Sophocles 'Oedipus Rex And Miguel De Cervantes'

In Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex and Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote, a confusion of identity stemming from the limits between reality and fantasy leads to the main character’s insanity. Both characters fall in social status as a result of their experienced psychotic tendencies. Through their failure to comprehend situations, culminating in naïve attempts at societal reparations and failed acts of charity contributes to the similar endings where the social statuses of Don Quixote and Oedipus fall. Both protagonists display hubris in the shared notion that their societies can be bettered through their conduct, when in reality they “end [up]…bringing far more evil than good to those [they try] to help” (Stepanian). Don Quixote sets out to become …show more content…
Additionally, both characters descend not only in hierarchical status but also into a decayed state of mind. Don Quixote completes what he believes to be courageous acts, but realistically are acts of foolery, until he is dragged home. Upon his first return home the whole village is convinced that he has gone insane, and eventually Don Quixote realizes that all his antics as pseudo-knight are fantasy and that literature cannot be brought into the real world. According to scholar Stanislav Zimic, Don Quixote’s “mental confusion” is caused by “not the type of literature itself” to which he blames, “but rather, above all, the state of mind, the discretion and the culture of the person that reads it” (Zimic). Quixote endures beatings and ridicule from his society, falling from a notable, respected member of society to the village fool, all whist remaining blind to his foolishness of his acts as a result of his insanity). According to Zimic’s analysis, Quixote is mentally ill himself and does not suffer from insanity due to the chivalric novels he reads, but due to his own upbringing and state of mind. Oedipus also suffers a descent in social hierarchy similar to that of Don Quixote. Upon searching for the identity of the previous king’s killer, Oedipus also comes across a realization that not only did he murder the king Laius, but he has also committed incest with his wife and mother. Both characters hide from their wrongdoings in shame, as they failed to understand and realize their true identities: Oedipus flees Thebes in order to avoid embarrassment, and Quixote hides out in his home until his eventual death. Ultimately, the confusion and misguided causes the descent both in status and sanity through an outside force: Don Quixote’s true identity becomes shattered through his obsession with literature, and