rocinante
Quijote's work horse is to become the grandest steed, by a change of name, with the new name a pun on the old horse's actual lot in life, a workhorse. But now a war horse.
don Quijote
Is this name supposed to bring to mind Sir Lancelot? - Lansarote, in Spanish.
Dulcinea of Toboso
Quijote's reverenced damsel is a farm-girl, who knows nothing of her present fanciful elevation in status, just as she knew nothing of Quixada's earlier fixation.
If we laugh at this deranged figure of a man, can we dislike him? Would it be possible to read a thousand pages about a personage you dislike?
Quijote is about (1) self-reinvention and (2) doing good in the world.
By investing his central figure with these promptings, does Cervantes expect the reader to know, these two motivations are profoundly human and equally difficult to accomplish? Are they?
Is a name merely a superficial title, with no reference to the inner person?
Might a change of name change your character?
Well, yes: Saul to Paul, Abram to Abraham and so forth. As you say, there is something pitiful about DQ starting off, as he does, with broken equipment on a broken down horse. A name change was in order, but a name not too different from the one he went by. And in that name he destroyed what he intended to preserve--the idea of chivalry. You could say he did okay by that name, even though.
ReplyDeleteOrbit21005, I tend to go after what I think Cervantes was trying to accomplish, since this work, broadly speaking, is satire. So, I agree with you that in picking for himself a new name, DQ "destroyed what he intended to preserve - the idea of chivalry." I would add, though, that this destruction is what Cervantes intended. Does jumping quickly, for the author's POV turn the characters into stick figures?
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