People often declare that chivalry is dead. Chivalry is a code of conduct expressed in English law in the 12th and 13th centuries that communicated the manner in which a Knight should act. During the period known as The Medieval Times, knights and other forms of nobility sought to honor the code of chivalry to the greatest extent; however, the values that are prevalent among the citizens of society have since changed with respect to the idea of chivalry, as ideals connected to the theme of knighthood have been followed to a lesser extent by the knights of the modern era, known as “gentlemen”. Chivalry in modern society is essentially depicted as the way that a man utilizes politeness and other manners to woo a woman and show them that he loves and respects them. Romantic behavior is of a pre-established role. People everywhere see married couples and how they act. The first couple people normally observe is their parents. The way that parents act in their relationship is how children believe that partners should act in such relationships. People generally adopt ideas of being romantic from movies and novels. Such ideas include buying a woman a car, or a house, or a huge diamond ring. These romantic values become embedded in a person’s brain based on the way that they are brought up and the romantic relationships they they were exposed to. Everyone defines romance differently: some think that crazy gestures to be romantic and others think that such gestures are not representative of true romance. In many novels, men are portrayed as acting in a chivalrous manner in attempts to attract women, but they often end up being rakes: men considered to be womanizers or men who have slept with many women. A prime example of a rake would be Pechorin in the novel A Hero Of Our Time, who manipulates Princess Mary into falling in love with him and attempts to maintain a relationship with his past lover while having romantical relations with Princess Mary. Pechorin manipulates Princess Mary because she didn’t acknowledge him at first, which enraged him and led him to be consumed by his desire to demonstrate his superiority and masculinity. Princess Mary falling for Pechorin’s deceitful behavior is representative of  the Don Quixote Effect as she loved reading romantic novels. The manner in which love stories are developed in several novels and other works of literature revolve around ideals expressed by the Don Quixote Effect, and the Don Quixote Effect’s influence is still prevalent regarding the relationships of people in the modern era, as people in both the literature and the real world depend on the way in which romance and love is idealized by the participants of the relationship, which is often based on novels, stories, and real life experiences that the individuals grew up observing and understanding.

          The Don Quixote Effect impacts those who read and/or watch numerous romantic stories. Those who become engulfed in the romantic stories attempt to make the stories their reality. The idea of the Don Quixote Effect was first introduced in a novel written by Miguel Cervantes: Don Quixote. The main character in the novel read many chivalric stories throughout his lifetime. So much so, that he sought to relive them in his own life. He is eventually driven insane by his abnormal desire to live a life similar to the stories that he read. The character claims himself to be Don Quixote De La Mancha, who lives his life as a knight whose primary purpose is to save damsels in distress. He fights giant knights in glorious battles to the death for the love of the damsels he saves; although, in reality, he is attacking windmills and the women he is “saving” don’t desire his presence and/or affection. Constantly reading the romantic novels increased his desire to live the lives of the characters developed in the novels.

        The Don Quixote Effect has influenced the way authors have written ever since the idea was introduced. People believe Don Quixote to be the best novel ever written. The book was not written with a traditional style and theme thus making it unique and interesting. The novel inspired several authors, a prime example being Shakespeare, as one of his forgotten plays was inspired by the ideas expressed in Don Quixote.

        The Don Quixote Effect is portrayed in many different novels and stories. In Alexander Pushkin’s The Blizzard, the main character Marya Gavrilovna experiences the impact of reading and becoming enveloped in romantically themed novels. This idea is illustrated when Pushkin describes the way in which Gavrilovna was raised: “Marya Gavrilovna was brought up on French novels and consequently was in love” (pg 20 line 9). By stating this, Pushkin is trying to show that Marya is in love with the man because she was brought up reading these romantic novels. The man is a poor soldier who is in love with a rich noble woman. This connects to the Don Quixote Effect as the woman read several novels that romanticized the way in which people marry, often times in scenarios that are not accepted by parents and/or members of society. Marya’s situation was similar to the stereotypical romantic novel as the love that she had for someone of a lower societal rank was forbidden by her parents and looked down upon by members of society. Often times, in the romantic novels, the lovers must find a way to secretly communicate, and in Marya’s love story, she and her lover met secretly and wrote letters to each other every day. The actions that Marya took to be with her lover was her idea of love, which she likely developed and adopted from the stories that she grew up reading and loving. The Don Quixote Effect influenced Marya to do numerous crazy things that essentially were ways to make her reality as similar as possible to the fake love stories that she had read about. The consequences of her being influenced by the Don Quixote Effect were extremely negative, as her love story and in a tragic manner: her lover, a young soldier, ended up fighting in battle and was killed.

          The Don Quixote Effect is still alive and could well effect you or your beloved. Exposure to these forms of literature or art can affect a person’s romantic life. Similar to particular characters in the novels, people can become attached to the characters that they read about or see. The characters are often depicted as saviors and heroes. The character could be characterized as very respectful, thus causing the desired woman to fall in love with the character. The reader becomes accustomed to the romance that he/she reads and/or sees and wants to replicate it. The reader could change how he/she act in scenarios that relate to love as a result of becoming attached to the fantasies depicted in the chivalrous and romantic novels. A deformed understanding of a plausible love story could end up hurting the impacted individual’s beloved. If the individual doesn’t have the relationship in the exact way that he/she envisioned based on the novels, they could act out in rage, which could potentially ruin their relationship. While people are under the influence of the Don Quixote Effect, they are completely different people and act strangely.

        An idealized relationship consists of two people that carry a strong feeling of affection and concern for each other. An idealized relationship will hinder a romantic relationship. For example, if a man ideal relationship consists of the man of the relationship having total control of the woman, essentially making her a slave in the relationship, the relationship will likely be of a toxic nature and will destroy any sense of true romance that could have been present between the lovers.. Even if the man is a romantic and will treat the woman like a queen, the man will not be acting like himself. He will be acting as a character from a relationship that he idolized. If the romantic relationship isn’t going as he planned, he might just leave or get frustrated and blame the woman. A relationship based on the ideals that a partner values based on false and/or improbable love stories will likely not end in the way that the lovers hope. There exists a toxicity in such relationships as a partner in the relationship will likely never be happy with what he/she has, causing him/her to become frustrated with the other and possibly end the relationship.

           The Don Quixote Effect has affected many people in the 400 years since the book was published. Many people idolize celebrities and their relationships and when they attempt to replicate such relations, the outcome is undesirable. Most people get their romantic ideas from novels or movies, and because this is true The Don Quixote Effect will curse anyone that falls prey to the desire to have idealized romantic relationships.

 

Works cited

Cervantes, M.(2003) Don Quixote (J, Rutherford, Trans) NY, NY: Penguin Classics.

                  (Original work published 1604)

Lermontov, M. (1992) A Hero Of Our Time (V, Nabokov and D, Nabokov, Trans) NY, NY:

                  Everyman’s Library (original work published 1840)

Pushkin, A (1831) The Blizzard

Terrence, O (2017) The Death of Don Quixote and the birth of modernity: The omens in Don

                  Quixote, Part II, chapter 73. Volume 94 Issue 8, Pg.1269-1285, 10.1080/14753820,2017.1395556