Don Quixote and Joseph Andrews

In the midst of gaudy French Romance novels and harsh English satires stands an epic tale from a century earlier that comes from the country of Spain, which was in constant war with the Moors who had occupied it many centuries before.  Though it is a satire, it stood the test of time and is still well known to this day.  The piece of literature that I’m referring to is none other than Miguel de Cervantes’ The Life and Achievements of the Renowned Don Quixote.  From this work came one of many inspirations for Henry Fielding to write Joseph Andrews, which we will compare with Don Quixote in this essay.

Unlike his contemporaries, Don Quixote chooses to devote “himself to the neglected Profession of Knight-Errantry, to redress the Wrongs and Injuries” (Cervantes, 349).  In other words, he takes the life of the medieval knight, which he has only read about in books, and applies it in a quest to find his so-called princess Dulcinea.  However, due to chivalry being outdated by the 17^th century, Don Quixote’s actions often contradict with reality, therefore causing more harm than good to those around him.  A good example of this lies in how he dealt with the boy being abused by the rich farmer, who swore “by the Order of Knighthood, which has been conferred upon him” (Cervantes, 345).  Unfortunately, the farmer never lived up to his promise, and continued to abuse the boy shortly after Don Quixote left.

In comparison, Joseph Andrews is a poor boy employed by a rich man to work as his wife’s footman.  But shortly after her husband unexpectedly dies, the lady begins to try to seduce Joseph, and often calls him to her chambers.  Despite this, he resists her advancements because he is concerned for “the Chastity of his Family” (Fielding, 33), or his preference to not have sex before marriage.  This puts him at odds with the lady, who subsequently fires him, and leads him on a search for his true love Fanny.  Along the way, he comes across many challenges, such as the chambermaid at the inn he is forced to stay at due to being mugged by thieves, whom she considered “the handsomest Creature she had ever seen” (Fielding, 68) and tried to seduce him as well, though it ultimately backfires.

So when we take both Joseph Andrews and Don Quixote into consideration, there are many things these two heroes share in common.  For instance, both have highly romantic ideals, which are contrary to the beliefs of their contemporaries, which becomes a major source of conflict in their stories.  They also have an ideal woman who they are searching for, and the focal point of their journeys.  But there are also very strong differences that separate them.  While Don Quixote is seeing his world through a distorted lens and believing in his own world to the point of madness, Joseph Andrews sees what’s truly going on but uses his beliefs to counter them instead of ignoring them.  There is also a difference in the kinds of companions they have, with Joseph having a humanly priest who ends up playing a major role in finding Fanny, and a field worker who mostly ends up taking the brunt for Don Quixote’s mistakes with no reward.             

Mary Astell's Thoughts on Men

According to Mary Astell, who argues for the education of women in her piece Some Reflections upon Marriage, says that men are part of the problem.  Is it that men are too proud to respect women, or don’t give women much regard in general? She does mention that men are “too humane, too wise to venture” (Astell, 2285-6), which might imply the latter of the question.  However, men are certainly fond of their wisdom and superiority, and don’t want to “waste their time and debase their good sense” (Astell, 2285), indicating a sense of pride on their part.  To prove which part of the question is right, we’ll look at Astell’s thoughts on men in her piece, and see if we can find the answer there.

In argument for the former half of the question, Astell describes men and their contempt to leave women as they are, and not further their education.  The reason for this, she says, is that “man has too much bravery, he is too just and too good to assault a defenseless enemy, and if he did inveigh against the women it was only do them service” (Astell, 2286).  Here, Astell claims that because men have presumptions about women being weak, they wouldn’t dare assault or interfere in their affairs, unless they believed it was necessary to do so for the women’s own good.  Now this statement reeks of a superiority complex on the men’s part, and reflects their pride and lack of understanding women in general.

As for the latter, Astell makes the point that men are the cause for creating foolish women who let their expectations get ahead of themselves in regards to marriage, only to find it not as pleasing as they had hoped.  In marriage, women are treated like slaves, and left in the dark, according to Astell, because men wish to not to educate them.  Ironically, they are the perfect type to teach women, because they have “all the advantages of nature”, but sadly “are so far from acquitting themselves as they ought, from living according to that reason and excellent understanding they so much boast of” (Astell, 2288).  Therefore, it can be expected that “a woman who is reckoned silly enough in herself, at least comparatively, and whom men take care to make yet more so” (Astell, 2288) won’t get an education because men don’t practice what they preach.

So when we compare the two sides of the same question, we come up with two similar results.  On one hand, men are too proud to educate women, because they consider themselves superior and feel no need to interfere in their lives.  But on the other end, men simply don’t care about women, because despite their great wisdom, they don’t practice it in real life, and end up not giving women the education they need to be better wives.  When we look at the evidence in the piece itself, it becomes apparent that the answer to the question above is both.  Men don’t give much regard to the “soulless” women who aren’t worth their time, and they see themselves as better than women out of pride.            

The Repression of Love and Its Resolution in Donne's "The Canonization"

Is there a resolution of the conflict presented in John Donne’s poem “The Canonization”? Well, I believe so.  To prove it, I will look at the religious and romantic aspects of the poem.  I will also look at the powerful symbols Donne uses to support his claim.  Then lastly, there is the riddle of the phoenix, which may prove the answer to this question.

First, religion is one of the main themes of this poem.  Hence, the title and the various symbols related to religion, such as God, saints, churches, and so on.  But what they have to do with the conflict that the poem presents, which is the repression of love, is simply that love is elevated to an almost religious stature.  In other words, the narrator and his love interest are “canonized for love” (Donne, 1593).  Here, Donne compares the ritual of love to the process of canonization, which is the making of saints, and proclaims that love is so sacred that it is even recognized religiously.

Not only is love recognized religiously, but romantically as well.  The main romantic image is the taper, or candle.  In the poem, Donne says, “We are tapers too, and at our own cost die” (Donne, 1593).  From this passage, we can distinguish two things.  First, the idea that love is like a candle, because the lovers’ lives are brief and they use themselves up to be together.  Second, the thought of dying is seen as experiencing an orgasm.  Originally a French concept, it claims that when you experience it, a little bit of yourself is lost every time.  This is why it is known as the little death.  What this has to do with love is that it’s so strong, that you almost feel like you’re dying.   

Apart from the various associations to religion and romance, there are other more powerful symbols that Donne uses to support his claim on the conflict at hand in the poem.  For example, he refers to sonnets as rooms.  A play on the word ‘stanza’, he turns a simple structure into a strong proclamation of love, hence the line “And if no piece of chronicle we prove,/We’ll build in sonnets pretty rooms;/As well a well wrought urn becomes/The greatest ashes, as half-acre tombs” (Donne, 1593).  In this passage, Donne is saying that the metaphorical rooms and the urn’s ashes will represent love, and stand the test of time for all to see.

Then finally, there is the riddle of the phoenix, whose mysterious ability to reincarnate is somehow connected to love.  In the poem, the narrator compares him and his lover to the phoenix by saying that “The phoenix riddle hath more wit/By us; we two being one, are it” (Donne, 1593).  How this compares to love, however, is that like the phoenix, which is a symbol of perfection, love is also perfect, when considering the lovers as one person.

So in conclusion, the resolution of the poem’s conflict is that love is sacred in a religious and romantic sense.  It is saintly, and it is brief.  Love is also so powerful that it will stand the test of time in the form of poetry, or in the ashes from a metaphorical urn.  Then finally, love is a reincarnating idea that is forever perfect like the mysterious phoenix.  Therefore, love has no right to be repressed.