The Duke and Duchess of Aragon

The Duke, The Duchess, and Don Quixote: The Duke of Aragon first hears of Don Quixote when the Duchess of Aragon tells her husband that Don Quixote introduced himself with great courtesy and elegance when she was out hunting. Awaiting his entrance with great Don Quixote officially announced pleasure, husband and wife intend to play along with Don Quixote’s rather eccentric character, by agreeing with everything he says and by treating him as a real knight errant. Accordingly, they play a series of hoaxes on Don Quixote and Sancho Panza in an elaborate chivalresque style reminiscent of Don Quixote’s real life adventures. Thus, to make Don Quixote believe that he is a real knight errant, the Duke and Duchess tell their maidens how they should behave towards him.

The Duke and Duchess Are Angry With Their Servants For Disobeying Their Orders Yet Pleased By The Funny Jokes They Play on Don Quixote: The Duke and Duchess are both angry and pleased when their maidens wash Don Quixote’s beard. Angry because their servants devise the beard washing prank without their foreknowledge, and pleased since they are amused at seeing Don Quixote in such a funny position. With conflicting emotions playing inside them, the Duke and Duchess wait to see how the extraordinary ablution ceremony is going Novel blog article from Don Quixote to end. Unsure of whether to punish the girls for their audacity, or to reward them for the pleasure they provide, the Duke decides to play along with the joke and have his beard washed too to prevent Don Quixote from realizing that his beard washing had been in jest. Meanwhile, the maidens who are responsible for devising the joke keep their eyes lowered—not daring to look at their master and mistress—since they wash Don Quixote’s beard on their own initiative; not because they are ordered to. Only later do we learn that the Duke had sworn that if his maidens did not wash his beard as they had Don Quixote’s he would have punished them for their audacity.

The Duke And Duchess Are Fond Of Reading Chivalry Books: The Duke and Duchess are so fond of reading chivalry books that they have the knowledge to convince Don Quixote that he is a real life knight errant, and that they, as his royal patrons, have the power to grant him power, privilege, and status, if he proves worthy of their high regard. Phrased another way, since the Duke and Duchess have read Volume I of Don Quixote’s funny and intelligent exploits, they intend to play along with him for as long as he stays with them, observing, with realistic detail, the ceremonies described in books of chivalry.

The Duke, The Duchess, and Don Quixote’s Love Triangle: The relationship between the Duke, the Duchess, and Don Quixote lends itself to the interpretation that the two men are in love with the same woman. For example, when Don Quixote refers to the Duchess as a worthy queen of beauty, the Duke tells him to “be careful with his words, since, where there is Dulcinea to contend with, it is not right that other beauties be praised so.” Later, when read more on Don Quixote`s official blog they go hunting together, Don Quixote takes the reins of the Duchess’s palfrey even though the Duke does not want him to. Again, when the trio arrives at a country estate both Don Quixote and the Duke hasten to help the Duchess dismount from her palfrey, exchanging great courtesies over the matter. But the Duchess refuses to descend from her palfrey in the arms of anyone other than the Duke, since she does not consider herself “worthy to impose such a useless burden on such a great knight.” After a few moments, the Duke helps the Duchess off her horse, and they walk into the courtyard together, hand-in-hand, while Don Quixote trails from behind. In sum, a love triangle develops between the Duke, the Duchess, and Don Quixote, similar to the love shared between King Arthur, Queen Guinevere, and Sir Lancelot, where Don Quixote acts as the brave champion of the Duke of Aragon, while the Duchess of Aragon, though drawn to Don Quixote’s charms, resists falling in love with him.

The Duke, the Duchess, and the Grave Churchman: When Sancho Panza describes at dinner how a very rich and important hidalgo from la Mancha is frustrated by the length of the discussion about who should sit at the head of the table in the place of honor, the Duke and the Duchess derive great pleasure from the displeasure of the Grave Churchman. Later, when Sancho Panza says that as far as the farmer is concerned wherever the hidalgo sits will be the head of the table, the Duke and the Duchess cannot help but voice their amusement at the Grave Churchman’s intolerance, even though they take pains not to embarrass him further. Finally, when the Grave Churchman leaves the banquet hall in reaction to the leisurely pace of Sancho Panza’s story, the Duke and Duchess, though feigning upset, are glad that he is out of their hair for awhile.

The Duke and Duchess are Amused By Sancho Panza’s Letters: When the A Long Themes Blog Content From Don Quixote Duchess shows the Duke Sancho Panza’s letter to Teresa Panza, the two are “frightfully amused” by its’ contents.

The Duke and Duchess Praise the Sharp Wits and Clever Dissimulation of their Butler: When the Duke and Duchess’s butler dresses-up as the Countess of Trifaldi and beseeches Don Quixote and Sancho Panza to “restore [her] clean, beardless, visage, as well as her place of honour within the Kingdom of Kandy,” the royal duo chuckle with glee at the extemporaneous invention of their butler.

The Duke and the Duchess Are Amused With Don Quixote and Sancho Panza’s Hypothetical Adventures: After the adventure of the Dolorous Duenna, the Duke and the Duchess have much to laugh about, since Don Quixote and Sancho Panza try to acquit themselves so bravely, and with so much dignity.

The Duke and the Duchess Read Part I of Don Quixote De La Mancha: Evidently, since the Duke and the Duchess of Aragon have read the first installment of Don Quixote’s two part history, they have great intelligence about his zany character, wistful intentions, and wacky purposes, before they even meet him up-close, in person, in the flesh-and-blood. Therefore, when Don Quixote rides-out to the Duke and Duchess in a country glade, they wait with the utmost pleasure to make his acquaintance, intending to play along with him by agreeing to everything he says, and by treating him as a real life knight errant, for as long as he stays with them. Indeed, while Don Quixote rides over to them, the Duchess tells her husband, with baited breath, all about Don Quixote’s courtly bearing and eccentric character, which she has come to understand from reading the first part of Don Quixote De La Mancha.

The Duke Protects the Duchess: When the Duke sees that the Duchess intends to stab a hard-pressed boar with her spear at the side of a game trail, he steps in front of her, readies his sword and shield, and makes to slay the boar before it reaches her. This is why the Duke shoves the Duchess aside so the boar’s misses goring her with his mock charge, signaled by its’ gnashing teeth, grating tusks, and foam spraying mouth. Then, when the beast tries to orient itself and charge again, the Duke plunges his sword into the creatures’s heart, to the adulation of the hunting party.

Originally posted 2020-01-09 21:59:57.

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