Don Quixote notes (through Pt. 1 Ch. 18)

It is possible that, later in the novel or in the second part of the novel (written and published a few years after the first part), the author began to identify with Don Quixote, leading the readers/commentators to do the same. It is apparent to me, however, that it is not so in the beginning. 

So far, I am surprised by the amount of violence in the novel. I guess it is intended to mimic/spoof the Arthurian romance that it makes fun of? It is not quite accurate to say that Don Quixote "gets into fights" with other people and, more often than not, gets beaten up. Rather, he is the instigator in almost all of the incidents. That he ends up worse off, because the opponents often outnumber him, is a separate matter. In the first episode before Sancho Panza joins his quest, he cracks the heads of a couple of unsuspecting guys who were just trying to water their mules. In a later quest, he kills seven sheep on the road. I guess the fact that he initiates the acts of violence does not matter a lot to commentators because a) we are told he is crazy, and b) he gets beaten up as a consequence. Nevertheless, I want to make a note of it. Rather than interpreting the series of incidents as idealism being crushed by reality, I see the novel more as an exploration of cause and effect, initiation of action and uncontrollable consequences. 

Another observation is how much sex drives the violence. In most but not all of the episodes so far, his sexual desire is the motivation or trigger. This is particularly explicit at the inn where an Asturian maid is on her way to another man but grabbed and groped by Don Quixote instead. This follows the curious episode in which his horse Rosinante got in trouble for doing pretty much the same thing. It is hard to blame it on the fantasy of chivalry, except that the fantasy of chivalry contains a lot of sexual desire cloaked in violence and an honor code. 

One could argue that Don Quixote and Sancho Panza are two aspects of one person. The former represents an artificial and wishful view of the world through the lens of romantic fiction --- or any kind of fiction, including but not limited to honor codes and morality. The latter is at least an attempt to see the world (including cause and effect, initiation of action and consequences, as noted above) as it truly is. That Sancho serves Don Quixote rather than the other way around, is an interesting premise.