Amadis de gaula in don quijote.

Abstract

This study sets out to examine the role and importance of Amadis de Gaula in Cervantes' Don Quijote. Its aim is to show that the Quijote is peppered with elements from the Amadis and to assess the overall effect of these mentions. Each specific mention of characters, events, and places taken from the Amadls is extracted and discussed. Many of these mentions would in all probability be missed by the modern reader, especially outside Spain, without the help of authorial footnotes or of this sort of study. The Penance of Don Quijote is discussed in detail to show how his single most important imitation of his hero is bungled, and to advance the contention that the use of Amadis in Don Quijote is overwhelmingly, but not invariably, comic. A discussion of the distribution of these concrete mentions is included, to see how they fit in with the structure of Don Quijote, and the development of the protagonist. The character of Sancho Panza is scrutinized, in order to see whether, just as Don Quijote models himself on Amadls, Sancho is modelled to any great degree on Gandalin, Amadis' squire, or whether he owes his fame in any way to the Amadls. Finally there is a section on stylistic similarities between the two works, with particular reference to the use and retention of archaism by the authors. This concludes that Amadls escapes lightly from Cervantes’ parody by comparison with the later romances of chivalry. This thesis breaks little new ground, but by gathering together for the first time the elements in the Quijote which are drawn from the Amadis, it shows that the Amadis is at the core of much of the comedy of the Quijote, and that it contributes greatly to the humour to be found in Don Quijote.