<< The madhouse

Don Quijote has a weird property to himself: everyone acknowledges he's crazy, and at the same time enjoy partaking in his delusions. Almost every character in the book at one point or another deludes its own reality as a means to reinforce his misguided beliefs of heroism.

All those who join this collective illusion (except maybe for his squire Sancho Panza) defend their own behavior and argument for it most of the time; passing it as a simple joke, or a way to have fun in what seems an otherwise dull life. It’s remarkable though that  none seem to be too interested in setting a limit to these games; and the deeper these jokes go, the more reality is twisted.

It doesn't take long before we can paint the whole theater of Cervantes novel as a sort of madhouse with everyone equally crazy; and how can we be believe anything else when their actions don't allow otherwise.

This is of course more elegantly expressed by the story of the priest and the crazy man from Sevilla* (Chapter I, part II). Where a patient at a mental asylum assures a priest that the threats of another patient shouldn't be feared and we realize by his explanations that he’s probably even crazier.

It is becomes only natural to ask at a certain point who’s really the crazy one here, as some of the partakers of the story manage to do (Chapter XV, part II)**:

Let us see now who’s the craziest: the one who is crazy for he cannot be anything else, or the one who is crazy out of his own will.

To which Sanson replies:

The difference between these two crazy people is that the one who’s forced to be so will forever be crazy, and the one who makes the choice can stop when it sees fit.

And as logical as this seems, it’s not without problems that most of the characters willfully go back to being sane. I guess what strikes the most is that deep down we all behave a little bit like that.

We spend a lot of time going around all types of fantasies and delusions so that our fun won’t stop. We approve of mental projections of others because maybe we’re just scared of being sane, or fear the reaction of the other patients in this asylum.

It becomes then important to remember: the possibility for sanity is always there for us to choose it. 

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Notes:

*Original Spanish tittle: Cuento del loco de Sevilla (El Quijote, Commemorative IV anniversary edition)

**Own translation from Spanish: Sepamos, pues, ahora cual es mas loco, el que lo es por no poder ser menos o el que lo es por su voluntad. A lo que respondió Sansón:- La diferencia que hay entre estos dos locos es que el que lo es por fuerza lo será siempre, y el que lo es de grado lo dejará de ser cuando quisiere. (Chapter XV, Pt II)