Ambiguous Faith
Faith is a curious thing, pondered and questioned for longer than we could ever know. Where do we come from? Why are we here? Through this questioning, faith and religion have emerged, attempting to answer that which we can never know for sure. One's early beliefs grow and expand to include doctrine and creed. Sometimes, strong faith leads to fanaticism, where doubt and reason are shoved aside and only faith is considered. As faith is strengthened, where do we draw the line separating faith and fanaticism? Don Quixote dives into the grey area between faith and fanaticism, and his ultimate concern of chivalry combines with his incredible imagination to lead him on the countless adventures found in Cervantes' novel.
Don Quixote exemplifies two different types of faith. First he shows a good faith by being admirable, wise, and godly. This manifests in several different ways. The Don shows good faith when he has good intentions. In Chapter IV Don Quixote finds a rich farmer, Juan Haldudo, whipping his young servant, Andreś, for carelessly losing sheep. The Don tells Juan to pay Andrés immediately, but settles for Juan's word that if Andrés comes home, Juan will pay him the wages due to him (42). Don Quixote has good intentions here, sticking up for the boy in the face of a cheating master. Another way the Don shows good faith is by seeing the good in others. The first time he visits the inn, he mistakes two prostitutes he meets outside for princesses. He then proceeds to flatter the women both at the gate and over dinner. The women play along with him for jest, seeing that the Don has clearly gone mad (32). This example is not only evidence of the Don's madness but more importantly, it is an example of his seeing the good in people. These women were a pair of prostitutes, fit for muleteers, but the Don sees them as princesses and shows them great respect. He is also able to enjoy his dinner at the inn despite having his helmet stuck on his head because he believes he is in a great castle where princesses are entertaining him. He considers the innkeeper a knight worthy of leading his knighting ceremony and almost gets scammed in the process. In a different inn, Don Quixote mistakes the hunchbacked servant Maritornes for a beautiful princess who has fallen in love with him and has promised to sleep with him that night. In Chapter XII, the Don encounters a chain gang of galley slaves. Don Quixote sees them not as the criminals they are but as innocent men detained against their will. These are only a few examples among the countless instances where the Don sees the “inner knight” in those he meets along his journeys. This leads to the third facet of Don Quixote's good faith, his optimism due to his fantasies. When he is caged by the barber and the priest, he accepts their explanation that he is under an enchantment (431). This acceptance makes his captivity more bearable, an advantage of optimism. A similar situation occurs in Chapter VII, when the Don is back in his own home. He wakes to find the priest and the barber. Having walled up the entrance to the library, his so-called friends tell him that an enchanter has carries off his books and the library itself. Two days later, his niece tells him that an enchanter came on a cloud with a dragon, took the books due to a grudge held against the Don, and left the house full of smoke. Don Quixote believes her and explains that he recognizes this enchanter as his arch-rival. Like a child, Don Quixote accepts absurd explanations and even lets his imagination take these explanations to a new level, as we see here with taking the story of an enchanter and turning it into a story of his arch-rival enchanter. In this isolated situation, however, the expanded story served only to motivate Don Quixote. This foolish belief is not bad when alone; simple belief in these outrageous tales leads only to the improved happiness and morale of the Don himself. Don Quixote's good faith also includes situations where his imagination turns foolish but does not lead to anyone else's harm. The most famous example of this occurs when the Don mistakes a field of windmills for giants. He rushes at one with his lance, only to get caught in the windmill's sail and thrown to the ground (64). His actions in these situations lead only to his own embarrassment or slight harm, but not to the harm of others, preserving their designation as actions based upon good faith.
Don Quixote also shows a bad faith, one that is negative, foolish, and fanatical. The first aspect of the Don's bad faith is his foolish belief. In the first chapter, the Don polishes his old family armor and makes a visor for his helmet out of cardboard (29). He foolishly believes that old armor and a cardboard visor are adequate protection against the dangers he will face. The next aspect of Don Quixote's bad faith is his naïve trust in others. In the previously mentioned situation when the Don met a rich farmer beating his young servant boy, the Don's good intentions of sparing the boy were undermined by his own misguided trust in the knighthood of the farmer. Don Quixote simply gives his orders to the farmer and walks away, happy with his first successful adventure. Unfortunately, because the Don doesn't accompany the pair to see his orders carried out, the boy ends up receiving an even worse flogging at Juan's home.
This leads into the next aspect of Don Quixote's bad faith: the harm of others, especially innocent people. This theme is prevalent throughout the text and is the most commonly reoccurring manifestation of the Don's bad faith. In Chapter VIII, Don Quixote and Sancho encounter two Benedictine friars and a carriage carrying a lady and her Basque squire. The Don thinks that the two monks are enchanters who have captured a princess. He attacks them, knocking one monk off his mule. Just as this fight is ending and the Don is telling the lady to return to Toboso and present herself to Dulcinea, an argument breaks out between Don Quixote and the Basque. After a dramatic battle and a break in the storytelling by Cervantes, the fight continues. The Basque splits the Don's ear and the Don knocks the man down threatening to kill him, but Don Quixote spares the man's life when promised that all involved would present themselves to Dulcinea (67). Throughout the novel, Don Quixote is a very likable character except for his nasty habit of harming others for no reason. This is the most visible aspect of his bad faith. Another aspect of this bad faith by way of harming others manifests when the Don makes promises no one would ever expect him to keep. One specific example of this is his promise to Sancho that he will make Sancho governor of an island if Sancho leaves his wife and children to become the Don's squire (61). Even though the Don wholeheartedly believes that he will win an island for Sancho, and even though he ends up winning an island for Sancho, this is still an example of Don Quixote's delusions putting others in harm's way.
The final manifestation of the Don's bad faith occurs when the Don has fantasies that lead to his own harm, beyond mere embarrassment. An example of this occurs when the Don mixes together the Balsam of Fierbras, which the Don says has the power to cure any wound. However, when Don Quixote drinks the freshly-made balsam, he proceeds only to vomit, writhe, and sweat before being wrapped up and falling asleep (131).
Don Quixote's faith, both good and bad, is tied to his books of chivalry as well as his imagination. In this way, they are incredibly similar. In order to detect the difference between his good and bad faith, one must examine the harm that comes to others and to himself. Belief and imagination are one thing; acting on that belief and imagination is something entirely different. One can believe any number of harmful and dangerous things; belief alone is nothing. A sole belief is contained within oneself and can therefore do no harm; however, once action enters the picture, even the most trivial of beliefs, such as a literal belief in books of chivalry, can turn dangerous. Action takes belief from within oneself and promulgates it to other people . In the case of Don Quixote, his actions based on faith directly expose countless people to imminent danger. There is a difference however in Don Quixote's motivation to act in good or bad faith. The Don's ideals of helping the innocent and avenging wrongs can lead to acting on good faith. We see this in the story of the rich farmer flogging his servant boy (42); however, the chivalric belief that knights are permitted to use violence in the pursuit of justice leads to the Don's attacks against innocent people, making it an action of bad faith.
Don Quixote is a very complex character. The novel starts off portraying this lovable, crazy old man who thinks prostitutes are princesses and who lances windmills because he thinks they are giants. However, as the novel continues, Don Quixote becomes less and less likable as he harms others and floats off into the deep end of madness. The duality of Don Quixote's behavior is mirrored by the duality of his faith. He is admirable in his aid of the innocent against much stronger evils and fanatical in his use of violence when only a passing “hello” would be sufficient. Don Quixote's complex character at once makes him endearing and repulsive, since it is apparent that his fantasies and good intentions sometimes bring pain to others. The specific criterion in Don Quixote that distinguishes between good faith and bad faith is the harm of others. On the surface, Cervantes seems to be saying that it is alright to be crazy and delusional as long as you stay to yourself, but once you harm others it is no longer alright. Analysis of the Don's faith reveals that although it is very specific in its distinguishing factors, it is a metaphor for the relationship between overall good and bad faith. Good and bad faith are very much interconnected. Practicing Muslims, who are righteous, godly, and generally respectable people, believe the same things and study the same texts as extremist Muslims like the ones who perpetrated the September 11 attacks on our country. Christians we see at church each Sunday, our neighbors and friends, believe in the same things and study the same texts as members of the Ku Klux Klan. Faith itself has a duality, a good side and a bad side, a yin and a yang. The challenge in being a person of faith is counteracting that duality while still growing in faith. The Don is never actually successful at this counteraction. As his faith in the books of chivalry grows, Don Quixote never seems to move out of limbo, always showing aspects of both his good and bad faith. This is not an ideal situation; the goal of growing faith would seem to be increasing the good faith while moving farther and farther away from the bad faith. Don Quixote, in strengthening his faith in chivalry, should be helping the innocent and pursuing justice more while harming innocent people less often and using something other than violence in the pursuit of justice. He makes strides in this direction in Chapter XLIV; Don Quixote, through words alone, successfully persuaded the two guests to cease beating the innkeeper. Unfortunately, this is followed by a brawl with a goatherd and an attack on a group of penitents, signifying that the effort to have only good faith is futile.
Through the duality of Don Quixote, Cervantes asserts that faith not balanced by doubt or reason ultimately leads to fanaticism. This is mirrored Consider Genesis 22, the story of Abraham sacrificing Isaac, his only son. Abraham had such an immense amount of faith that on God's command he dropped everything and prepared to give up the continuation of his family, the one thing God had ever promised him. Abraham's faith crossed the line when he took the knife to his own son's throat without a second thought, mindlessly following the orders of the same God he had laughed at and questioned previously. In Chapter IV, the Don meets a group of merchants from Toledo. He threatens the merchants, saying that they can proceed no further until they all confess Dulcinea the most beautiful maiden in the world. When they ask for a picture in order to confess her unrivaled beauty, Don Quixote says, “what merit would there be in confessing so manifest a truth? The whole point is that, without seeing her, you must believe, confess, affirm, swear and uphold it.” Don Quixote's faith in Dulcinea's beauty has turned fanatic; he has turned to using physical force to persuade others to believe as he does. He is so lacking of doubt that he will not take the opportunity to confirm his faith in Dulcinea's beauty by looking at a picture of her. As early as Chapter III, the Don's faith in his books of chivalry has turned fanatic as well. During his first stay at the inn, Don Quixote knocked one guest unconscious and smashed the skull of another, just because the guests tried to move his armor from the well where it was resting. Would any person with an ounce of reason smash in a stranger's skull solely for moving that person's possessions? Would any sane person in that situation be free from all doubt, no matter the consequences? The answer in both cases is no. While the Don's faith has a positive side to it, the negative side overcomes him in the end. Don Quixote has great faith without doubt and beyond all reason; this boundless faith, no matter the several positive aspects, ultimately leads to fanaticism.
Works Cited
Saavedra, Miguel De Cervantes. Don Quixote (Penguin Classics). Trans. John Rutherford. New York: Penguin Classics, 2003. Print.
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