La risa en el Quijote y la risa de don Quijote

The focus is on those instances in Don Quijote in which Cervantes' comic outlook crystallizes in the form of laughter. Burlesque laughter, however raucous, sometimes serves to foreground laughter of more spontaneous effect, provoked by the unexpected. Laughter interacts with various non-laughable moods and states of mind. Laughter may be expressive of sheer happiness and high spirits. The laughter most characteristic of Cervantes communicates human warmth and understanding. Observable primarily in Don Quixote, it helps to delineate his feeling for Sancho. To his dying day, Cervantes sees himself as the “joyous writer,” taking seriously the implications of that calling. He knows the therapeutic value of laughter, the importance of the relaxation playfulness provides. The recent tendency to see his comic intentions primarily in terms of the burlesque and the satirical overlooks the ludic limits which Cervantes places about the comic in a serious world. It fails to consider the more subtle and benevolent strains of humor in the Quixote, increasingly evident as the work progesses.