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Situational Irony
Key Examples in Don Quixote
Part 1, Chapter 2
Explanation and Analysis:
In Don Quixote, Cervantes adopts a style that highlights the role of the narrator and blends fact and fiction. Throughout the novel, the narrator comments upon his own narration of the story, which he claims to have read about in various real chronicles and “annals” held in La Mancha. He describes, for example, a degree of uncertainty in his sources regarding the “first adventure” of Don Quixote:
Some authors say that the first adventure that befell him was that of the Pass of Lápice, others claim that it was that of the windmills, but what I’ve been able to discover about this matter, and indeed what I’ve found recorded in the annals of La Mancha, is that he rode on throughout that day, and that at nightfall both he and his nag were exhausted and half dead from starvation; and that, looking all around to see if he could spot some castle or shepherds’ hut [...] he caught sight of an inn not far from the road.
Related Themes:
