The Function of Skepticism in Part I of Don Quijote - H-Net

Volume 30.2 (2010) The Function of Skepticism
127
wards authority contained in the text influence each other, making a web
of relations that adds more complexity. However, those complexities
must be put aside because in this investigation the skeptical aspects of
the book take precedence. This emphasis should not be taken to imply
the absurdity that the literary aspects of the text are less important.
To sum up, even though my analysis depends on a very limited perspective,
the following conclusion applies within the parameters of the
investigation: The strategy used by Cervantes to construct the story of
don Quijote is consistent with the skeptical tradition in three important
ways: first, there is a deliberate effort to present the story as being
as non-dogmatic as possible; second, the destabilization thus created is
consistent with skeptical doctrine because it forces the reader to suspend
judgment about the authority of the story; third, given that the reader
cannot make positive judgments of that kind, he or she has no choice but
to observe Don Quijote.
Some critics, such as for example E. T. Aylward (1999) and Ruth El
Saffar (1974), have explained the main differences between the genres of
the Romance and the Novel. Aylward concludes that the novel “is the
preferred fictional form of skeptics and doubters” (1999, 17). My analysis
shows that Cervantes took the skeptical tendencies of the novel a
step further: the story of Don Quijote is constructed in part by taking
deliberate advantage of some important skeptical themes in matters of
argumentation.
Skepticism and the Standard Objection
against the Romances of Chivalry
If we emphasize the argumentative aspects of the text (without for that
reason negating that the book is literature), then the function of skepticism
in the story of Don Quijote can be better appreciated if we take into
account the standard objection against the Romances of Chivalry. The
most common objection during the Renaissance and the Golden Age
is not only that they contain all kinds of falsehoods, but also that those
falsehoods are harmful to one’s character. More precisely, the objection
does not state that those books are false and harmful, but that they are
harmful because they are false. One does not have to go far to see this