In Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes, the main character embarks on a journey to dramatize the wandering of the knights, transfiguring the Spanish countryside daily in his world. his own creation, modeled on the many chivalric novels he has read and an alternate reality in which the knight-errant Don Quixote, and not the aging hidalgo Alonso Quixano, acts and exists. Armed with a horse, a squire, and a resolute belief in the truth and sanctity of his own ideals, Don Quixote's attempt to subvert objective reality in favor of fantasy is marred only by unwelcome intrusion of nature. The foundations of his idealism and intellectualism begin to corrode as his adventures and difficulties inevitably lead Don Quixote to feel fatigue, hunger, desire, and other reminders of his own physicality that he wishes to deny . Above all, it is pain which appears to be the main obstacle for Don Quixote, whose illusions are shattered by the various acts of violence which punctuate the plot. Like Michel de Montaigne in his essay “On Experience,” Cervantes presents pain as an example of human existence and a source of enlightenment. Ultimately, although Don Quixote's and Montaigne's respective attitudes toward pain differ, it is through physical suffering in Don Quixote and "On Experience" that both come to know each other. and to reconcile the complex relationship between mind and body. Say no to plagiarism. . Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Don Quixote's first encounters with the hostile forces of the outside world end in defeat and injury. His provocations show his total lack of self-awareness in relation to his own body; Apparently unaware or undeterred by his fragile and dilapidated physical state, the “skinny” and “emaciated” Don Quixote enters the battle alone, clearly outnumbered and under-equipped (Cervantes 19). Psychologically and emotionally detached from the physical side of his nature, he regards his pain as a mere externality and takes no personal responsibility for his injuries: "he nevertheless considered himself lucky, for it seemed to him that it was the kind of accident which happened to the knights. wandering, and he attributed it all to the misstep of his horse, but his body was so bruised and beaten that it was not possible for him to stand” (Cervantes 41). In the aftermath of his beating, it is both ironic and fitting that Don Quixote - as someone who places the needs of the mind above the body - immediately attempts to get back on his feet, only to be disappointed by the seriousness of his bodily injuries. Don Quixote does not seem to feel or react to pain as normal humans do, a phenomenon illustrated by his refusal to talk about it: "and if I don't complain about pain, it's because it's not the habit of knights-errant to complain of any wound, even if their bowels overflow with it” (Cervantes 60). Unlike Montaigne, who "considers nothing useful that is not painful", Don Quixote refuses to approach or confront the reality of his pain, and is thus rendered incapable of conceiving of his physical suffering in terms of utility and of potentially beneficial quality. (Montaigne 370). After this disastrous first outing, Don Quixote persists in placing himself in equally precarious and dangerous situations, culminating in the definitively futile struggle he leads against the windmills. His stubborn refusal to learn from his pain and his inability to evaluate andto perceive his pain as an essential aspect of his experience places him among those who "lack the spirit to examine and apply the events which occur before [their] eyes, or who want the judgment to estimate their value as an example" ( Montaigne 364). By his willingness to incite violence against himself and by his subsequent refusal of self-knowledge and the importance of pain, Don Quixote distinguishes himself from Montaigne. Montaigne writes: “I thank fortune for having attacked me so often with the same kind of weapons. She adopts me and trains me to resist them through use; she gets me used to it and gets used to it. I now know more or less what it will cost me to get rid of it” (Montaigne 377-378). For Montaigne, the pain he experiences is far from the one-dimensional and completely destructive force that Don Quixote considers it to be - while Don Quixote continues to make the same tactical errors so that his wounds accumulate and increase in scale and severity. magnitude, Montaigne's illness allows him to better understand the functioning of his own body and to demystify the roots of his pain. While Montaigne's knowledge emerges from the practical experience he acquired, Don Quixote instead attempts to apply the false information he acquired reading chivalrous novels to real-life scenarios. Unlike Montaigne, who urges those who suffer to learn from nature, which “understands its business better than we do,” Don Quixote turns instead to the very source of the fantasies that led him to his state of illusion and denial. : “seeing, then, as in fact he could not move, he took refuge in his usual remedy, which was to think about a situation taken from his books” (Montaigne 373, Cervantes 41). Don Quixote once again reveals himself to be the example of the very people Montaigne denounces, someone who “accepts no proof that is not printed, who only believes a man in a book” (Montaigne 374 ). “On Experience,” Montaigne provides insight into Don Quixote's seemingly inexplicable actions, explaining that “it is easier to follow art than nature, but it is also much less noble and praiseworthy. Greatness of soul is not so much about rising high and moving forward. knowing how to adapt and limit yourself. He takes as great whatever is merely sufficient, and shows his distinction by preferring what is moderate to what is remarkable. There is nothing so beautiful as playing a man well, and there is. nothing more difficult to learn than to live this life well and naturally” (Montaigne 399-400). Turning to imagination rather than experience as guide and teacher, Don Quixote refuses Sancho's practical suggestion of "lint" and "balm" as a remedy for his wounds, opting instead for "a vial of the balm of Fierabras, because a single drop saves time and medicine” (Cervantes 71, 72). His rejection of common, reliable and effective techniques in favor of an imaginary healing potion reveals the extent of his supposed madness and his detachment from physical reality. The potion illustrates his desire to circumvent the limits of human medicine and his own weakened body: "Don Quixote himself wanted to test the virtue of what he imagined to be the precious balm, and so he drank it... as soon as he finished drinking. he began to vomit until there was nothing left in his stomach, and with the nausea and agitation of vomiting, he began to sweat profusely, so he ordered him to be wrapped well and to leave him alone. This they did, and he slept for more than three hours, and when he awoke his body felt so relieved and so much better after being beaten, that he considered himself cured; he truly believed he had found the balm of Fierabras, and that with. 397).