Sydney Woodruff
Mrs. Jevicky
English 12
16 April 2018
The Classic Don Quixote Being Classically Bipolar
The first person to demonstrate delusions of grandeur is something unknown to society even to this day. The term itself had its beginning in the late 19th century which was started by the prominent New York tailor Henry Prouse Cooper. In 1882 Mr. Cooper was put in front of a judicial inquiry for insanity which was brought about by his brother Stephen, a business partner of Mr. Cooper. Mr. Cooper at the time made no defense against the charge of insanity, instead, he said that he was and wished to be taken to an asylum, “Take me away at once. Don’t you see I am a slave to women and rum!”. In the course of the inquiry, Mr. Cooper became known…show more content… Alonso become largely involved in becoming and living like his other personality Don Quixote. Part of being Quixote was the way he spoke. His new type of speech “added greatly to his grandiosity and self-esteem, surprising those around him” (Sudol). One of the manic phases of Bipolar I disorder is being more talkative than usual, and with the normal audiences of Don Quixote being people that could not read or understand he was usually met with laughs and mockery. It can also be seen in his soliloquies about knighthood, honor, justice, and other things that were very intellectual and philosophical, this is very different than the Alonso Quijano that is presented in the beginning as a “gentlemen” which can be described as old and most likely not ranting as Don Quixote was known to…show more content… Due to delusions of grandeur, multiple manic phases, and his depression that ultimately led to the death of Alonso Quijano, the character Don Quixote can be diagnosed with Bipolar I disorder.
Works Cited
Johnson, Sheri L., et al. “Emotion in Bipolar I Disorder: Implications for Functional and Symptom Outcomes.” Journal of Abnormal Psychology, vol. 125, no. 1, 19 Oct. 2016, pp. 40–52., doi:10.1037/abn0000116.
Kiran, Chandra, and Suprakash Chaudhury. “Understanding Delusions.” Industrial Psychiatry Journal, Medknow Publications, 18 Jan. 2009, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3016695/.
Starkie, Walter. “Multicultural Extensions: Literature of Romance.” Literature and the Language Arts: the British Tradition, EMC/Paradigm, 1996, pp. 226–230. The EMC Masterpiece Series.
Sudol, Ida C. “Psychological Pathology and Aging in Cervantes's Don Quixote De La Mancha.” Digital Commons at Connecticut College, Connecticut College, Hispanic Studies Department at Digital Commons, 2016,
