Ch 5 (cont) Dulcinea as Jarifa? Well, yes & "Jayanes in the dance, too"

Before taking a nap, DQ invokes the story of a Muslim princess:

Along the way, DQ insists that his rescuer is an imagined uncle and renowned knight-errant; but check out what he says about his fictional Dulcinea.

Sepa vuestra merced, señor don Rodrigo de Narváez, que esta hermosa Jarifa que he dicho es ahora la linda Dulcinea del Toboso por quien yo he hecho, hago y haré los más famosos hechos de caballerías que se han visto, vean ni verán en el mundo .

That your mercy, señor don Rodrigo de Narváez may know that the beautiful Jarifa, of whom I have spoken is now the beautiful Dulcinea del Toboso on whose behalf I have done, am doing and will continue to do the most famous knightly deeds that have ever been seen, are being seen or ever will be seen in the world.

Jarifa is a fictional, beautiful Moorish princess. 

Jarifa appears in an anonymous, so called, Moorish novel - novela morisca, entitled Historia del Abencerraje y de la hermosa Jarifa (Toledo, 1561).

What are we to make of this twist? -  a delusional Spanish knight announces that NOW his own highest, most beautiful patroness is a version of a Muslim princess.

Cervantes is creating circles within circles. 

His fictional creation, the hidalgo Quijana takes an assumed identity, don Quijote, who believes he has become the inspired protector of a Spanish princess, who is actually a farm girl that Quijana had a crush on. Now we are told, Dulcinea is a stand-in for a fictional Muslim princess. But Cervantes' hero, Quijana-Quijote, is insane. 

We are not going to dwell on the Jarifa-Dulcinea association since the story does not, but we at least take note. 

For a transport into a mood closer to all of these mythical characters, you are invited to listen to an annoyingly brief cut from #10 on the album El QUIJOTE,Romances, canciones y Danzas.

(You can hear the complete recording elsewhere, such as on "I Heart Radio" with a membership.)

Back to the plot:

DQ's peasant neighbor manages to get him on his feet and mounted up and then delivers him to his hacienda, where the rescuer, Pedro Alonzo, overhears the curate, the barber, the housekeeper and DQ's niece in a state of worry about the disappearance of their hidalgo.

The housekeeper - ama de casa - called here, ama, blames DQ's habits of reading as the cause of his insanity. She fetches a saucer of holy water and a sprinkler, so the burning of the heretical books may be sanctioned by holy ritual.

The ama may have a point about the drastic influence of the books on DQ's mental state.

DQ's niece chimes in - after a long bout of reading, DQ would slash the wall with his sword, reaching a state of exhaustion and shouting that he had just dispatched "giants" with the evidence being his sweat, which he took for blood seeping from his wounds. DQ would then make himself worse by drinking a large amount of cold water.

Pedro Alonzo, neighborly rescuer of DQ, having arrived outside the hacienda with DQ loaded on Rocinante, overhears this discussion. He enters the conversation by announcing the return of the knight-errant and himself as a knight of French legend.

DQ refuses to answer questions but insists that he needs medical attention; DQ ask for Urganda - fictional enchantress who came to the aid of  the iconic knight-errant Amadis de Gaula. The housekeeper refuses this request, saying no one needs a hurgada, a meddler (I think, is what is meant here.)

Medical aid denied him, DQ wishes only to eat and then sleep, having dispatched a number of "giants" before suffering injury occasioned by the antics of his horse.

¿Jayanes hay en la danza? Para mi santiguada que yo los queme mañana antes que llegue la noche.

"Are there giants (jayanes, wild men) in the dance?" 

asks the curate. If so, then books will need to be burned:

"By my sign of the Cross, I will burn them tomorrow before dusk."

With DQ tucked in, the discussion continues, in Chapter Six, not about whether but which books are tossed out on to the patio to be burned.

By your name, shall your qualities be known . . . Really?

Chapter One

By your name, shall your qualities be known.

This seems to be the controlling idea, as the hidalgo Quixada prepares for his new life as a knight-errant.

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?