What is Cervantes' attitdue toward Don Quixote? Does he seem to think that Don Quixote is a complete fool, or is there some admiration and respect in his tone?

I think Don Quixote causes the author to have an ambiguous attitude, despite the tone that shows the ridicule of certain acts of Don Quixote, the author nevertheless emphasizes his innocence, openness. Cervantes in the context of the novel acts as a narrator, deliberately creating a friendly atmosphere and a special mood. He seems to see the main character and tells the reader about him. The key conflict of the novel comes down to the contradictions between the imaginary world of the mountain-knight and the surrounding reality, between knightly deeds and the adventures of a desperate Spaniard and his faithful squire. And when the main character encounters all the nuances of the real world, finds himself in complex and ambiguous situations, he makes silly mistakes, for which he is forced to pay. And the author's attitude to his fictitious "child" at such moments is paternally edifying. On the one hand, the reader seems to think that the author specifically focuses on comic and sometimes crazy situations, in which the hero finds himself. The author is given respectable character traits of the key character, such as courage, philanthropy, the pursuit of justice. before us is the human tragedy of the abyss that lies between illusions and reality.