SLS 302 Don quixote

humanities question and need the explanation and answer to help me learn.

By the end of next week, if nor earlier, you will have finished reading part one of Don Quixote. Congratulations! Critics and readers over the centuries have been divided over their preference for part one or part two of this famous novel. I must admit that I am a bigger fan of part two. For me, the second part is more tightly written, clever in its use of literary techniques, and the friendship between the two main characters, Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, becomes even deeper. Still, part one is a true gem too.
By the end of part one, we see how other characters in the novel are themselves caught up in Don Quixote’s “game” of chivalry. For example, the priest and barber, who always claim they simply want to help Don Quixote gain his reason, actually end up disguising themselves as a damsel in distress and her squire in order to trick Don Quixote in returning to his village. Also, Dorothea offers to “play” the role of the distressed damsel Princess Micomicona in the plot to lure Don Quixote home. And even Sancho, who has been the voice of reason throughout part one, “plays” along by making up a story that Dulcinea was at work and didn’t have the time to read Don Quixote’s letter. In sum, a collective madness and play-acting intensify in the last chapters of part one.
I ask that you please re-read chapter 38 in which the so-called “mad” Don Quixote lectures brilliantly on the superiority of knights/men of arms over scholars/men of letters. Indeed, Don Quixote is very articulate and well-reasoned in the arguments he makes.
For assignment #4, I ask you to write a 2-3 page essay in which you take a position on Don Quixote’s mental health. In fact, Cervantes never gives us a verdict on this matter, rather leaving it open for each reader. Don Quixote’s “madness” or “insanity” has been the subject of much controversy among readers and literary critics over the years. Is he really crazy or is his behavior a choice that he has made? Please use two examples from part one of the novel to support your ideas.
Requirements: 2 pages

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