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Example research essay topic: Set Of Circumstances Don Quixote - 1,382 words

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Using Montaigne's (1) The character of Don Quixote used to inspire many philosophers, in their search for true motivations of our behavior. This is because they intuitively felt that, even though Don Quixote embarks on his mission out of seemingly irrational considerations, his stance in life appears to be superior to those who cannot think outside of logical boundaries. Therefore, we can say that the behavior of Cervantes hero is ruled by the type of logic, which cannot be rationalized. In his Essays Michel de Montaigne spends great amount of time discussing the role of imagination and idleness. He compares mans wild imagination to the field full of useless weeds, because the exploits of ones imagination rarely result in achieving excellence in any domain. In this essay we will try to prove him wrong, while applying Montaigne's concept to the character of Don Quixote.

The fact is that it is idleness that inspires Don Quixote to consider the application of highly abstract notions of chivalry to surrounding reality. Therefore, we can think of idleness as precondition of idealism, which is impossible without persons ability to operate with abstract categories. In order to understand the essence of many abstract concepts, individual must have enough time to spend on studying different aspects of such concepts. It is only on the surface that Don Quixote appears to be the man who does not quite fit into the set of circumstances that surround him. The fact that he does not conform to the objective reality does not deprive him of his dignity. In fact, Don Quixote affects people more than they affect him, because of his idealism.

In its turn, it is the idealism, which serves as the spiritual foundation of Western civilization. Montaigne's Essays are affected by it as well, because he was able to idle, without having to be concerned about how to make living, while being an heir to very rich parents. This is why; we can say that idleness guides Don Quixote to the insightful facts in much larger degree than it makes fool out of him. It prompts him to challenge reality rather than to conform to it.

This has always been a main psychological trait of Europeans, who challenge the conventional wisdom, in order to stimulate progress. White people, unlike representatives of other races, strive to redesign the surrounding reality according to their wishes. Their ability of abstract philosophizing is genetically predetermined. Therefore, even the lowest European peasant could become a prominent thinker, for as long as he could afford idleness. This is why idleness is not something unwanted, as Montaigne suggests, but what every normal individual must be striving for, if he wants to get enlightened, in philosophical sense of this word. (2) The ability to imagine is what differentiates people from animals.

It is only when we are imagining, our abstract apparatus allows us to become semi-gods. We can reach the furthest corners of universe in the split of the second with the mean of abstract thought, which is based on imagination. Therefore, Don Quixote's imagination is better thought of as something that defines the essence of passions and reason. We can also say that it functions as intermediary between his psyche and rationale. His exploits could be considered as being funny, if he did not actively strive to change the world. It is only when Don Quixote's psyche and rationale get fused up in separable manner that enables him to seek action.

Imagination serves as the bridge between two opposite traits of his personality. Don Quixote is one of the most memorable literary characters, because his character is multidimensional. He does not suffer from the personality split, as many popular literary characters of nowadays. He acts according to his beliefs and when reality contradicts his worldview, he adjusts this reality in his own mind in such way that others also begin to perceive it trough his eyes. When Don Quixote attacks windmills, Sancho Panza is shown in the doubt about whether these windmills are really the monsters, as his master told him. Basically, Don Quixote uses imagination to suppress reason, when reality appears as being too banal.

By doing this, he is actually able to improve world for better, as people subconsciously feel that his behavior is only the appropriate one, under every new set of circumstances, because it reminds them about their lost true selves. Many weeds that used to be considered as absolutely useless in time of Montaigne, are now discovered to contain a medicinal ingredients, which drastically changes their status. The same can be said about Don Quixote's imagination. His seemingly foolish pursuit of absolute justice can be considered as something that characterizes Western civilization as whole. Thus, it cannot be considered as senseless and as such that is doomed to failure. (3) Don Quixote does not change much throughout Cervantes book. Only in the end he accepts the truth that world is not what is used to be in time when chivalry virtues were fully legitimate.

It does not change his essence as individual though, because he continued to believe in his ideals, while accepting the fact that they could not be fully realized in society where capitalist values were beginning to play ever important role. It seems that Don Quixote could not change his way of thinking and it has nothing to do with the fact that was mentally ill. Believing in the triumph of justice is absolutely natural for the European mentality. It is much more logical to conclude that it is not Don Quixote's psychological inadequacy that prevented him form being accepted by the society, but the fact that society itself deviated from the metaphysical principles, upon which it was being originally based. Don Quixote does not change because the essence of such categories as beauty, truth and justice cannot be changed either. It remains the same from the dawn of time, even though that pushers of political-correctness try to convince us now that thousands years of history, before the emergence of Liberalism, were nothing but waste of time.

We cannot say that Don Quixote's state of mind continued to be marked with idleness, ever since he embarked on his quest. Don Quixote simply decided to switch from theorizing to practice. This is a natural way to act for any normal individual, who has stamina to stand up for his beliefs. Human mind cannot be constantly idling, because it leads to the atrophy of brain cells. However, as we had pointed out earlier, such idling is a crucial element that initiates cultural and scientific breakthroughs, for as long as there is not too much of it.

Mental idleness must be continuously replaced with mental activity, because only this allows individual to avoid being plunged in the state of intellectual entropy. Don Quixote seems to be well aware of this fact, because he decides to test the validity of his convictions on practice. His mental idleness did not cause him to uncover the meaning of life it simply afforded him with plenty of time to realize his destiny. There is nothing can be more important than understanding that sense of ones life does not consist in satisfaction of anomalistic urges, but in serving some greater idea. Therefore, we can say that Don Quixote's adventures do not contradict the idea of idleness, as a starting point of every philosophic thought. Contrary to that, it reaffirms our understanding of mental mechanics.

At the end of Cervantes book, Don Quixote agrees to accept the fact that objective reality is something different from what he imagined it to be. Nevertheless, we have no doubt that he only does it to be able to challenge a conventional ethics later in time. Thus, it would not be appropriate to suggest that the essence of Don Quixote, as individual, changes throughout the book. His imagination continues to run wild, even after he is being confronted with facts that contradict his beliefs. It is the power of his imagination that makes us to think about Don Quixote, upon the sight of windmills, before we think about flour. Bibliography: Cervantes, Miguel Don Quixote. 2004.

Translated by John Ormsby. Project Guttenberg. 29 Mar. 2007. web Montaigne, Michel Essays. 2007. Translated by Charles Cotton. Oregon State Education Site. 29 Mar. 2007. web


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Research essay sample on Set Of Circumstances Don Quixote

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