Parody and the Grotesque in *Don Quixote*: Deconstructing Discourse and Producing Meaning

This study examines parody and the grotesque in Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote as artistic and epistemological mechanisms that move beyond comic imitation to dismantle chivalric discourse and reconstruct meaning. It explores the conflict between the chivalric language governing Don Quixote’s consciousness and the everyday reality represented by the surrounding characters and events, revealing the role of discourse in shaping human perception of the world. The study also discusses the reversal of symbolic hierarchies and the interaction between the heroic and the comic, as well as the sublime and the ordinary, through scenes such as the windmills, the flock of sheep, Mambrino’s helmet, and the knighting ceremony. It concludes that parody exposes the fragility and symbolic authority of inherited discourses, while the grotesque destabilizes the boundaries between reality and illusion, raising broader questions about how language, culture, and interpretation construct truth and meaning.