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...eyond the middle ages, or possibly set during the renaissance. The plot of the novel is about a man known only as Don Quixote. It is a name he gives himself at the beginning of the novel. He is portrayed as an avid reader of books on knight errantry and chivalry. Quixote decides to take up a quest as the famous people he so enjoys reading about, “valorous knights who dedicated themselves to lofty goals and to beautiful damsels for whom they were willing to risk everything.” (Friedman, pg. 23-intro) This is the root that initiates Quixote to take up a journey himself. Much like the knights in the books he reads about, he decides to fight in the name of a beautiful damsel- “At last he resolved to call her Dulcinea of El Toboso…” (Cervantes, pg.61). Don Quixote is completely enamoured with Dulcinea and hopes that one day she will reciprocate his love. It is clear however in the novel that she does not know whom he is. On Don Quixote’s first sally he travels alone and finds himself at an inn, “no sooner did he see the inn than it assumed in his eyes the semblance of a castle with four turrets…” (Cervantes, pg.64). Don Quixote finds himself at what he imagines to be a castle. During the night he gets himself into a skirmish with the staff at the inn. The innkeeper manages to break up the ensuing fight and agrees to “knight” Don Quixote with the understanding that he will leave and return home to acquire a squire and money. Upon his arrival back in the town he gathers money and locates a squire, one Sancho Panza. He convinces his recruit to come along by promising that he one day may become a governor of his own island. When he leaves the town once again, they come across a field of windmills. Don Quixote imagines them to be giants. He believes that by slaying the group he is closer to winning his battle. Try as he might, Sancho Panza cannot stop his master and Don Quixote charges. When contact is made with the windmill the sail is torn and Quixote falls to the ground. “Moreover, I am convinced, and that is the truth, that the magician Freston, the one who robbed me of my study and books, has changed those giants into windmills to deprive me of the glory of victory” (Cervantes, pg. 99) Don Quixote refuses to accept reality...