Main Themes - Don Quixote

Reliable Narration and the Aesthetics of Accuracy: From the beginning of the novel, the narrative's accuracy is called into question. In terms of authorship, Cervantes tells us that he has found this story and translated it from the work of a Moor named Cid Hamet Ben Engeli. Cervantes continually tells us that Ben Engeli cannot be trusted because he is a Moor. In an exterior frame, the narrative is immediately destabilized. Within the novel, Don …

…o be a prophet, foretelling Quixote's triumphal return home. When Quixote speaks to the Princess Micomicona he does no think to ask 'Where is Dorotea?' because he does not Dorotea. But when the barber disappears in and out of costume, Quixote remains deceived. Indeed, the characters do not even bother wearing their disguises at one point because Quixote is so deep within his fantasy that there is no risk of him perceiving reality.