Don Quixote De La Mancha Summary And Analysis

While satire isn’t necessarily a genre of writing in itself, it has proven to be a rather useful and unique form of writing in order to convey many different messages. For the most part, satire is the use of irony, sarcasm, humor, and even exaggeration to express a negative opinion against current events occurring around the writer. According to Megan LeBoeuf, a student at the University of Rhode Island, in an essay she wrote entitled The Power of Ridicule: An Analysis of Satire, she states, “Satire also has the ability to protect its creator from culpability for criticism, because it is implied rather than overtly stated.” Most writers use satire as an undercover and covert way to speak about social and political issues in order to evoke change, without the writer necessarily having to take the blame. In both Don Quixote de la Mancha, one of the first European novels by Miguel de Cervantes, and The Monkey and the Monk: An Abridgement of the Journey to the West, a Chinese novel translated by Anthony C. Yu, the use of satire gives both writers a voice against the religious and political issues of their time.

For Miguel de Cervantes, the application of satire within his novel Don Quixote de la Mancha proved to be very beneficial in allowing him to criticize the authorities of his time. In using satire, Cervantes was able to outsmart the censorship that existed during the time period he lived in while still giving them a piece of his mind. His views on society may not have been appreciated if he’d just come out and said how he felt, but wrapped up in humorous and extremely ironic situations, Cervantes was able to allow his opinion to be received without offending anyone and being reprimanded in the process.

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...re humorous form of satire within his novel, Kabir’s satiric works take on a more serious note. While Kabir was illiterate and therefore unable to compose his oral works, his work was still able to be recorded and spread throughout India, making him one of the most popular and quoted poet in India for the last thousand years. While Kabir also had many other types of works, it was his satire that allowed him to deliver his opinion on religion and the society he lived in. According to the Norton Anthology of World Literature, “He [Kabir] is likely to have been persecuted equally by orthodox Hindus, conservative Muslims, and political authorities for his outspoken criticism of society and organized religion.” Kabir had a strong opinion against organized religion and the ascription of human characteristics to God that took away from the purity of God in Kabir’s eyes.