Each author has a point of view from which he or she invents and create his or her own characters and adventures. Some novels are written in first person narratives, but Cervantes, Don Quixote is from an omniscient point of view who can see into each character and depict past and future events at each point in the narrative, which would appear to some as though the story actually happened. Don Quixote is supposed to be a history and thus gives Cervantes certain restrictions and advantages.
He must give facts of what clearly occurs at each part of the story, he cannot invent attributes of his characters without relaying those qualities by actions. As a historian, he describes the characters actions and qualities in great detail. To further this ideal of verisimilitude Cervantes invents the narrator, Cide Hamet Benengali. This narrator becomes part of the story which makes one think that the history of Don Quixote could have been real. Based on these facts one would believe that Cervantes is trying to achieve verisimilitude.
Don Quixote, returning from his first attack at the inn to obtain fresh linen, some money, and a squire, “one of his neighbors, a country laborer, and good honest fellow, for he was poor indeed: poor in purse and poor in brains. ” From this quick introduction of what would become one of the funnier characters in this literary work an ignorant, unwilling, money seeking squire who eventually becomes wise and like don Quixote in some areas. We may assume that Cervantes had not at first realized the possibilities of Sancho.
This shows that don Quixote is not a history of truth but just a novel created by Cervantes. One could believe that Cervantes wrote Don Quixote in order to put down the influence of those empty books of chivalry and courtly love as well as to provide some humor, original, and sometimes prudent material for his readers’ entertainment. Whether or not the author truly believed this, Cervantes did make a complete end to further publications of chivalric romances.
Despite the harmful extravagances of this novel, this form of writing has one advantage over more truthful literary forms, Cervantes has endless possibilities to what stories and attributes he can create for his characters. It appears in many parts of the book that Cervantes is trying to achieve verisimilitude, And also that he wants Don Quixote to be thought of as a history book and not a novel created by Himself.
Though this is apparent Cervantes reveals throughout Don Quixote the mistakes that undermine his goal of making the book to be thought of as history, not as a novel. Cervantes, Don Quixote is a complex book which will not leave the same opinion on Each individual reader. Some may think that Cervantes was actually trying to achieve Verisimilitude, but it is hard to come to that conclusion because of the absurd actions and quests that Don Quixote embarks on. Therefore it is believed that Cervantes, Don Quixote was just a popular novel invented by himself.
