I have a feeling Plato would not have been too thrilled with the book Don Quixote....
After our discussion in class on Wednesday, I have thought about Plato's notion that "imitative art has no place!" Especially when I consider where I am, page 172, of Don Quixote. DQ has just finished freeing criminals who were on their way to the galley under the kings order and, upon insisting that the newly freed men travel and present themselves to lady Dulcinea, he receives a shower of rocks in response. What is truly fascinating throughout this book is who DQ believes himself to be and the power that he believes himself to have......This can be seen in the passage on page 170 when DQ asks the guards to unchain the men and says,
"I ask this quietly and calmly because if you comply, I shall have reason to thank you, and if you do not comply willingly, this lance and this sword, and the valor of this my arm, will force you to comply against your will."
And then we also read some key lines spoken by one of the guards in response, "He's finally come out with it! He wants us to let the king's prisoners go, as if we had the authority to free them or he had the authority to order us to do so."
What I must ask is, in reality is he not really just imitating a certain kind of man with a certain kind of power? It seems as though Plato would assert that the book is useless because all it represents is a man who lives his life with the purpose of being that which he is not, or, in other words, imitating a knight---that which he would like to be, but never will be. The guards obviously refuse to submit to DQ, because no matter how much power he believes himself to have, it really is only an imitation of power and therefore it lacks power itself.
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