Posted on Jan 16, 2020
Miguel de Cervantes - Publication of Don Quixote
1.13K
49
11
12
12
0
On January 16, 1605, the first edition of Don Quixote Part One was published. From the article:
"Miguel de Cervantes - Publication of Don Quixote
In July or August 1604 Cervantes sold the rights of El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha (“The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha,” known as Don Quixote, Part I) to the publisher-bookseller Francisco de Robles for an unknown sum. License to publish was granted in September and the book came out in January 1605. There is some evidence of its content’s being known or known about before publication—to, among others, Lope de Vega, the vicissitudes of whose relations with Cervantes were then at a low point. The compositors at Juan de la Cuesta’s press in Madrid are now known to have been responsible for a great many errors in the text, many of which were long attributed to the author.
The novel was an immediate success, though not as sensationally so as Mateo Alemán’s Guzmán de Alfarache, Part I, of 1599. By August 1605 there were two Madrid editions, two published in Lisbon, and one in Valencia. There followed those of Brussels, 1607; Madrid, 1608; Milan, 1610; and Brussels, 1611. Part II, Segunda parte del ingenioso caballero don Quijote de la Mancha (“Second Part of the Ingenious Knight Don Quixote of La Mancha”), came out in 1615. Thomas Shelton’s English translation of the first part appeared in 1612. The name of Cervantes was soon to be as well known in England, France, and Italy as in Spain.
The sale of the publishing rights, however, meant that Cervantes made no more financial profit on Part I of his novel. He had to do the best he could with patronage. The dedication to the young duque de Béjar had been a mistake. He had better fortune with two much more influential persons: the conde de Lemos, to whom he would dedicate Part II and no less than three other works, and Don Bernardo de Sandoval y Rojas, archbishop of Toledo. This eased his financial circumstances somewhat. However, it is apparent that he would have liked a securer place in the pantheon of the nation’s writers than he ever achieved during his lifetime—he wanted a reputation comparable to that enjoyed by Lope de Vega or the poet Luis de Góngora, for example. His sense of his own marginal position may be deduced from his Viage del Parnaso (1614; Voyage to Parnassus), two or three of the later prefaces, and a few external sources. Nevertheless, relative success, still-unsatisfied ambition, and a tireless urge to experiment with the forms of fiction ensured that, at age 57, with less than a dozen years left to him, Cervantes was just entering the most productive period of his career.
No graciousness descended on Cervantes’s domestic life. A stabbing incident in the street outside the house in Valladolid, in June 1605, led ridiculously to the whole household’s arrest. When they later followed the court to Madrid, he continued to be plagued by litigation over money and now, too, by domestic difficulties. The family lodged in various streets over the next few years before finally settling in the Calle de León. Like a number of other writers of the day, Cervantes nursed hopes of a secretarial appointment with the conde de Lemos when, in 1610, the conde was made viceroy of Naples; once more Cervantes was disappointed. He had joined a fashionable religious order, the Slaves of the Most Blessed Sacrament, in 1609, and four years later he became a Franciscan tertiary, which was a more serious commitment. Students of Cervantes know, too, of some increased involvement in the literary life of the capital in the form of his attendance at the Academia Selvaje, a kind of writers’ salon, in 1612.
The next year, the 12 Exemplary Stories were published. The prologue contains the only known verbal portrait of the author:
of aquiline countenance, with dark brown hair, smooth clear brow, merry eyes and hooked but well-proportioned nose; his beard is silver though it was gold not 20 years ago; large moustache, small mouth with teeth neither big nor little, since he has only six of them and they are in bad condition and worse positioned, for they do not correspond to each other; the body between two extremes, neither tall nor short; a bright complexion, more pale than dark, somewhat heavy in the shoulder and not very light of foot.
Cervantes’s claim in this prologue to be the first to write original novellas (short stories in the Italian manner) in Castilian is substantially justified. Their precise dates of composition are in most cases uncertain. There is some variety in the collection, within the two general categories of romance-based stories and realistic ones. El coloquio de los perros (“Colloquy of the Dogs,” Eng. trans. in Three Exemplary Novels [1952]), a quasi-picaresque novella, with its frame tale El casamiento engañoso (“The Deceitful Marriage”), is probably Cervantes’s most profound and original creation next to Don Quixote. In the 17th century the romantic stories were the more popular; James Mabbe chose precisely these for the selective English version of 1640. Nineteenth- and 20th-century taste preferred the realistic ones, but by the turn of the 21st century the others were receiving again something like their critical due.
In 1614 Cervantes published Viage del Parnaso, a long allegorical poem in mock-mythological and satirical vein, with a postscript in prose. It was devoted to celebrating a host of contemporary poets and satirizing a few others. The author there admitted that writing poetry did not come easily to him. But he held poetry in the highest esteem as a pure art that should never be debased. Having lost all hope of seeing any more of his plays staged, he had eight of them published in 1615, together with eight short comic interludes, in Ocho comedias, y ocho entremeses nuevos. The plays show no shortage of inventiveness and originality but lack real control of the medium. The interludes, however, are reckoned among the very best of their kind.
It is not certain when Cervantes began writing Part II of Don Quixote, but he had probably not gotten much more than halfway through by late July 1614. About September a spurious Part II was published in Tarragona by someone calling himself Alonso Fernández de Avellaneda, an unidentified Aragonese who was an admirer of Lope de Vega. The book is not without merit, if crude in comparison with its model. In its prologue the author gratuitously insulted Cervantes, who not surprisingly took offense and responded, though with relative restraint if compared with the vituperation of some literary rivalries of the age. He also worked some criticism of Fernández de Avellaneda and his “pseudo” Quixote and Sancho into his own fiction from chapter 59 onward.
Don Quixote, Part II, emerged from the same press as its predecessor late in 1615. It was quickly reprinted in Brussels and Valencia, 1616, and Lisbon, 1617. Parts I and II first appeared in one edition in Barcelona, 1617. There was a French translation of Part II by 1618 and an English one by 1620. The second part capitalizes on the potential of the first, developing and diversifying without sacrificing familiarity. Most people agree that it is richer and more profound.
In his last years Cervantes mentioned several works that apparently did not get as far as the printing press, if indeed he ever actually started writing them. There was Bernardo (the name of a legendary Spanish epic hero), the Semanas del jardín (“Weeks in the Garden”; a collection of tales, perhaps like Boccaccio’s Decameron), and the continuation to his Galatea. The one that was published, posthumously in 1617, was his last romance, Los trabaios de Persiles y Sigismunda, historia setentrional (“The Labours of Persiles and Sigismunda: A Northern Story”). In it Cervantes sought to renovate the heroic romance of adventure and love in the manner of the Aethiopica of Heliodorus. It was an intellectually prestigious genre destined to be very successful in 17th-century France. Intended both to edify and to entertain, the Persiles is an ambitious work that exploits the mythic and symbolic potential of romance. It was very successful when it appeared; there were eight Spanish editions in two years and French and English translations in 1618 and 1619, respectively.
In the dedication, written three days before he died, Cervantes, “with a foot already in the stirrup,” movingly bade farewell to the world. Clear-headed to the end, he seems to have achieved a final serenity of spirit. He died in 1616, almost certainly on April 22, not on the 23rd as had been traditionally thought. The burial certificate indicates that the latter was the day he was buried, in the convent of the Discalced Trinitarians in the Calle de Cantarranas (now the Calle de Lope de Vega). The exact spot is not marked. No will is known to have survived."
"Miguel de Cervantes - Publication of Don Quixote
In July or August 1604 Cervantes sold the rights of El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha (“The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha,” known as Don Quixote, Part I) to the publisher-bookseller Francisco de Robles for an unknown sum. License to publish was granted in September and the book came out in January 1605. There is some evidence of its content’s being known or known about before publication—to, among others, Lope de Vega, the vicissitudes of whose relations with Cervantes were then at a low point. The compositors at Juan de la Cuesta’s press in Madrid are now known to have been responsible for a great many errors in the text, many of which were long attributed to the author.
The novel was an immediate success, though not as sensationally so as Mateo Alemán’s Guzmán de Alfarache, Part I, of 1599. By August 1605 there were two Madrid editions, two published in Lisbon, and one in Valencia. There followed those of Brussels, 1607; Madrid, 1608; Milan, 1610; and Brussels, 1611. Part II, Segunda parte del ingenioso caballero don Quijote de la Mancha (“Second Part of the Ingenious Knight Don Quixote of La Mancha”), came out in 1615. Thomas Shelton’s English translation of the first part appeared in 1612. The name of Cervantes was soon to be as well known in England, France, and Italy as in Spain.
The sale of the publishing rights, however, meant that Cervantes made no more financial profit on Part I of his novel. He had to do the best he could with patronage. The dedication to the young duque de Béjar had been a mistake. He had better fortune with two much more influential persons: the conde de Lemos, to whom he would dedicate Part II and no less than three other works, and Don Bernardo de Sandoval y Rojas, archbishop of Toledo. This eased his financial circumstances somewhat. However, it is apparent that he would have liked a securer place in the pantheon of the nation’s writers than he ever achieved during his lifetime—he wanted a reputation comparable to that enjoyed by Lope de Vega or the poet Luis de Góngora, for example. His sense of his own marginal position may be deduced from his Viage del Parnaso (1614; Voyage to Parnassus), two or three of the later prefaces, and a few external sources. Nevertheless, relative success, still-unsatisfied ambition, and a tireless urge to experiment with the forms of fiction ensured that, at age 57, with less than a dozen years left to him, Cervantes was just entering the most productive period of his career.
No graciousness descended on Cervantes’s domestic life. A stabbing incident in the street outside the house in Valladolid, in June 1605, led ridiculously to the whole household’s arrest. When they later followed the court to Madrid, he continued to be plagued by litigation over money and now, too, by domestic difficulties. The family lodged in various streets over the next few years before finally settling in the Calle de León. Like a number of other writers of the day, Cervantes nursed hopes of a secretarial appointment with the conde de Lemos when, in 1610, the conde was made viceroy of Naples; once more Cervantes was disappointed. He had joined a fashionable religious order, the Slaves of the Most Blessed Sacrament, in 1609, and four years later he became a Franciscan tertiary, which was a more serious commitment. Students of Cervantes know, too, of some increased involvement in the literary life of the capital in the form of his attendance at the Academia Selvaje, a kind of writers’ salon, in 1612.
The next year, the 12 Exemplary Stories were published. The prologue contains the only known verbal portrait of the author:
of aquiline countenance, with dark brown hair, smooth clear brow, merry eyes and hooked but well-proportioned nose; his beard is silver though it was gold not 20 years ago; large moustache, small mouth with teeth neither big nor little, since he has only six of them and they are in bad condition and worse positioned, for they do not correspond to each other; the body between two extremes, neither tall nor short; a bright complexion, more pale than dark, somewhat heavy in the shoulder and not very light of foot.
Cervantes’s claim in this prologue to be the first to write original novellas (short stories in the Italian manner) in Castilian is substantially justified. Their precise dates of composition are in most cases uncertain. There is some variety in the collection, within the two general categories of romance-based stories and realistic ones. El coloquio de los perros (“Colloquy of the Dogs,” Eng. trans. in Three Exemplary Novels [1952]), a quasi-picaresque novella, with its frame tale El casamiento engañoso (“The Deceitful Marriage”), is probably Cervantes’s most profound and original creation next to Don Quixote. In the 17th century the romantic stories were the more popular; James Mabbe chose precisely these for the selective English version of 1640. Nineteenth- and 20th-century taste preferred the realistic ones, but by the turn of the 21st century the others were receiving again something like their critical due.
In 1614 Cervantes published Viage del Parnaso, a long allegorical poem in mock-mythological and satirical vein, with a postscript in prose. It was devoted to celebrating a host of contemporary poets and satirizing a few others. The author there admitted that writing poetry did not come easily to him. But he held poetry in the highest esteem as a pure art that should never be debased. Having lost all hope of seeing any more of his plays staged, he had eight of them published in 1615, together with eight short comic interludes, in Ocho comedias, y ocho entremeses nuevos. The plays show no shortage of inventiveness and originality but lack real control of the medium. The interludes, however, are reckoned among the very best of their kind.
It is not certain when Cervantes began writing Part II of Don Quixote, but he had probably not gotten much more than halfway through by late July 1614. About September a spurious Part II was published in Tarragona by someone calling himself Alonso Fernández de Avellaneda, an unidentified Aragonese who was an admirer of Lope de Vega. The book is not without merit, if crude in comparison with its model. In its prologue the author gratuitously insulted Cervantes, who not surprisingly took offense and responded, though with relative restraint if compared with the vituperation of some literary rivalries of the age. He also worked some criticism of Fernández de Avellaneda and his “pseudo” Quixote and Sancho into his own fiction from chapter 59 onward.
Don Quixote, Part II, emerged from the same press as its predecessor late in 1615. It was quickly reprinted in Brussels and Valencia, 1616, and Lisbon, 1617. Parts I and II first appeared in one edition in Barcelona, 1617. There was a French translation of Part II by 1618 and an English one by 1620. The second part capitalizes on the potential of the first, developing and diversifying without sacrificing familiarity. Most people agree that it is richer and more profound.
In his last years Cervantes mentioned several works that apparently did not get as far as the printing press, if indeed he ever actually started writing them. There was Bernardo (the name of a legendary Spanish epic hero), the Semanas del jardín (“Weeks in the Garden”; a collection of tales, perhaps like Boccaccio’s Decameron), and the continuation to his Galatea. The one that was published, posthumously in 1617, was his last romance, Los trabaios de Persiles y Sigismunda, historia setentrional (“The Labours of Persiles and Sigismunda: A Northern Story”). In it Cervantes sought to renovate the heroic romance of adventure and love in the manner of the Aethiopica of Heliodorus. It was an intellectually prestigious genre destined to be very successful in 17th-century France. Intended both to edify and to entertain, the Persiles is an ambitious work that exploits the mythic and symbolic potential of romance. It was very successful when it appeared; there were eight Spanish editions in two years and French and English translations in 1618 and 1619, respectively.
In the dedication, written three days before he died, Cervantes, “with a foot already in the stirrup,” movingly bade farewell to the world. Clear-headed to the end, he seems to have achieved a final serenity of spirit. He died in 1616, almost certainly on April 22, not on the 23rd as had been traditionally thought. The burial certificate indicates that the latter was the day he was buried, in the convent of the Discalced Trinitarians in the Calle de Cantarranas (now the Calle de Lope de Vega). The exact spot is not marked. No will is known to have survived."
Miguel de Cervantes - Publication of Don Quixote
Posted from britannica.com
World History
Writing
Literature
Writer
Posted 5 y ago
Responses: 6
9
9
0
3. Don Quixote, Part I: Chapters I-X (cont.)
Cervantes' Don Quixote (SPAN 300) González Echevarría continues from the end of his last lecture by referring to the self invention and self legitimation of ...
Thank you, my friend SGT (Join to see) for reminding us that on January 16, 1605 the first edition of Don Quixote Part One which was accepted well by many Spanish citizens.
It would not be until 1615 that the final Part II, Segunda parte del ingenioso caballero don Quijote de la Mancha (“Second Part of the Ingenious Knight Don Quixote of La Mancha”), was published.
Don Quixote, Part I: Chapters I-X (cont.)
"Cervantes' Don Quixote (SPAN 300)
González Echevarría continues from the end of his last lecture by referring to the self invention and self legitimation of Don Quixote, which is the most innovative aspect of the book. The main character is, as it is suggested in the famous first sentence of the book, beyond family and social determinisms, hence literature appears as a realm for wit and a capacity for invention, breaking with the previous literary tradition and with its predecessors. Perspectivism is expressed in the novel through various linguistic fluctuations, regional differences, and spaces such as the inn, which becomes a key place in the novel by providing an archaeology of society. The first episodes of the Quixote, from the first sally to the first adventure with Sancho, show the gap between literature and reality by probing into Don Quixote's very particular madness which refuses to recognize and accept social conventions. Cervantes' literary techniques, such as dialogue, and the presence of his squire blur the differences between fiction and reality, and ultimately question our beliefs and view of the world.
00:00 - Chapter 1. Innovative Features in Don Quixote
10:17 - Chapter 2. Time, Space and Place; Reality into Illusion
24:01 - Chapter 3. Don Quixote's Particular Madness
37:17 - Chapter 4. The Inquisition of the Library
45:29 - Chapter 5. An Invitation to Blur Fiction and Reality
52:39 - Chapter 6. Sancho Enters the Scene
58:07 - Chapter 7. Windmills: Reality in a State of Flux; The Basque
01:03:02 - Chapter 8. Remarks on Background Readings"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yubdgwR768
Images:
1. Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
2. In October of 1571 he fought in the Battle of Lepanto and a bullet left his left arm useless. For this, he was called "The Cripple of Lepanto". He continued to fight and then traveled around Italy, finally settling down for two years in Naples.
3. Miguel de Cervantes summary birth, soldier wounded at 1571 Battle of Lepanto
4. 'Doña Catalina de Salazar, the wife of Miguel de Cervantes until her death.'
Information
1. Biography from famousauthors.org/miguel-de-cervantes
2. Study guide for Part 1 gradesaver.com/don-quixote-book-i/study-guide/
1. Background on Cervantes from famousauthors.org/miguel-de-cervantes
"Miguel De Cervantes
One of the most famous figures in Spanish literature, Miguel De Cervantes was a poet, playwright, novelist and the creator of Don Quixote from Don Quixote de la Mancha, an unforgettable character of Spanish literature. Published when Cervantes was 58 years old, the book became extremely successful and highly acclaimed, casting a profound influence on European literature. The theme of the book explores the universal nature of human beings. Sadly, the fame and success of Cervantes’ writing did little to improve his financial conditions and lifestyle.
The fourth child of surgeon Don Rodrigo de Cervantes and doña Leonor de Cortinas, Miguel De Cervantes was born near Madrid in the city of Alcalá de Henares, Spain. His life was full of hardships and adventures. While his father hunted for work, Miguel’s childhood was spent moving from one place to another. Miguel served as a soldier in a Spanish Regiment in Naples during 1570 after studying literature and philosophy in Italy. His left hand became useless when he encountered an injury on aboard ship Marquesa during the battle of Lepanto (1571). A few years later Cervantes was kidnapped from a ship on his way back home. He made several unsuccessful escape attempts but was released after five years of slavery when his mother had finally raised enough money to pay the ransom. Upon return to Madrid in 1580, Cervantes supported his expenses by undertaking several low paying jobs which did little to improve his financial crisis.
In Madrid, Cervantes had an affair with an actress named Ana de Villafranca. They had a daughter, Isabel de Saavedra. In 1584 he married Catalina de Palacios who was 18 years his junior and the daughter of a well to do peasant. It was after marriage that Cervantes began writing poetry and plays. His first published work was La Galatea (1585). When he was not able to generate enough income from writing to run the family, Cervantes obtained a job in the government as a tax collector. He was imprisoned several times on charges of bankruptcy and fiscal irregularities. Also imprisoned another time when a man died in front of his house and the authorities suspected he had something to do with the man’s death.
Cervantes lived in Seville during 1595 and 1600. Later he moved to Madrid, where he spent the rest of his life, after the publication of Don Quixote. In 1613, Cervantes published, The Exemplary Novels of Cervantes which comprises of short stories about gypsies and pirates. The book was largely inspired by Miguel’s own life and experiences. The second part of Don Quixote was published in 1615. It was followed by Persiles and Segismunda in 1616.
Miguel De Cervantes died in 1616. He is buried in the Convent of the Barefoot Trinitarians in Madrid, Spain. A much appreciated writer, Cervantes influence is evident in the works of many other famous writers such as Sir Walter Scott, Charles Dickens, Gustave Flaubert, Herman Melville, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, James Joyce and Jorge Luis Borges."
2. Don Quixote Book I Study Guide from gradesaver.com/don-quixote-book-i/study-guide/
Don Quixote Book I Study Guide
Cervantes is considered one of the greatest writers of all time. Often, Cervantes is compared to Shakespeare. Both men have become "national literary treasures" glowing during "golden ages" of literature. Cervantes was writing along aside a number of literary luminaries, many of whom were more esteemed during their era than ours. Lope de Vega, Quevedo, and Calderon among them. The words in the preface of Book I suggest that Quixote began thinking about the novel while he was in prison. Even after Book I was completed, it took some time before Quixote was able to find a publisher. This publisher, Francisco Robles of Madrid, was reluctant to take the book and he did not bother securing a copyright for Aragon or Portugal, thinking that Castile would be enough.
The book was an immediate success. Pirated editions could be found in Valencia and Portugal until the next year, when Cervantes acquired the appropriate copyrights. The aristocracy was not amused with the novel's critique on chivalric literature. Lope de Vega, the most renown of Cervantes' contemporaries, was extremely dismissive of Don Quixote. A Brussels edition was published in 1607. The seventh edition of the novel was published in Madrid in 1608.
The first translation of Don Quixote was the English translation done by Shelton in 1608, and published in 1612. In 1687, John Philips, a nephew of John Milton, re-translated Don Quixote, announcing that it was "made English according to the humour of our modern language."
Milan followed in 1610, and Brussels brought ought their second edition in 1611. In the intervening years, Cervantes wrote other works, postponing his work on Book II. His Novelas Ejemplares was published in 1613, and was dedicated to the Conde de Lemos. In the preface of Novelas, Quixote writes: "You shall see shortly the further exploits of Don Quixote and the humors of Sancho Panza." At this point, Cervantes was only halfway through Book II. Ironically, Cervantes had high hopes of becoming Spain's great dramatist. He wanted to create a national epic drama, but unfortunately, his dramatic works were quite unsuccessful.
In the Fall of 1614, Cervantes had made it to Chapter LIX of Book II. To his horror, he discovers a small book being printed at Tarragona entitled: "Second Volume of the Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha: by the Licentiate Alonso Fernandez de Avellaneda of Tordesillas." The last half of Chapter LIX and most of the following chapters of Book II respond to Avellaneda. Cervantes could see how his nine year delay had invited such a disaster. Still, there was no real justification for the invective found in Avellaneda's preface. As John Ormsby put it, in 1885, Avellaneda "taunts Cervantes with being old, with having lost his hand, with having been in orison, with being poor, with being friendless, accuses him of envy of Lope's success, of petulance and querulousness, and so on; and it was in this that the sting lay." To this day, critics remain uncertain as to who "Avellaneda" was ("Avellaneda" was only a nom de plume, and not an actual person). Avellaneda's work does not match the brilliance of Cervantes' work, but it is clear that Avellaneda's imposter sequel certainly made Book II a prompt and more superior effort than might have been the case otherwise. The volume was published at the end of 1615 and Cervantes died a few months later, in April, 1616. Except for The Bible, no book has been so widely diffused into as many different languages and editions as Don Quixote.
Don Quixote Book I Summary
Alonso Quixana is an older gentleman who lives in La Mancha, in the Spanish countryside. He has read many of the books of chivalry and as a result, he has lost his wits, and he decides to roam the country as a knight-errant named Don Quixote de La Mancha. Neither his niece nor his housekeeper can stop him from riding his old horse, Rocinante, out into the country. Quixote's first sally ends quickly. He insists on having an innkeeper knight him into the chivalric order. Quixote believes that the inn is a castle. Returning home for clothes and money, Quixote is beaten and left for dead. A commoner rescues Quixote and brings him home.
The niece and housekeeper deliberate with two of Quixote's friends, the priest and barber, and they decide to destroy Quixote's library, burning many of the books of chivalry. These books are the culprit. When Quixote recovers, he asks for his books and his niece tells him that the sage Muñaton has taken them. Quixote believes it was the sage Friston, his mortal foe. Having found a squire, a common peasant named Sancho Panza, Quixote leaves yet again. This second sally provides the story for the rest of Book I. Panza quickly realizes that his master is mad, but the squire hopes that Quixote will make good on his promise to name Sancho as the Governor of an island. Quixote attacks a windmill, believing it to be a giant, destroying his lance in the process. Indeed, Quixote gets involved in several altercations and violent disputes while traveling on the road.
There is a peaceful and pastoral interlude when Quixote joins the goatherds who mourn the death of their friend Chrysostom, a poet who died of a broken heart. Continuing on the road with Sancho, Quixote has a run in with some horse-breeders and he is beaten so badly that Sancho has to quickly get the knight to an inn. Quixote perceives the inn to be a castle, yet again. Quixote believes the innkeeper's daughter to be a beautiful princess who has promised to come to his bed during the knight. Later that night, Quixote ends up caressing Maritornes: the half-blind, hunchbacked servant girl. Her lover, a mule carrier, is enraged and the carrier beats Quixote when he realizes that his lover, Maritornes, is struggling to get away from Quixote. In the darkness a brawl ensues, including Sancho, Maritornes, the innkeeper, the mule carrier and Quixote‹who quickly passes out. An officer of the Holy Brotherhood enters the room, having heard the commotion, and he fears that Quixote is dead.
Quixote is not dead. When he revives, he asks for the ingredients so that he might prepare for himself the "true balsam of Fierabras." He prepares the balsam, vomits, passes out, and wakes up feeling better. Sancho drinks the balsam and nearly dies. The next day, knight and squire leave the inn without paying. Quixote believes it to be an enchanted castle and he is offended by the suggestion that he should pay. Sancho does not escape as easily as Quixote does. Indeed, the squire is tossed in a blanket and his bags are stolen. In an arc of violence, Quixote murders some sheep, loses some teeth, steals a barber's basin (believing it to be Mambrino's helmet) and sets free a chain of galley-slaves who repay the knight's kindness with bruises.
Quixote befriends Cardenio, The Ragged Knight of the Sorry Countenance, who mourns the fact that his true love, Lucinda, has married another man: Don Fernando. Cardenio has gone mad with grief, running half-naked through the hills of Sierra Morena. Quixote imitates Cardenio, pining for his beloved lady, Dulcinea del Toboso. Quixote sends Sancho with a letter to deliver to Dulcinea but instead Sancho finds the barber and priest and leads them to Quixote.
With the help of Dorotea, a woman who has been deceived by Don Fernando, the priest and barber make plans to trick Don Quixote into coming home. Dorotea pretends to be the Princess Micomicona, desperately in need of Quixote's assistance. The final chapters of the novel combine romantic intrigue with the comedy of errors surrounding Don Quixote. Dorotea is reunited with Don Fernando and Cardenio is reunited with Lucinda. This takes place at the same inn which Quixote visited earlier (where was boxed by Maritornes' lover). Numerous guests arrive at the inn, as long-lost brothers are reunited, two other pairs of lovers are blessed and Don Quixote is almost arrested. The Holy Brotherhood has an arrest for Quixote's arrest on account of his "setting at liberty" a "group of galley-slaves." The priest begs for the officer to have mercy on Quixote because the knight is insane. The officer assents; Quixote is locked in a cage and carted home. Quixote believes the cage to be an enchantment, but when it is clear that he is going home he does not fight back. Of course, in Book II, Quixote goes out on his third and final sally, so Book I is not resolved.
Don Quixote Book I Character List
Buy Study Guide
Cid Hamet Ben Engeli
the Arab translator of Don Quixote, Cervantes consistently accuses him of dishonesty.
Don Quixote (Señor Alonso Quixana, The Knight of the Sorrowful Figure)
Alonso Quixana is an elderly gentleman who has read too many books of chivalry. He decides that he will become a knight-errant and enjoy his own adventures, winning fame and honor. His first sally into the world is aborted quickly. On the way home, intending to get money and clean shirts, Quixote is attacked and left for dead. A peasant sees Quixote and brings him home. The best efforts of Quixote's niece, housekeeper and friends (the barber and the priest) are to no avail. Quixote leaves for a second adventure, this time bringing a squire with him, a commoner named Sancho Panza.
Quixote's delusions get him into serious trouble with the law and the church. He baffles strangers with his ability to alternate between states of lucid sanity and its exact opposite.
Dulcinea del Toboso (Aldonza Lorenzo)
Aldonza Lorenzo is a common woman who lives in the town of Toboso. Don Quixote sees here and decides to call her Dulcinea del Toboso. Dulcinea means "sweetness" and Don Quixote imagines Dulcinea to be his Lady. Quixote defends her honor, though she never appears in the novel.
The priest-one of Quixote's friends, the priest does not behave as one would expect, considering his ecclesiastical vocation. The priest regulates the book-burning early in Book I, but he saves as many books as he can. The priest organizes the successful conspiracy to get Quixote back home to La Mancha. When Quixote is on the verge of being arrested by an officer of the Holy Brotherhood, the priest defends Quixote, attesting to the gentleman's insanity.
Sancho Panza
Sancho is Don Quixote's squire, having left his wife and daughter at home in the hopes of becoming Governor of an island. A common peasant, Panza seeks fortune so that his daughter can marry a nobleman. Sancho has a lot of common sense but he consistently defers to his master and assents to dangerous schemes. As squire, Sancho becomes sincerely attached to Quixote and he looks out for the knight as well as he can. At the end of Book I, Sancho is saddened to see Quixote imprisoned in the cage. Sancho, alone, tries to convince Quixote that the cage is not an enchantment. Alone, Sancho is unable to sway Quixote's opinion.
Cardenio ("The Ragged Knight of the Sorry Countenance")
a young man whose heart is broken when his lover, Lucinda, marries Don Fernando. He and Dorotea apprehend Don Fernando at the inn, late in Book I. Cardenio ends up with Lucinda in the end.
Dorotea ("The Princess Micomicona")
a woman who has been deceived by Don Fernando. Don Fernando promised to marry Dorotea but he married Lucinda instead. Disgraced, Dorotea leaves her village disguised in men's clothing. She conspires with Cardenio to hunt down Don Fernando, and she also helps the priest and barber bring Don Quixote home. She pretends to be the Princess Micomicona, winning Quixote's promise to slay a giant so that she might regain her kingdom. With the Princess' help, the priest is able to get Quixote under his control.
Don Quixote's niece
she lives with Quixote and is concerned for his safety. She helps to hide the fact that Quixote's books have been burned.
Don Quixote's housekeeper
a woman eager to burn Quixote's books of chivalry in hopes of preventing the gentleman
Rocinante (sometimes spelled Rocinante)
Don Quixote's old horse.
Innkeeper #1
the innkeeper performs a ceremony to knight Quixote. He also advises the knight to return home for money and clean shirts to carry on the road.
Andres
a young laborer who is beaten by his master, John Haldudo the Rich. Quixote intervenes but only makes matters worse.
John Haldudo the Rich
a wealthy man, while beating his servant-boy, he is apprehended by Quixote.
The barber
one of Quixote's friends, he is basically the priest's sidekick, participating in the efforts to safeguard Quixote from knight-errantry.
Muñaton
the sage accused by Quixote's niece of stealing Quixote's library.
Friston
the "sage enchanter" who figures as Quixote's arch-nemesis. Quixote accuses Friston of stealing his library and robbing him of a victory by transforming giants into windmills just as Quixote was on the verge of victory against them.
Juana/Teresa Panza
Sancho's wife is called Teresa at the beginning of Book I, but at the end she is called Juana. In Book II, she is called Teresa.
Dapple
Sancho's donkey. Whether or not Dapple is kidnapped by Gines de Pasamonte remains a point of contention.
"The valiant Biscainer"
he battles Quixote, wounding the knight in the ear, though he loses the battle to Don Quixote
Antonio
a goatherd and friend of Chrysostom and Peter. He composes ballads and love songs.
Peter
a goatherd who brings the news of Chrysostom's death.
Chrysostom
a young shepherd who has died, heartbroken because of his unrequited love for Marcela.
Marcela
an incredibly beautiful shepherdess who comes from a wealthy family. She refuses to be married or courted and lives in the wild, hoping to avoid the advances of men. She gives a rational defense of her character at Chrysostom's funeral.
Señor Vivaldo
a random traveler who attends Chrysostom's funeral, accompanying Don Quixote, Sancho Panza, and the goatherds.
Ambrosio
a friend of Chrysostom who officiates at the funeral service.
The Yangüesians
horse breeders who pelt Rocinante with stones when he attempts to mate with one of their fillies. They also attack Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.
Innkeeper #2
Quixote enters patronizes this innkeeper in Chapter 16 and again in Chapter 32. The innkeeper involves himself in the squabbles, arguments and concerns of his patrons. Quixote believes that this inn is a castle and that Innkeeper #2 is the lord of the castle.
Innkeeper #2's daughter
a beautiful young woman who Quixote believes to be a princess. Quixote suspects that she is romantically interested in him.
Maritornes
the hunchbacked and half-blind servant woman who works at Inn #2.
The mule carrier
Maritornes' lover. He attacks Quixote when Quixote embraces Maritornes, perceiving her to be a beautiful princess.
Holy Brotherhood Officer #1
Lodging at Inn #2, he hears the fight between the carrier, Maritornes, Innkeeper #2, Sancho and Don Quixote. He surveys the scene and initially suspects that Don Quixote has died from his injuries.
Alifanfaron
"a furious pagan" who rides on horseback in the battle scene that Quixote imagines, though the pagan soldiers are actually sheep.
Alonso Lopez
one of the mourners whose "walking lights" frighten Don Quixote. After Quixote attacks one of the mourners, Alonso Lopez explains that they are only mourners, not devils.
A Barber
not Quixote's barber friend. "A man on horseback, who had on his head something which glittered, as if it had been of gold," he is, in fact, wearing a basin on his head because it is raining and he is on his way to work. Quixote attacks this barber and steals the basin. Quixote believes it to be "the helmet of Mambrino."
Galley-slaves
a chain-gang of violent criminals who are on their way to execution when Quixote perceives their distress and helps them escape. When Don Quixote suggests that the galley-slaves present themselves to Dulcinea, the criminals beat the knight merciless and then escape in different directions.
Gines de Pasamonte
one of the most violently ungrateful of the galley-slaves, he steals Dapple in the Sierra Morena. A few chapters later, Dapple reappears. This discrepancy is discussed in Book II, though it is not convincingly resolved.
Lucinda
a woman who Cardenio hoped to marry. She instead marries Cardenio's friend, Don Fernando, who is the son of a Duke. Lucinda marries Don Fernando to appease her parents but she truly loves Cardenio. Lucinda and Cardenio are reunited late in Book I.
Don Fernando
he betrays his friend, Cardenio, by marrying Cardenio's lover, Lucinda. Don Fernando has also taken Dorotea's virginity, only to break his promise to marry her. Late in the novel, Don Fernando is reunited with Dorotea and he vows to keep his promise to her. Don Fernando is the brother of Don Pedro de Aguilar.
Tinacrio the Wise and Queen Xaramilla
father and mother of the Princess Micomicona.
"The captive"
a man from Leon who was a prisoner of war, held in Algiers. He escaped with the help of a beautiful woman, Lela Zoraida, whom he plans to marry (once she has been baptized). "The captive" is the brother of a judge, Licentiate Juan Perez de Viedma, who arrives at Inn #2 with his daughter, Doña Clara.
Lela Zoraida
a beautiful woman who helps "the captive" escape from an Algiers prison. She leaves her father, her religion, and her country seeking baptism in Spain and a happy marriage with "the captive."
Don Pedro de Aguilar
one of the captive's comrades, he is the long-lost brother of Don Fernando.
Licentiate Juan Perez de Viedma
a judge from Leon, he is the father of Doña Clara and the brother of the captive. The priest reunites the two brothers.
Doña Clara
the beautiful daughter of Licentiate Juan Perez de Viedma, she is in love with a young man, Don Louis, who has followed her to the inn.
Don Louis
a neighbor of the Viedma family, he is in love with Doña Clara. He asks the judge for permission to marry Clara.
Holy Brotherhood Officer #2
near the end of the novel, he intends to take Quixote into custody for "setting at liberty" a group of "galley-slaves." The priest dissuades the officer on account of Quixote's insanity.
A canon
a religious figure who appears near the end of the novel. He once tried to write a tale of chivalry though he now condemns this literary art form. In conversation with Quixote, the canon marvels at the knight's easy ramblings between lucid intellectualism and ridiculous foolishness.
Eugenio
a goatherd who gets in a fist-fight with Don Quixote, not long after the knight is (temporarily) released from his cage.
Anselmo
the titular character of a story called "The Novel of the Curious Impertinent." The priest reads this story, which has been hidden in a trunk, in chapters 33-35. Anselmo is married to Camilla. To test Camilla's fidelity, Anselmo forces his friend, Lothario, to seduce Camilla. Anselmo regrets this foolish idea once Lothario and Camilla commence an affair. Anselmo dies of grief.
Camilla
a character in "The Novel of the Curious Impertinent," Camilla is the wife of Anselmo. Anselmo forces Camilla into Lothario's arms.
Lothario
Anselmo's best friend in "The Novel of the Curious Impertinent." To test Camilla's fidelity, Anselmo forces his friend, Lothario, to seduce Camilla. Lothario accidentally falls in love with Camilla and they begin an affair. Their romance blossoms as Anselmo dies of grief.
Leonela
Camilla's servant and confidante in "The Novel of the Curious Impertinent." Leonela helps Camilla keep her affair secret. Meanwhile, Leonela has an affair of her own.
Leonela's lover
for a time, Lothario suspects that Leonela's lover, who he has seen leaving the house early in the morning, is competition (Camilla's other lover).
Don Quixote Book I Glossary
Amadis de Gaul
Gaul is the Latin name for France but Amadis de Gaul is a Spanish tale of chivalry, written by Garci Rodriguez de Montalvo in 1508, almost a century before Don Quixote was published.
Balsam of Fierabras
Prince Fierabras is a character from "Twelve Peers," an old Spanish epic. From the Saracens, a tribe of fierce Muslim warriors, Fierabras gets the recipe for this all-healing balm.
Benedictine monks
An order of monks established by St. Benedict, a writer who died in 547.
Biscainer
A person from the region bordering the Bay of Biscay, a gulf defined by the coasts of western France and Northern Spain.
Chivalry
the system, spirit, or customs of medieval knighthood.
Holy Brotherhood
The Holy Brotherhood was formed in the 1470s as an alliance between the towns and the monarchy, against the nobility. They began as armed guards and emerged as a nationalized police force under Don Fernando and Isabella.
King Arthur
Founder of the Knights of the Round Table. Arthur is the illegitimate son of King Uther Pendragon. He becomes king by pulling the sword Excalibur from its fixed position, with the blade locked inside of a stone. King Arthur is deceived by his right-hand man, Lancelot; betrayed by his wife, Guinevere; and murdered by his son, Mordred.
Knight-errant
a knight traveling in search of adventures in which to exhibit military skill, prowess and generosity.
Leon
This was the first region of Spain that the Spanish re-conquered. Under King Don Fernando, Leon grew in territorial size and untied with Castile to form one unified Spanish kingdom.
Mambrino's Helmet
This is derived from two old chivalric tales: Orlando Furioso, by Ariosto; and the more famous Roland in Love, by Boiardo. Mambrino is much like King Midas of Greek mythology. He is pagan, proud, and arrogant‹and he wears a helmet constructed of solid gold. While wearing the helmet, Mambrino cannot be harmed, and so Quixote is eager to find this treasure.
Moors
Arabs from Northern Africa who captured Spain in the 700s. They were expelled from Spain in 1492.
Winnowing
a process of separating the chaff (waste) from grain by fanning the stalks in the air.
Don Quixote Book I Themes
Reliable Narration and the Aesthetics of Accuracy
From the beginning of the novel, the narrative's accuracy is called into question. In terms of authorship, Cervantes tells us that he has found this story and translated it from the work of a Moor named Cid Hamet Ben Engeli. Cervantes continually tells us that Ben Engeli cannot be trusted because he is a Moor. In an exterior frame, the narrative is immediately destabilized.
Within the novel, Don Quixote, the priest, the innkeeper (#2), the canon and numerous others weigh in on various chivalric tales and other literary works. The priest's aesthetics suggest that the style of narration determines the "reliability" of a narrative‹not the accuracy of the details. If the "facts" are properly arranged, the most improbable story can seem true.
Indeed, Cervantes' comic novel attests to this fact. Don Quixote is hailed as the first modern novel and praised for its realism. Realism applies more to the style in which the details are relayed than the actual narrative content. It seems highly unlikely that a man like Don Quixote might actually exist. In Chapters 33-35, "The Novel of the Curious Impertinent" figures in the exact same way. The priest says that he favors "the manner" in which the story was written though he sees Anselmo as an implausibly, unrealistically naïve and idiotic character. The story is realistic, but the character is unrealistic: How can this be so?
Part of what buttresses these reliable narratives (or perhaps, "reliably unreliable narratives") is their fetish for textual, historical, and or literary documentation. Cervantes' novel incorporates ballads, poems, oral narratives, editorial annotation and aesthetic commentary. Don Quixote incorporates diverse forms from disparate sources: unless they are all lying, the story is sound. "Curious Impertinent" is just as wily: the narrator reproduces the entire and unedited text of Camilla's love letters, while Lothario recites whole stanzas of lyric poetry without skipping a beat. These inner texts anchor the whole work. These inner texts become "evidence" and these details are credited as accurate.
Edmundo Delgado is a literary critic who looks at how the word historía signifies both 'story' and 'history' depending upon the context. Quixote is candid about his desire for fame and he continually discusses the history-historía of knight-errantry. The other characters largely read chivalry as story-historía. Still, Quixote's focus on his personal history, combines with the historiography of Cid Hamet Ben Engeli: when arguments about how the details should be told become arguments about how the details actually occurred, story-historía subtly transforms into history.
Book II complicates these issues in one major way. Avellaneda's "imposter sequel" (1614) complicates Book II (1615) in a way that was not possible for Book I (1605). Book II has to prove itself as the true sequel‹but when Avellaneda published his work, Cervantes was already writing Chapter LIX (there are only seventy-four chapters in Book II). In "narratological" terms, these final chapters get far more complicated than what preceded.
Delusion, Enchantment, and Imagination
The books of chivalry have left Don Quixote incapable of seeing "reality." When Don Quixote believes that the inn is a "castle" or a "windmill" is a "giant," he is not merely deluding himself. He has subverted his physical senses. While there are repetitions (inn = castle), not every "enchantment" is predictable. Quixote sees festooned pagan warriors on horseback battling in a field where there are only two herds of sheep.
To this day, the word "quixotic" is used to describe a person who is "foolishly impractical, especially in the pursuit of ideals." Chivalry is a social order that was disappearing. Quixote's delusions are not without philosophical underpinnings: he is deluded but also utopian; imaginative and idealistic. Quixote is not just living out any delusion; he is living out his fantasy. "Mad I am and mad I must be" is what Quixote tells Sancho. Delusion imprisons Quixote but the knight's imagination secures him freedom. Caged and ox-carted, there is no Utopia for Quixote, but his ideals are intact. "Mad I am," the knight exclaims, having fit himself into a role that has already been written in the chivalric literature. The delusion is strict and Quixote practices knight-errantry with orthodoxy. His imagination is expansive, however; every scene awards Quixote to see the enchantments as he chooses. He must battle giants, but they need not have been the windmills. He must search for Mambrino's helmet, but it need not have been a barber's basin. Quixote reserves the right to locate the enchantment right before his eyes.
Deception, Manipulation, and Strategy
This theme is treated differently in Book II, where the Duke and Duchess deceive and abuse Quixote. In Book I, Quixote is deceived by the priest, the barber, his housekeeper, his niece, Cardenio and Dorotea, among others. Even Sancho lies to Quixote, claiming to deliver the letter to Dulcinea. In the early chapters, the characters conspire to destroy Quixote's library and when the knight-errant prepares for his second sally, there is an effort to prevent him from leaving. In the second half of Book I, the priest and the barber enjoy numerous distractions but their primary concern is getting Don Quixote home safely. Their strategy is to use Quixote's delusions as a means of tricking him. Quixote believes that a cage is an enchantment to carry him to his next adventure. Meanwhile, the barber disguises himself and pretends to be a prophet, foretelling Quixote's triumphal return home. When Quixote speaks to the Princess Micomicona he does no think to ask 'Where is Dorotea?' because he does not Dorotea. But when the barber disappears in and out of costume, Quixote remains deceived. Indeed, the characters do not even bother wearing their disguises at one point because Quixote is so deep within his fantasy that there is no risk of him perceiving reality.
Don Quixote Book I Summary and Analysis of Book I, Chapters 1-6
Book I: Preface-Chapter 6 Summaries
Preface
Don Quixote begins with a preface by Cervantes. The author claims to be the "stepfather of Don Quixote" (as opposed to the father) because he is sharing an old story that was told to him long ago. At first, Cervantes decided that his book would have few allusions to classical or medieval stories‹as was the custom of the day. In the end, however, his friend convinced him that these allusions will make the book larger and will convince the readers that Cervantes is a well-educated man.
Chapter 1
There is an older gentleman (named Quixana or perhaps Quesada) and he lives in a Spanish village called La Mancha. As the story begins, this man has lost his wits. "His imagination was full of all that he read in his books"‹stories of medieval knights, chivalry, and bloody battles. As a result, he changes his name to Don Quixote and decides to become a knight-errant. Neither his niece nor his housekeeper can persuade him from dressing his old horse and setting off to battle giants.
Chapter 2
On the road, Don Quixote stumbles upon a very ordinary peasant woman. Quixote sees her as a beautiful noble lady and so he calls her Dulcinea and vows to fight for her honor and glory.
Chapter 3
Upon reaching an inn, Quixote envisions that the inn is a castle, that two lingering prostitutes are beautiful damsels, and that a dwarf opens the drawbridge to the castle. Quixote is crudely dressed as a warrior (with a helmet made of pasteboard). The innkeeper and guests are frightened by Quixote, but they soon become amused. The innkeeper plays along with Quixote's imaginations and agrees to knight Don Quixote in the morning. But when Quixote violently attacks one of the guests, the innkeeper hurriedly knights Don Quixote and sends him off.
The innkeeper advises Don Quixote that knights must travel with a few sets of clothing as well as a good amount of money.
Chapter 4
Don Quixote returns to La Mancha to get the necessary supplies, and on the way, he hears crying sounds from a bush. Don Quixote discovers a young laborer (Andres) being ruthlessly whipped by his master, John Haldudo the Rich. The boy claims that the master owes him unpaid wages, but the master claims that the boy is dishonest. Quixote sides with the boy against his master, but then believes the master when he assures Quixote that the boy will be promptly recompensed. Don Quixote perceives that justice has been done, and so he continues on his path. Once Don Quixote is safely gone, the master continues to whip his servant.
Chapter 5
Don Quixote also suffers a beating soon after, when he forces an altercation with a group of thirteen men. His body is bruised though his life is not endangered. A peasant from La Mancha discovers Don Quixote and leads the gentleman back to his home, where his anxious niece and housekeeper are waiting.
Chapter 6
While Don Quixote sleeps, the niece and housekeeper conspire with two of Don Quixote's friends (the priest and the barber). In the end, they decide to burn almost all of the gentleman's sin-provoking books‹those books that aren't burned in the hellish fire are removed from the house altogether.
Analysis
Authorship is one of the central themes of this novel. In the Preface, Cervantes claims that the story was originally recorded by a Moor. As "author," Cervantes has merely translated and embellished the work. Of course, this is not true. Ironically, authorship does become a major issue in terms of the publication of the sequel to Book I. Cervantes intended to publish a sequel to Book I; it arrived on the scene ten years later, in 1615. In the intervening decade, an "imposter" published a sequel to Book I. The book was denounced as a fraud, disclaimed by Cervantes, but nonetheless read and enjoyed by a very large audience.
In Book II, Cervantes responds to the "imposter sequel" and he noticeably takes authorship more seriously. These details certainly make Cervantes' Preface rather ironic, even if in retrospect. At any rate, the reader should not take the Preface seriously‹especially Cervantes' claim that he is publishing Don Quixote in order to "destroy the authority and acceptance" enjoyed by "books of chivalry." Within the larger story of Book I, a number of smaller stories will be told‹and questions of authorship will become one of Cervantes' favorite games.
As heroes go, Don Quixote gets off to a rather inauspicious start. In his attempts to become a knight-errant, Don Quixote is really a parody: His suit of armor is composed of rubbish and trash. His horse, Rocinante, is an old steed. Hardly a figure of renown, Don Quixote remains so undistinguished that even those familiar with him are not sure exactly what is name is (perhaps Quixana, Quesada or Quixana). Don Quixote's ambitions are as great and numerous as his inabilities and he spends a lot of time thinking about how the story of his "famous exploits" will be recorded.
Delusion is another major thematic concern of the novel. The books of chivalry have left Don Quixote incapable of seeing "reality." Many of Quixote's deluded interpretations are rather ironic. Perhaps Quixote is merely innocent and naïve when he mistakes the two prostitutes for damsels. Later in Book I, Quixote will argue that the idealization of a person makes this person ideal. True to the chivalric standard, Quixote idealizes women with little justification or provocation. When Don Quixote believes that the inn is a "castle" and the swineherd is a "dwarf," he is not merely idealizing. These delusions are self-serving; the castle and the dwarf fit into the story that Don Quixote wishes were true. To this day, the word "quixotic" is used to describe a person who is "foolishly impractical, especially in the pursuit of ideals." Certainly, this is true of Quixote when he explains that he did not bring any money or changes of clothes with him because he had "never read in the histories of knights-errant, that they carried any."
Don Quixote is definitely "in the pursuit of ideals," old chivalric ideals that were no longer the mode in his society. At the same time, the characterization of Quixote is rather complex. For an innocent, Quixote certainly causes a good amount of damage‹if Quixote is a hero, he is not an ordinary hero. Andres suffers far more than he would have, had Don Quixote never 'come to the rescue.' Throughout Book I, Don Quixote reveals himself to be both impatient and violent.
When Quixote causes a row at the inn, the innkeeper warns the other guests about accosting the knight: "The host cried out to them to let him [Don Quixote] alone, for he had already told them he [Don Quixote] was mad, and that he would be acquitted as a madman though he should kill them all." If nothing else, this passage gives us social context. This is the age of the Inquisition with its Index of forbidden books; these are years of law and order. As foreshadowed here, it will not be long before Quixote seriously trespasses the law. Quixote commits crimes because he pursues his ideals without giving any thought to the law; he does not take aim at the law.
In Don Quixote, deception functions as a parallel to delusion. Don Quixote suffers delusions of being a knight-errant. His family, friends, and acquaintances consistently deceive Quixote throughout Book I. Sometimes‹as we will see later‹these deceptions are intended to mock and ridicule Quixote. In these early chapters, Quixote's niece, and Quixote's two friends‹the priest and the barber‹seek to protect the would-be knight-errant from the books that have ravaged his sensibilities. Quixote's sane compatriots will frequently deceive him in order to protect him.
Finally, the reader should also be aware of Cervantes' self-reference in Chapter 6. Cervantes' work, Galatea, (published in 1585) is‹at least temporarily‹among the books that the priest and barber spare from the fire. The priest argues that the book cannot be adequately judged until "the second part" is published and critiqued. Only then, can Cervantes "obtain that entire pardon which is now denied him." This is quite the parallel to Michelangelo's self-depiction in the Sistine Chapel: a hollowed-out skin, dangling in the awkward space between heaven and hell. Today, literary critics generally look at Don Quixote as the formative step, the germ of the modern novel. Cervantes may not have used this language, but he knew that he was writing a different type of work. And so, we might expect this exorcism of The Author's nagging fears‹the demons of self-doubt and censorship; and we might have expected it to come early on in the story.
This is, however, only the beginning of a very long discourse on literature in general, focusing largely on aesthetics, poetics and criticism. Don Quixote is very much a book about reading and its consequences. But Don Quixote is also a book about the experiences of authors and storytellers.
Don Quixote Book I Summary and Analysis of Book I, Chapters 7-10
Book I: Chapter 7-Chapter 10 Summaries
Chapter 7
Don Quixote has been brought back to his home in La Mancha, but he has not let go of his imaginations. Quixote still believes that he is a knight-errant and he will not be convinced otherwise. Quixote's niece, his housekeeper, the barber and the priest are discussing which books need to be burned when Quixote interrupts them. Specifically, Quixote is upset because they have blocked his entrance to the library. After the gentleman is put to bed, the housekeeper burns the books.
Don Quixote is looking for his books a few days later, but of course, he cannot find them. The housekeeper sees Quixote searching for his library and she tells him that there is no point in looking for the books‹because "the devil himself has carried all away." The niece explains that it wasn't the devil, but a sage named Muñaton. The niece and the housekeeper have already decided what they would tell Quixote. Don Quixote explains to his niece that the sage was named Friston, not Muñaton. Friston has taken Quixote's books because of a rivalry between Quixote and one of Friston's powerful knights.
Quixote's niece perceives that her plan has backfired: her uncle is determined to leave home again and he will not be persuaded to do otherwise. Traveling into town, Don Quixote meets Sancho Panza, a commoner, and convinces Sancho to serve as his squire. Sancho Panza is hesitant to leave his wife, Teresa, but Quixote convinces Panza that there are treasures to be won. At the very least, Panza will likely become the Governor of an island.
Chapter 8
On this, his second journey, Quixote is no less plagued by absurd imaginations. Traveling the countryside, Quixote soon stumbles into "the dreadful and never-before-imagined adventure of the windmills." Quixote prepares for "lawful war" against an army of giants, despite Sancho Panza's urgent warnings. Sancho realizes that Quixote's "giants" are merely windmills. Quixote insists upon charging at the windmills and he falls to the ground, when his lance jams into the sails of the windmill. Quixote is not badly hurt, though his horse, Rocinante, is more seriously wounded.
When it becomes clear to Quixote that this is a field of windmills, he argues that an evil enchanter has transformed the giants into windmills in order to rob Quixote of a dashing victory.
Chapter 9
Armed with a tree branch (to replace the broken lance), Quixote continues on his quest. On a side road, Quixote attacks two monks who are accompanying a lady. Quixote argues that the lady has been kidnapped and is imprisoned in her carriage. Sancho tries to dissuade the knight, but he is unsuccessful. Sancho then joins in the battle and attempts to steal the monks' clothes. At this point, the monks' servants intervene and give Sancho a rather serious beating. Quixote is wounded in the ear, but he nearly kills one of the lady's attendants, a man called "the valiant Biscainer." Staying true to the code of chivalry, Quixote says that he will spare the attendant's life if the man agrees to "present himself before the peerless Dulcinea, that she may dispose of him as she shall think fit." The company of the lady, her attendants, the monks and their servants are all bewildered by Quixote's request. Nonetheless, they enthusiastically agree to Quixote's demands because they can see that he is dangerous.
Chapter 10
After the two groups part ways, Sancho asks to become governor of his island. Quixote cannot yet make good on this promise, but he assures Sancho that their rewards and treasures will come soon.
Analysis
The scene in Chapter 8, when Quixote perceives the windmills as giants, is perhaps the most famous scene of the novel. Don Quixote's imagination turns the dull Spanish countryside into a magical place. Jostling between Sancho and Quixote's point-of-view, the reader sees the juxtaposition of an ordinary landscape and an absurd daydream. Because Cervantes shows us what Quixote sees, it is easier for us to empathize with the knight. At the same time, we can also understand why Sancho feels so confused by his irrational master.
Sancho Panza is described as "honest, poor, shallow-brained" and he becomes Don Quixote's squire. Panza is not deluded, but he has too much faith in Don Quixote and the squire will suffer for it. As a practical man, Sancho Panza fears the Holy Brotherhood once Don Quixote has committed violence against the Benedictine monks. Quixote, an educated man, is unable to grasp reality. On the other hand, Quixote is so well-versed in the nuances of chivalry and adventures that he is able to correct his niece when she incorrectly names the evil sage: "Friston he meant to sayŠ" This especially ironic because the niece is lying, simply repeating a story she has already rehearsed. Literacy is also expressed as an issue of social "class' in the interactions between Quixote and his squire. When Sancho raises a concern, Quixote can pose the question: "Have you read in storyŠ?" This effectively silences Sancho and foreshadows the point in the novel when Quixote commands Sancho not to speak.
Don Quixote is determined to follow the texts that he has read, even if that means breaking the law and violating the religious codes and morals of his society. So far, Quixote proves to be rather orthodox and unswerving in regards to following the text. There is tension between the projects of the author-narrator and the main character. At one point, Quixote says to his squire: "Sancho, let not that trouble you, which gives me pleasure; nor endeavor to make a new world, or to throw knight-errantry off its hinges." In a sense, the hero only wants to duplicate and share the glories of the previous knights. But this recalls Cervantes' own tongue-in-cheek explanation of why he published Don Quixote. As stated in the Prologue, the novel is intended "to destroy the authority and acceptance the books of chivalry have had in the world."
The two major themes in this section are delusion and deception. Quixote's experience with the windmills is definitive of delusion and the motif of "mills" will recur several times in the novel. The theme of deception is initiated once Don Quixote is deceived by his friends and family. This will continue throughout Books I and II. Indeed, it will become important to separate the "delusion" of Quixote from the "deception" of others, if only because both run rampant. Quixote's friends and loved ones ultimately spend considerable time and energy deceiving Quixote as a means of protecting our hero from himself.
Don Quixote Book I Summary and Analysis of Book I, Chapters 11-15
Book I: Chapter 11-Chapter 15 Summaries
Chapter 11
Looking for a place to sleep, Don Quixote and Sancho Panza stumble upon a group of goatherds. The goatherds are immediately friendly‹and curious about Don Quixote. The goatherds invite Quixote and Panza to sit around the fire and eat with them. Sancho declines the offer because he thinks it is inappropriate to sit and eat alongside his master. After Quixote's insists, Panza agrees to join the group. While Sancho indulges in the wine, his master begins a very long lecture on the "jargon of squires and knights-errant." The goatherds do not understand Quixote's speech, but having sensed that the gentleman means well, they appreciate his good will. Quixote ends his speech by calling them his "brother goatherds."
Chapter 12
After the speech, the goatherds offer Don Quixote "some diversion and amusement" when Antonio arrives on scene. Antonio is a goatherd who composes ballads and love songs. Antonio sings a few of his songs to the group. After Antonio's song, another goatherd, Peter, arrives with sad news: A young shepherd named Chrysostom has died, heartbroken because of his unrequited love for Marcela. Marcela is a shepherdess who comes from a wealthy family. Despite her fortune, she has refused to marry or be courted. This is very frustrating for the men of the town because Marcela's beauty is unparalleled. Chrystostom's death outrages the goatherds against Marcela.
When Don Quixote expresses his sadness and sympathy for Chrysostom, the goatherds invite Quixote to attend the next day's burial service. Just as he did the previous night, Quixote spends the night wide-awake while others sleep. He spends these hours thinking about his lady, Dulcinea.
Chapters 13 and 14
Early the next morning, Don Quixote is full of alacrity: one would never guess that he had not had any sleep. On the road, the group encounters Señor Vivaldo, who is traveling in the same direction. When Vivaldo sees Don Quixote he asks him why he wears armor though he travels though a safe and peaceful country. Quixote explains the order of chivalry and refers to the English histories of King Arthur. Vivaldo seems impressed with the discipline and strictures of Quixote's service, likening the knight to a monk. Quixote argues that "we soldiers and knights really execute what [monks and priests] pray for, defending it with the strength of our arms and the edge of our swords." As the company nears the funeral site, Vivaldo and Quixote continue their discussion of the religious and spiritual aspects of knight-errantry. Chrysostom has given instructions to burn his writings after his burial; Vivaldo pleads for Chrysostom's friend Ambrosio not to do this. At Ambrosio's request, Vivaldo recites one of Chrysostom's poems, "The Song of Despair." The poet mourns that Marcela never loved him. He also writes, "No common language can express" his pain. The gathered mourners approve Chrysostom's song, disparaging Marcela as a cold cruel torturer. When Marcela appears on scene, she flatly rejects the mourners' argument. First, Marcela holds that not she, but God, is the accountable creator of her beauty. Second, though Marcela's beauty may win the love of others, the fact of being loved does not oblige Marcela to love her suitors, in return. Marcela says "I was born free" and she intentionally secludes herself "that [she] might live free." Marcela has never led any suitor to believe that she loved him and, for her chastity, Marcela offers no apology. Marcela leaves abruptly, and Don Quixote defends the shepherdess, promising to slay any man who follows her. Quixote then persists after Marcela, offering her the sturdy services of a knight-errant. (She declines.)
Chapter 15
Knight and squire retire to a grassy field to enjoy their lunch. Don Quixote's horse, Rocinante, sees a small herd of fillies and he trots towards them. The Yangüesian horse-breeders violently chase off Rocinante, and they attack Don Quixote and Sancho Panza as well. Don Quixote is seriously wounded and the knight asks Sancho to carry him to "some castle where [he] may be cured of [his] wounds." Sancho becomes disillusioned but Quixote reiterates his promises: the knight and squire will soon be "filling the sails of [their] desires" and Sancho will soon have the "islands" that Quixote has promised. Don Quixote reflects on his previous adventures and gains confidence by recalling the literary examples of valiant knights‹heroes who were similarly met with obstacles. Self-assured, Don Quixote decides that he and Sancho Panza will continue along their path. But Quixote cannot walk; indeed he can barely sit upon his horse. Rocinante has suffered such a beating; the horse can barely drag itself down the road, let alone support Quixote's weight. Quixote sits upon Sancho's donkey, and Rocinante, unable to lead, is tied (by the head) to the donkey's tail. Fortunately, Sancho does not have to struggle for long as there is lodging nearby. The two men arrive at an inn, which Don Quixote perceives as a castle. Sancho argues with his master and refuses to capitulate.
Analysis
Pulling up to another inn, Don Quixote is convinced that the inn is a castle. In a sense, it is as if Don Quixote's character is not developing at all. His delusions run deep but there seems to be a logical structure. INN = CASTLE for Don Quixote and this equation does not change until much later in the novel. The foreshadowing is usually grim: there will be accidents, confusion, and violence. Don Quixote will cause some unintended damage. But these iterations become more and more hilarious. What follows for the remainder of the novel, is almost entirely farce.
Unlike the tales of chivalry and medieval romance, Don Quixote is a novel full of commoners and ordinary people. Within the narrative, we can attribute this to the fact that Don Quixote is traveling the road: he is more likely to meet itinerants and rustics than landed gentry. In literary terms, however, Cervantes contributions to the genre of the novel helped the form to evolve as an expression of the "middle-class" as opposed to the upper classes. Along these lines, we see the "pastoral" motif in this section of the novel. The "pastoral" refers to pastures, shepherds and goatherds, and the idea that utopia exists outside of the town or village (outside of society). True to tradition, these herders are a source of music and poetry, and they are devoted to love.
The goatherd named Chrysostom is named after a saint of the Roman Catholic Church.
St. John the Chrysostom was a doctor who earned the moniker "Chrystostom," which means "golden mouthed," because he was an eloquent preacher. There is irony in Don Quixote's Chrysostom‹a love-struck poet who gives us the lyric: "For Ah! No common language can express/ the cruel pains that torture my sad heart." The saint was eloquent in spreading the gospel; the goatherd is inarticulate in expressing his pain, a pain that language is incapable of expressing.
Don Quixote long rant alludes to the "prelapsarian" idea of Eden. "Prelapsarian" means before (pre-) the fall (lapse), referring to the Fall of Man in the Garden of Eden. The idea, according to literary critics, is that language functioned in a perfect way before Sin. After Sin, language also lost its perfection and became corrupted. On one hand, the knight's ranting helps to confirm that Don Quixote truly believes that he is doing well, despite the obvious evidence to the contrary.
It is also interesting to note that practically all of Don Quixote's model knights are originally from Britain, France, or Italy. King Artús is simply a Spanish translation of King Arthur. The importance of a national literature is discussed in passages of Book II. Considering Cervantes' decision to write his novel in Spanish, as opposed to Latin or French, we can see Don Quixote as a Spanish alternative to the unrealistic and foreign literary creations that prefigured him.
In terms of characterization, knight and squire are continually described through contrasts, though there is frequently an irony involved. Sancho Panza likes to drink and he sleeps soundly. Don Quixote consistently abstains from food and drink, and during the night, he remains wide awake, as alert as a sentinel. But Sancho's drunkenness never gets in the way of his rational, clear-headed thinking. And Quixote, though he is sharp and alert, is no less delusional. Behavioral characteristics are in ironic contrast to character features that would suggest the opposite.
When Quixote does go to sleep, the next day, he decides to dream "in imitation of Marcela's lovers." Don Quixote inhabits the role of "knight-errant" by imitating his predecessors. When the knight finds contemporary love-sick medievalist fools, his foolhardy resolve is strengthened. The goatherds supply Quixote with more examples for imitation. As characters go, Marcela is very rational and prudent. She is a woman who is immune to the folly that seems contagious among the company of men. The motif of the "tyrannical" female who spurns romantic advances is not Cervantes' alone, having been established in the poetry of Petrarch, Shakespeare, and Edmund Spenser, among many others. Here, Cervantes critiques the "Tyrannesse" motif by allowing Marcela to respond with logic. This does not happen in the older works.
Finally, the motif of book burning recurs with the debate on whether or not to bury the dead man's poetry along with him. Just as earlier in the novel, the words are spared. This tempers Cervantes' claim of seeking to obliterate the books of chivalry. A dove-tailing takes place in Don Quixote, the books of chivalry are reiterated for a final time‹the modern novel provides the continuation. Books of chivalry do not need to be burned: modern novels need to be written.
Don Quixote Book I Summary and Analysis of Book I, Chapters 16-22
Book I: Chapter 16-Chapter 22 Summaries
Chapter 16
The innkeeper sees Don Quixote's wounds and he asks Sancho what has happened. Sancho says that Quixote has fallen and injured his ribs. The innkeeper's wife, his beautiful daughter, and his half-blind servant girl, Maritornes, all tend to Quixote's wounds. They suspect the wounds are on account of a beating, as opposed to a mere "fall." Quixote is a marvel for the innkeeper and company: they have never heard of a knight-errant and they surely do not consider the inn to be an enchanted castle.
Chapter 17
Quixote imagines that the innkeeper's daughter has promised to come to his bed during the knight. Quixote is titillated by the prospect though, of course, he will not be disloyal to his Dulcinea. The innkeeper's daughter never enters the room where Quixote sleeps (along with Sancho, and a mule carrier). The mule carrier is Maritornes' lover but when Maritornes enters the room, looking for the carrier‹Quixote apprehends her, perceiving the servant to be the daughter. Maritornes is bewildered; her lover is enraged, especially when he realizes that Quixote's solicitude is unwelcome, indeed. The carrier attacks Quixote, crushes his jaw and trampling his ribs. Maritornes is tossed from the bed-pallet, landing on Sancho. These two then begin to fight with vigor. The innkeeper has heard the commotion and he enters the room, bearing a light. He immediately chastises Maritornes and they begin exchanging blows.
An officer of the Holy Brotherhood, lodging at the inn, enters the room on account of the violent noises. Quixote is an unconscious sprawl, the other four combatants doing well enough on their own. Thinking that Quixote is dead, the officer leaves the room to seek assistance, shouting: "Shut the inn door, see that nobody gets out; for they have killed a man here." This immediately ends the fight: the innkeeper leaves with his candle; the carrier and servant retreat to their separate sleeping spaces; Sancho retreats to his master's side.
Chapter 18
Revived, Quixote believes that he has suffered the evil of an "enchanted Moor." Sancho does not interpret their calamity as an enchantment, however. The officer returns, astonished to see that Quixote is alive. Quixote explains that he is in need of a healing tonic called "the true balsam of Fierabras." He prepares the balsam, according to recipe, drinks the solution and then vomits. Quixote then suffers convulsions, sleeps for three hours and then wakes up, feeling perfectly healthy.
When Quixote gives the balsam to Sancho, Sancho suffers so terribly that those present fear that the squire is going to die. Several hours later, Sancho has not fully recovered but Quixote insists on leaving. The innkeeper wants Quixote to pay for lodging, but Quixote is insulted that the lord of a castle (an enchanted one, no less) would ask a knight for compensation. Don Quixote and Sancho leave but the innkeeper sends a gang of rogues after them, to collect his payment. Quixote escapes but Sancho is captured, tied inside of a blanket, and tossed into the air repeatedly. The rogues also steal Sancho's bags‹though Sancho does not realize this, at first.
Chapter 19
Sancho is angry because he has suffered and yet, Don Quixote neither defended nor avenged him. The two travelers continue along their road and Sancho sees "two great flocks of sheep" in the distance. Quixote, on the other hand, sees two opposing armies preparing for battle‹and he aims to intervene and assist the weaker side. Sancho begs Don Quixote to abandon his plan and refrain from attacking the harmless sheep. The knight sees two armies and, in fact, he is able to name the various warriors who are marching into battle, Alifanfaron, "a furious pagan," chief among them. Sancho cannot help but marvel at Quixote's ability to provide such an extensive history of the knights, considering that the knights were sheep. Quixote intervenes and manages to slay about seven sheep with his lance before the shepherds and herdsmen pelt him with stones. His ribs are bruised and his teeth are knocked out.
The shepherds leave with their flocks and Sancho rushes to Quixote's side. Quixote says that his enemy has transformed the soldiers into sheep. Quixote tells Sancho to be courageous because they have many more adventures ahead. They continue riding, though Quixote is quite sore.
Chapter 20
Later in the night, the two travelers see a procession of "walking lights" heading towards them. It is a funeral procession of over twenty people in white robes, and six more in black mourning clothes. They are wearing funeral masks and they hum a sad plaintive song. Quixote is outraged, believing them to be devils. Quixote demands that one of them give an account of their business after he has already wounded one of the mourners. One of the mourners is named Alonso Lopez and he explains that the group is traveling to bury the bones of a man who has died of pestilential fever. Quixote allows them to continue without further harm.
In conversation with Sancho, Quixote expresses his concern that he has wounded a holy man and so, he might be excommunicated from the church. This does not prevent the knight and squire from enjoying the food that they stole from the holy travelers, upon apprehending the group. It is late in the night, but there is no inn close by. Knight and squire decide to settle in the grass and sleep outside, but their repose is disturbed by a loud sound, as if it were rushing water. Quixote insists upon investigating but Sancho urges him to wait until morning. Sancho offers to tell Quixote a story, but Quixote keeps interrupting Sancho‹who follows the storytelling custom of his town by repeating everything that he says twice. Sancho does not like the questions that Quixote asks, and he soon gives up.
Chapter 21
In the morning, Quixote stalks his new adventure, creeping closer and closer to the source of the noise only to discover that the noise emanates from a set of fulling-hammers (large mills that beat wool into a refined material). Sancho cannot suppress his laughter but he pays dearly when Quixote gives him two whacks with the lance. Quixote commands Sancho to show more respect.
It starts to rain and so Don Quixote and Sancho try to move quickly, though their destination is unclear. Quixote sees a man ahead who is wearing a gold and glittering helmet: the famed helmet of Mambrino. The "helmet" is simply a brass basin‹the man is a barber on his way to work. The barber is unprepared for Quixote's advance. He is knocked off his donkey but he soon scrambles to his feet and flees, leaving his basin behind. Quixote concludes that the helmet must have fallen into the hands of a man who clearly did not know its value. Sancho claims that the helmet is a barber's basin and Quixote does admit that the helmet does resemble a basin.
Chapter 22
Quixote only creates more trouble when he comes across a chain of galley-slaves, criminals who are chained together and are being led to their punishment. Sympathizing with the criminals as victims of love, Quixote attacks the armed guard and in the chaos that ensues, the criminals are able to escape. Sancho is worried that Don Quixote will surely be apprehended by the officers of the Holy Brotherhood and arrested. Quixote asks that freed men present themselves to Dulcinea and pay homage but the criminals refuse, fearing that they will be caught. They throw stones at Quixote, slightly injuring him, before they escape. The knight is baffled to find himself so mistreated by the very people he has assisted.
Analysis
In these chapters, Don Quixote becomes a more complicated character. He is not entirely devoted and loyal. The scene in Chapter 22, when Don Quixote frees the enslaved prisoners is bizarre. Quixote does not merely challenge the law and cause harm to society, but is questionable whether the knight is truly defending his own values. In assessing the damages that Quixote causes, "imagination" is held to be the culprit.
Sancho Panza wants the enchanted treasure but he disbelieves in the enchanted violence. Sancho does not believe the inn to be a castle, and he perceives the criminals to be who they are‹but Sancho persists in believing that Quixote will make him a governor. Don Quixote has an "intrepid heart" and the "breast of Mars." Mars is the Roman name for the Greek god of war, Ares. Sancho Panza is a naturally fearful man who serves in a submissive role to Quixote; Panza was "born to sleep." Panza does not have heroic attributes but Panza does not cause trouble. Quixote has heroic potential but his energy is too chaotic. Postulating on good and evil, the knight unwittingly describes himself when he is in fact describing the devil as "the devil, who sleeps not, and troubles all things." Quixote looks at the troubles that surround him‹troubles of his own creation‹and he blames them on the devil.
The theme of delusion is demonstrated when Quixote mistakes the inn-keeper's daughter to be a beautiful princess Just as an inn equals a castle, a basin equals a helmet‹though it is a dunce cap for Quixote. The literal darkness of the room blinds Quixote to the fact that he embraces Maritornes, and not another woman. But his delusion overpowers his senses: he ought to vomit but instead he enjoys Maritornes despite her foul smells.
Don Quixote has not respected the law but the Holy Brotherhood appears on the scene just as Don Quixote is need of assistance. The lantern is an object-symbol of light, representing law and justice. We see human nature in action when the cry of 'murder' is sounded. The characters flee even though there has been no murder. Later, on the King's Highway in Chapter 19, Don Quixote expresses the idea that revenge is his law. Of course, this is not the sort of argument that can be justified if applied universally. Quixote is bent on revenge and honor. Quixote disregards the law in the hopes of achieving a sort of glory that justifies his adventurous breaches of the law. But in the course of these adventures, Quixote comes to need the law and its protection. "The Knight of the Sorrowful Figure" is merely an elder gentleman with his teeth knocked out. But give him a lance, and see Quixote give insanity, chance, and chaos equal rein. Attacking a procession of funeral mourners, Quixote risks excommunication from the Church and this would be sure damnation to Hell. Having attacked two flocks of sheep (killing seven members), perceiving them to be "pagan warriors" on horseback, Quixote has already committed a symbolic crime of the highest order. The fact of Quixote's delusion cannot atone for his rather merciless assault on persons and beings that represent peace, innocence, and the civil life. Quixote ultimately evades all forms of legal prosecution and punishment, but the knight will lose a few more teeth and a good deal more before the novel has ended.
It is difficult to empathize with Don Quixote when he commits blatant wrongs and then remains unapologetic. A pattern emerges in the plot: Don Quixote kills the sheep because he is following his delusion. Sancho Panza sees reality but Don Quixote discounts Sancho Panza's wise advice. Sancho Panza impeaches himself by willingly following Don Quixote into sure disaster, only to subsequently continue the argument.
Cervantes is being sarcastic when he describes the conversations between knight and squire as "sage discourse." Quixote misdirects his own intellect while Sancho betrays his own common sense. While traveling, Sancho Panza uses astronomy as his guide, whereas Don Quixote uses his stories as maps. In one discussion, the knight says to Sancho: "I know not what kingdom, for I believe it is not in the map." Sancho knows that the path of the knight is lined with "numberless hardships," for the very same reason that he, Sancho, relies upon astronomy and the fixed stars as his guide. Once Don Quixote has made up his own mind to plow ahead, Sancho can do little but follow the knight into disaster.
Don Quixote Book I Summary and Analysis of Book I, Chapters 23-26
Book I: Chapter 23-Chapter 26 Summaries
Chapter 23
Don Quixote agrees with Sancho Panza's warning to leave the area, and they travel into a nearby forest called Sierra Morena. This decision turns out to be ill fated, however, when one of the freed prisoners steals Sancho's donkey. At this point, Don Quixote and Sancho Panza must walk on foot. Along this route, Don Quixote discovers the belongings of a traveler who has deserted the area. Sancho Panza is happy to take the traveler's money and Don Quixote reads the traveler's notebook. Don Quixote opens the man's notebook and discovers a love letter. The traveler has suffered from unrequited love‹and because he has been rejected, he has gone mad.
Soon after reading the letter, Don Quixote sees a half-naked man running in the distant hills. Of course, the knight intends to seek the man out, though Sancho Panza disagrees with this plan. Sancho Panza's obvious concern is that he suspects that the half-naked man is the traveler who has left his saddlebag on the side of the road; Sancho is worried that the man will ask for his money back.
A goatherd then explains to Don Quixote and Sancho Panza that the half-naked man is a stranger to the region. He appeared one day, asking directions, because he intended to go to the most craggy and thorny part of the wilderness. The Sierra Morena goatherds became concerned because this wild man began hijacking villagers on the road and stealing their food. After this occurred, they offered to leave food for the man.
A man called "The Ragged Knight of the Sorry Countenance" advances towards Don Quixote, and the two men embrace "as if they were old friends." They are not old friends, however, and Don Quixote has the man tell his story.
Chapter 24
The Ragged Knight of the Sorry Countenance agrees to tell his story but he warns that he will immediately end the story if anyone interrupts him.
The Ragged Knight is an aristocrat, named Cardenio, and he intended to marry a woman named Lucinda. Unfortunately, Cardenio is called away from home to work for the Duke and he is separated from Lucinda. Cardenio begins a very complicated explanation of how the Duke's son, Don Fernando, becomes infatuated with Lucinda. Don Quixote interrupts (and ends) the story, when he comments on Lucinda's interest in the same books that he enjoys. Cardenio and Don Quixote begin arguing about chivalry. Cardenio then attacks the group and runs back into the mountains.
Chapter 25
Don Quixote decides that he will emulate Cardenio's example by going mad because Dulcinea has been unfaithful to him. When Sancho Panza points out that Don Quixote does not know this to be true, Don Quixote argues that what he imagines is more important than what has actually happened. Don Quixote gives Sancho a letter to deliver to Dulcinea and Sancho is repulsed: Sancho has just realized that "Dulcinea" is a common woman, not a princess. Don Quixote argues that Dulcinea is a princess because he has decided that she is a princess.
Don Quixote wants Sancho to go home and tell Dulcinea that he has gone mad because of his love for her. "Mad I am and mad I must be," Don Quixote says ¬and Don Quixote proves his madness by taking off most of his clothes, rolling around on the ground, jumping up and down, and attempted a rather feeble headstand. Quixote thinks about the stories that he has read, so that he can be sure to go mad in the proper way. The knight wanders through the trees, saying prayers and carving love songs into the tree trunks.
Chapter 26
Sancho encounters the priest and the barber and they ask about Don Quixote. Sancho Panza explains Quixote's condition but Sancho still believes that Don Quixote will keep his promise to make him governor of an island. The priest and barber see that Sancho has been following Don Quixote but they do not realize that Sancho is gullible. Instead, the priest and the barber decide that Sancho Panza has gone insane!
The priest and the barber are worried about Don Quixote but they do not take Sancho very seriously, telling him jokes to make him think that his island is in jeopardy. At the end of Chapter 26, the priest and barber begin planning a disguise that will help them trick Don Quixote into coming back home. Sancho Panza, however, is not included in these plans.
Analysis
When they meet each other for the first time, Don Quixote and the Ragged Knight are "old friends" because they are part of the same delusion. Both "knights" are locked into the world of chivalry and so it is easy for them to recognize each other, misfits in an increasingly hostile world. This foreshadows some of the encounters that Quixote has in Book II with various "knights" who range in friendliness, integrity, and adherence to the chivalric ideals.
In these chapters, the idea is expressed that the common poor tend to be sensible people. On the other hand, the upper classes, nobility and gentlemen are prone to various forms of insanity. The crazy mountain man, for example, was once a noble‹making his fall from grace all the more dramatic and severe.
Dulcinea is a peasant and Sancho Panza now knows her history, but this history conflicts with Don Quixote's story. In one sense, lineage is necessary for establishing the distinctions between the characters of the novel (principally, Don Quixote and Sancho Panza). Nonetheless, Don Quixote gives Dulcinea nobility without lineage.
There is social commentary in the scene when Don Quixote silences Sancho. He gives the squire two options: serve as lackey or go home and rule his own house. It never occurs to Quixote (or Sancho, for that matter) that the two men are equals. When Don Quixote takes his clothes off, there is an allusion to the drunkenness of Noah, in the Biblical book of Genesis. Sancho Panza forbids himself from viewing his lord and is motivated to assist the older man on account of compassion, sympathy and genuine concern. As we see in Chapter 26, Sancho Panza is compassionate but also gullible. The barber and priest suspect that Sancho is also mad.
The narrative structure of the novel is developed with more nuances and variations in these chapters. Because the Ragged Knight is interrupted in the middle of his story, he tells no more. This recalls Sancho Panza's complaint, in Chapter 20, when Don Quixote chastises him for repeating several details. Sancho Panza replies that he is simply telling his story in the same way in which stories are told in his town. Don Quixote is a novel full of interruptions, but the story always continues where it left off. Here, we read a story within a story. The story is cut off when Don Quixote interrupts to discuss chivalry. (We will get the continuation of the Ragged Knight's story later on in the novel).
Dapple the mule was stolen by the thief in Chapter 23, but Sancho Panza has Dapple in Chapter 25. This has led some modern readers to erroneously conclude that the novel was originally serialized. Most literary scholars conclude that Cervantes simply made a mistake here‹but this only reaffirms this nuanced idea of the faulty, inaccurate text.
Don Quixote parallels Hamlet as we explore the question of whether or not his madness is feigned. On one hand, we might argue that part of Quixote's madness is the very fact that he now articulates a plan to appear insane. On the other hand, there is the argument that Quixote is simply playing a role, with a heavy focus on having witnesses attest to his performance. Quixote says: "Mad I am and mad I must be." It sounds as if madness where Quixote's vocation, but at the same time, these words don't make sense. These are words that only a mad man would say. Already suffering from delusions, Quixote has decided to coax himself into a sham lunacy. The barber and the priest decide to trick Don Quixote for his own good. This takes up the second half of Book I.
Don Quixote Book I Summary and Analysis of Book I, Chapters 27-29
Book I: Chapter 27-Chapter 29 Summaries
Chapter 27
Sancho Panza gives the barber and the priest more information about Don Quixote's madness and the three men travel towards Sierra Morena. The priest and barber hope that they will not have to resort to trickery in order to bring Don Quixote back home. Sancho Panza is to lie to Don Quixote, claiming that he has delivered the letter to Dulcinea and as a result, Dulcinea demands that Quixote present himself to her. Sancho goes ahead of the barber and the priest, and the latter end up meeting Cardenio, the madman of Sierra Morena. Cardenio is singing a song that beings "What causes all my grief and pain?" referring, of course, to his failed relationship with Lucinda.
We now get the full story from Cardenio because Don Quixote is not present to interrupt the storytelling. When Cardenio served the Duke, he befriended the Duke's son, Don Fernando. On one occasion, Don Fernando visited Cardenio's house and within the leaves of Cardenio's copy of the book Amadis de Gaul (a classic tale of chivalry), Don Fernando found a letter that Lucinda had sent to Cardenio. The letter expressed Lucinda's love with such clarity and energy that Don Fernando found himself in love with Lucinda, and he resolved to have her. Don Fernando sends Cardenio back to the Duke's palace and, in Cardenio's absence, befriends Lucinda's parents‹ultimately forcing her hand in marriage. Cardenio has gone mad because he feels that both Don Fernando and Lucinda betrayed him.
Chapter 28
In the next part of the story, Cardenio joins the barber and the priest and after walking a short distance, they encounter Dorotea‹a woman dressed up as a man. They ask Dorotea if she is in some sort of trouble, and her answer exceeds their expectations. Dorotea is the daughter of a farmer who has been hired to do work for a wealthier man. Complications arose when this manager's son became fond of Dorotea and ultimately coerced her into having sex with him. This debacle ruined Dorotea's reputation and she was run out of town in disgrace. The man had promised to marry Dorotea but in fact, he was already married and after having sex with Dorotea, he returned to the town where his wife lived.
As it turns out, Don Fernando is the man who has deceived Dorotea. When Cardenio and Dorotea compare stories, Cardenio learns that Lucinda continued to love him even when she was forced to marry Don Fernando. Cardenio and Dorotea join forces, hoping to punish Don Fernando and reunite the true lovers, Cardenio and Lucinda.
Chapter 29
Sancho Panza hurries back to the scene, informing the (significantly larger) group that Don Quixote feels that he has been dishonored. Don Quixote requires of himself some arduous task in which he can redeem himself and regain his honor. Ultimately, Don Quixote refuses to present himself to Dulcinea until he has appropriately regained his honor. The group begins plotting a way to bring Don Quixote home, but Sancho Panza is kept in the dark because he is too loyal to Don Quixote to agree to deception. Hence, even Sancho Panza is fooled into believing that Dorotea is actually a Princess who goes by the name of Micomicona. Her official title is "the mighty Princess Micomicona, queen of the great kingdom of Micomicon in Ethiopia."
Coincidentally, Princess Micomicona is need of the services of just such a knight as Don Quixote, to "kill a great lubberly giant." The giant has chased the Princess away, but with Don Quixote's help, she might be restored to her kingdom. Two promises are extracted from the knight: first, that he will agree to assist the Princess and second, that he will decline to accept any other missions until he has fulfilled this one. Sancho Panza is worried that he will become governor of a territory in Micomicon and this displeases him because his subjects will be black Africans. After the Princess has won Don Quixote's assent, the priest approaches Don Quixote but Quixote does not seem recognize his good friend. The priest complains that he has been robbed by an escaped convict. This worries Sancho Panza because he is aware of Don Quixote's guilt in this matter.
Analysis
Here we find females who resist idealization and the nonsense of chivalry. Lucinda, like Marcela (the shepherdess in Chapter 14) refuses to play a "Juliet" role. Though Lucinda is romantically involved, she is practical and decidedly non-suicidal. Dorotea is supposedly in need of rescue but in the end, she assists in the deception of Don Quixote. Dorotea helps rescue Don Quixote by pretending that she needs assistance.
As in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, the characters' storytelling becomes part of the narrative structure. Here, the novel's plot is interrupted by Cardenio's story of his relationship with Lucinda. Aspects of the inner (Cardenio) and outer (Quixote) stories are similar. The refusal to come home, for example, is a motif that punctuates both Cardenio and Quixote's life.
In terms of narrative structure, we get a story within the story within a story, when Don Fernando and Lucinda begin plotting and story-telling. Coincidence plays an incredibly overbearing role in the story about Cardenio, contributing to parody and plot. Cervantes mocks this convention, but he uses it anyway. The plausibility of the narrative is tested by the storytelling process itself. One of the characters recounts a love letter that was exchanged, and he repeats the text verbatim: "He said he remembered it perfectly well." But how well do we trust a fictional character? Even the "author" is a character in this novel, with Cervantes constantly at odds with the Arab interpreter of the work, Cid Hamet Ben Engeli. Chapter 27 marks the end of Cid Hamet's 3rd part. Even if the characters are telling the truth, Cid Hamet Ben Engeli might be lying.
As characters of the modern novel, these men and women engage in strategy, cooperation, vengeance. As if a combination of Jane Austen and Charles Dickens, Cervantes actually prefigured both writers in crossing the "novel of strategy" with the "comedy of errors." The logistics of romantic warfare (as in Austen) are derailed by the often comedic misfortunes of day-to-day life (as in Dickens). By chapter 29, there is clearly a hierarchy among the characters: we can divide them into the storytellers and the deceived. Storytelling and deceit become the strategy of the successful. The deceived and deluded characters stumble through life and love, providing comic entertainment for the reader. In Cardenio and Don Quixote's friends, we see the theme of deception in terms of abused trust. This foreshadows violations of trust that are still to come. Both in Cardenio's story and in Don Quixote's travails, we see masks, shields and transvestitism are the props and devices of dramatic comedy, modes of deception that are sturdy enough for 'strategy' but flimsy enough for 'comedy.'
In Book II, Don Quixote comments on Book I (which has already been published, though the knight has not read it) suggesting that the focus on minor characters was gratuitous and unnecessary. Plenty of literary critics have agreed. What remains significant is the fact that the novel's primary mode of characterization is the successive introduction of new characters. The main character, Don Quixote, is not developed in the latter half of Book I. In fact, Don Quixote is often off-stage, and while on stage he varies little. Don Quixote shocks us with his actions, but his character does not surprise us.
Delusion might be considered as a form of psychological escape from reality. In these chapters, nostalgia is treated as another theme representing "escape." For Cardenio, Memory is cursed as "mortal enemy of my repose" because the past is a personal tragedy. Cervantes juxtaposes grief-stricken Cardenio with Don Quixote, who poses in grief. Don Quixote does not truly suffer the memory of lost love. As a parallel to "memory," Don Quixote remembers his books‹and this becomes nostalgia for the medieval era, an era that the knight has never seen. The medieval period was more welcoming of the chivalric ideals. Still, the reader should be clear on the fact that the knight-errant was a literary trope. This aspect of culture was celebrated by a very small group of people and was never the political reality of a society. Not knights-errant but rogue thieves roamed and prowled the unpaved highways and fringes of medieval European town life.
Don Quixote Book I Summary and Analysis of Book I, Chapters 30-32
Book I: Chapter 30-Chapter 32 Summaries
Chapter 30
In the course of leading Don Quixote to "the great kingdom of Micomicon," Dorotea and the others intend to lead Don Quixote back to his home in La Mancha. At several points, the priest has to intervene and help "Princess Micomicona," as she is telling her story to Don Quixote. Though Princess Micomicona offers her hand in marriage, Don Quixote is entirely devoted to his lady, Dulcinea. Quixote demands that Sancho give him the details of the trip to deliver the letter to Dulcinea.
This request puts Sancho in a situation much like Dorotea's, for he is forced to create a hopefully plausible story without extensive preparation. Quixote asks whether Dulcinea was stringing pearls or embroidering something for him, but Sancho replies that Dulcinea was merely "winnowing two bushels of wheat in a backyard of her house." Quixote keeps demanding fanciful and romantic details, but Sancho denies Quixote his pleasure. In the end, Sancho Panza explains that not only is Dulcinea illiterate, but she is also far too busy to pause in the middle of the day to read a love letter.
Chapter 31
In Chapter 4, a young man named Andres was severely beaten by his master, John Haldudo the Rich. Don Quixote threatened to kill Haldudo for severely beating Andres and also for refusing to pay Andres for his labors. Haldudo promised to repay Andres, but when Quixote continued down the road, Haldudo beat Andres even more severely and then fired the boy, as opposed to paying Andres for his labor. At the end of Chapter 30, Andres crosses paths with Don Quixote and he does not have pleasant words. Indeed, Andres mocks Quixote as an incompetent knight. For his part, Don Quixote vows to kill Haldudo once he has learned what has happened. Andres assures Quixote that he need not waste his time because he will only "cause more harm than good." Don Quixote chases Andres down the road, intending to chastise the young man for his insolence. Andres easily escapes and Quixote is sorely embarrassed because his reputation has been tarnished.
Chapter 32
In Chapter 32, the group of six travelers (Cardenio, Princess Micomicona, Sancho Panza, Don Quixote, the barber, and the priest) arrive at the same inn that Don Quixote and Sancho Panza hurriedly exited at the close of Chapter 17. Don Quixote is removed to sleep in a quiet room, for the innkeeper remembers Don Quixote's madness. Don Quixote is the topic of conversation and nearly every one participates (including the innkeeper, his wife, his daughter, and Maritornes the half-blind hunchbacked laborer). Sancho Panza does not offer much of a defense of his master's behavior and the group is generally disapproving of Quixote's frivolity. Most of the individuals do believe that Quixote's madness is the result of reading too much‹and specifically, too much chivalry. The chapter ends when the innkeeper discloses that a guest has left an antique trunk of books and papers. The priest is intrigued and he begins to read a story from the collection.
Analysis
Don Quixote does not understand the impropriety of his decision to free the galley slaves. Is Don Quixote a hero? He helps the unfortunate with no respect to their crimes. The re-appearance of Andres in Chapter 31, reminds us of Don Quixote's ignorant error in Chapter 4. Don Quixote is unable to render justice. In chapter 32, Don Quixote is asleep, all others convinced of his insanity. In terms of the immediate plot-drama, Quixote is almost a non-entity. Even when he is awake, it is as if Quixote is sleeping or has his eyes closed. The "players" can shed their disguises and yet Don Quixote does not perceive this fact upon sight.
In terms of genre, the novel increasingly resembles a cycle of stories, like The Decameron or Canterbury Tales. Unlike those works, this novel does not feature storytelling characters on a pilgrimage. In chapter 32, the inn assumes the traditional literary role (symbol of hospitality). At the same time, it represents a microcosm of Don Quixote's society. Here, the characters have separate destinations and not all of them are travelers. Several, though not all of the characters get the opportunity to display their storytelling talent, and this group ultimately includes individuals who might not have been given a voice otherwise: women, the poor, young people, Moors (non-Christians).
The theme of storytelling intersects with ideas of truth-telling and deception. "This, gentlemen, is my history" is a suitable statement for a character to make when presenting her autobiography; Dorotea, however, tells a false autobiography. She hesitates at the beginning and cannot remember her name (Princess Micomicona, daughter of Tinacrio the Wise and Queen Xaramilla). The priest prompts Dorotea and corrects the errors throughout her story. We can wonder about the logical repercussions here, and the semantics of Dorotea's factual error within her lie, within a fictional work. It seems somewhat paradoxical that Dorotea could make a genuine mistake in the middle of telling a made-up lie. The priest's correction was no truer than Dorotea's original erroneous claim.
All the same, Don Quixote believes what stories "resemble the style and manner of his foolish books." The priest's correction is more correct in a stylistic or aesthetic sense. For further clarity, the reader can consider two similar quirks of the work. Recall that in Chapter 7, Quixote's niece lies and tells the knight that "the sage Muñaton" has wrested away the library. Quixote replies that it was not Muñaton, but Friston. We can also consider the return of Sancho's mule, Dapple. This is a discrepancy within a work of fiction, the error of the humans who produced the book, not the error of a fictional being. (In Book II, however, this discrepancy will be accounted for and explained away, though not in the most convincing manner.)
These details are important because of the context of the novel. Cervantes' work, published in 1605, was already sensitive to a number of meta-literary concerns. On a primary level, we can say that Book I is concerned about books: Don Quixote loves literature; literature affects Quixote's life. But these levels are increasingly complex: Quixote wants to become like literary characters; literary ideals conflict with the real world; books are burned. And Quixote is not the only character for us to focus upon: Cid Hamet Ben Engeli has translated a fictional work and injected his own opinions. The author, Cervantes, has invented Cid Hamet Ben Engeli, a "straw man" with whom to argue. Cervantes says that he wants to eradicate the influence of the anti-realism of chivalric books. Characters argue about the aesthetics of realistic portrayal and what makes a book good or bad. Numerous characters tell stories, write letters, compose poems, and debate the merits of literature as well as literary characters.
In between the publication of Books I and II, an imposter sequel is published: a man only known today as "Avellaneda" created his own Book II, published it as Cervantes' own, and reaped profit. As a consequence, Cervantes' sensitivity to meta-literary concerns is greatly heightened in Book II, and these "quirks" of Book I are discussed in the sequel.
In these chapters, premature literary criticism takes the form of a critique of the novel as a potential genre. Remember that the novel was not an established writing form at this point. It matters when the characters discuss a story's claim to present the whole truth. It matters that the novel is able to allow different characters to speak and that letters, arrest warrants, and elegiac poems can be read out aloud 'into the record,' so to speak.
The book fetish is intended to be a simple motif. The book is mysterious and potentially dangerous: a manuscript has been left in a trunk and abandoned. The trunk implies travel and foreigners or perhaps, a foreign land. Travel suggests wanderlust and imagination, like Quixote's‹an open door. The danger of foreignness occurs even as the narrative warns about Cid Hamet's literary treachery‹a closed door. We are left to wonder: Is one of these books Don Quixote? In his "Preface," Cervantes set out to blast the books of chivalry but now there is empathy with almost every text portrayed.
Don Quixote Book I Summary and Analysis of Book I, Chapters 33-35
Book I: Chapter 33-Chapter 35 Summaries
Chapter 33
Chapters 33, 34, and 35 consist of the story that the priest reads to the group: "The Novel of the Curious Impertinent." The story takes place in Florence, Italy and largely involves two friends named Lothario and Anselmo. Anselmo is married to Camilla and, for no good reason, Anselmo decides to test Camilla's fidelity. When Anselmo insists that Lothario help him, Lothario says that "the enterprise itself is downright madness." Anselmo wants Lothario to attempt to seduce Camilla, to see whether or not she will succumb to the advances of another man. Lothario finally agrees, and he soon returns to Anselmo, telling him that Camilla has remained faithful.
Not much later, Anselmo finds out that Lothario has been lying: Lothario never attempted to seduce Camilla. Anselmo then makes Lothario pledge to make good on his promise to seduce Camilla. Anselmo leaves town to make the seduction easier, and Camilla soon writes letters urging him to return. Lothario has truly fallen in love with Camilla; in her letters, Camilla warns Anselmo that Lothario is trying to seduce her. Camilla does not realize that Anselmo is aware of Lothario's advances. Anselmo does not realize that Lothario is truly in love with Camilla.
Because Anselmo does not return, Camilla grows weary under pressure and she falls in love with Lothario. The two continue their affair when Anselmo returns home. In part, this is easier because Camilla's servant, Leonela, keeps Camilla's secret.
Chapter 34
Complications arise because Leonela has a secret lover of her own. One day, Lothario sees Leonela's lover exiting Camilla's house just as he is arriving. Lothario concludes that Camilla has found yet another lover. Lothario then tells Camilla's husband, Anselmo, that he has finally seduced Camilla. Lothario gives Anselmo a time and place where Anselmo will see Lothario seduce Camilla; then, Anselmo can judge the situation on his own. Anselmo is now distraught.
Later in the day, when Lothario and Camilla meet, Camilla discloses Leonela's secret lover. Lothario then realizes his jealous error and he confesses everything to Camilla. Camilla and Lothario then create a plan to be rid of Anselmo, once and for all. When Camilla and Lothario meet, Camilla pretends that she does not know that Anselmo is watching. When the time comes for her to kiss Lothario, Camilla states that she would rather die than commit infidelity, though she does love Lothario.
Camilla eloquently states "since fortune denies a complete satisfaction to my just desires, it shall not, however, be in its power to defeat that satisfaction entirely." Camilla then struggles to keep her dagger away from Lothario and ultimately, she stabs herself in the chest and falls to the ground.
Lothario is immediately shocked because Camilla was only to pretend to stab herself, but when he looks closely he sees that Camilla has only wounded herself slightly. Lothario then begins to grieve loudly and with Leonela's help, he carries Camilla's body away. Anselmo is now convinced of Camilla's honesty. As a result, Camilla is able to continue her affair once she recovers from her minor stab wound.
Chapter 35
Sancho Panza interrupts the story to announce that Don Quixote has just killed the giant. This is madness and the group fears the worst, when they enter Quixote's room. Quixote is thrashing in his sleep and what Sancho thought to be the giant's head is actually a set of valuable wineskins owned by the innkeeper. Don Quixote's has destroyed them while thrashing because of his violent dream. The characters return to the common room, where the priest concludes 'The Novel of the Curious Impertinent.' In the last section of the story, Anselmo suffers for his excessive curiosity.
Leonela's lover accidentally reveals himself and Anselmo confronts Leonela. Leonela fears that Anselmo is going to kill her and so she says that she has a valuable secret to disclose to him the next day. Anselmo recounts the incident to Camillaand Camilla fears that Leonela will disclose her (Camilla's) affair with Lothario. With few options before them, Lothario and Camilla run away that very night. Unsurprisingly, Leonela runs away the next day. Anselmo searches for all three of them in vain, and accidentally discovers (from a stranger) that Camilla and Lothario have been deceiving him for some time. Anselmo begins writing an account of his own sad story, but Anselmo's sadness is so profound that he actually dies before he finishes writing his account.
The 'Novel of the Curious Impertinent' starts a discussion on the merits of the story. The priest is very well read and everyone listens to his critique of the story. In the end, he decides that he likes "the manner" in which the story was written, though he sees Anselmo as an implausibly, unrealistically naïve and idiotic character.
Analysis
The aesthetic argument made by the priest is that the manner in which the story is told is more important than the content's probability. Certainly, this is true for Don Quixote. Is Don Quixote a "more accurate" novel because the priest's narrated story includes the text of the letter? The Priest's narrated story starts in Chapter 33 and continues at the start of Chapter 34 without interruption. Ultimately, the narrative structure combines Don Quixote's story with Anselmo's. The "Conclusion of the Novel of the Curious Impertinent" is integrated with Don Quixote's "battle."
The battle is a critical moment but not the climax. If the characters of Don Quixote stray too far, the novel becomes discredited not realistic. The novel's characters can create the most far-fetched and outrageous characters for their storiesand so, they will seem more realistic by contrast. Don Quixote battles in his sleep not in his delusion. It is Sancho Panza who has misperceived, mistaking some wineskins to be a giant's head. It seems that Don Quixote has contaminated Sancho Panza and the very fact of Quixote's madness being contagious justified the book-burning in the early chapters.
Don Quixote expresses paternalism in his over-protection of women and his domination of Sancho Panza. The Priest's story alludes to Eve as "woman is an imperfect creature, and that one should not lay stumbling-blocks" before her. This story provides a foundation for paternalism. Ironically, Don Quixote is in no position to function in the paternalistic mode, as paternalism is reversed upon Quixote himself. Because Quixote is "an imperfect creature," his books have been removed and his friends now surround him. The weak need to be protectedand Don Quixote is weak.
In exchange for the common sense of common people, Sancho Panza is adopting "the absurdities of master and man." Sancho grieves "my earldom will melt away like salt in water" and the irony of logic recalls Dorotea's error and Quixote's correction "Friston." Sancho never had an earldom. His earldom is as secure as it never was. Because of Quixote's dream, Sancho's dream has become a less durable fictionbut it is still no less a fantasy.
Lothario resembles Don Quixote's friends and just as we read in the previous stories within the story, the theme of deception continues to loom. Don Quixote and Anselmo are both tempting fate and looking for trouble. Often, the distance between the story and the story-within is used to create a foil, a character whose contrasts to the main character offer more clarity and distinction to the main character. Here, Anselmo is not a foil for Quixote; he is a parallel, a co-definer. We realize that Quixote is also a "curious impertinent." Both men become rejected outsiders; Quixote will suffer sadness and confusion just as Anselmo has. Both men adhere to a strict and private ideology. Their ideas are different from the ideas held by their friends. As ideological purists, these men are too stubborn to enjoy positive, meaningful social interactions.
Don Quixote Book I Summary and Analysis of Book I, Chapters 36-41
Book I: Chapter 36-Chapter 41 Summaries
Chapter 36
It is late at night, but the inn is still receiving more guests. Old friends and lovers are reunited in the process. Lucinda and her husband, Don Fernando, are disguised when they arrive on scene. They have traveled with men wearing black masks on their faces. This provokes Dorotea to veil her face. Cardenio and Lucinda are reunited and Don Fernando apologizes to Dorotea for deserting her. Don Fernando promises to marry Dorotea and she is satisfied with his promise. Sancho is upset because he has just realized that Dorotea is not the Princess Micomiconaand so he will not become a governor of her territory.
Chapter 37
Sancho awakens Don Quixote and confronts him with this news, but Quixote does not believe Sancho. Don Quixote argues that Sancho has been deluded by one of the castle's enchantments. Sancho's words backfire because Dorotea continues with the plan to bring Don Quixote home. When Dorotea confirms to Don Quixote that she is, in fact, the Princess Micomicona, Quixote becomes angry with Sancho.
Chapters 38-39
Another set of travelers arrives at the inn, including a man referred to as "the captive" and a beautiful Moorish noblewoman named Lela Zoraida. She wants to become baptized into the Catholic faith with the name Maria. After Don Quixote gives a speech praising the glories of knighthood, the captive tells his story. The captive grew up "in the mountains of Leon," one of several sons born to a gentleman with a penchant for squandering his money. Worried that he would leave his sons penniless, the father summoned the young men and told them that he would soon give them their inheritance, lest he spend it and leave them with nothing. He advises them to pursue a career in one of three fields: "the church, the sea, or the court." The captive chose the latter of these three options, serving in the king's army.
The captive fought in a number of wars that took him to Genoa, Milan, Flanders, Algiers, Malta, and Constantinople. In Constantinople, one of the captive's comrades, a man named Don Pedro de Aguilar, escaped from prison and presumably "recovered his liberty." Indeed, Don Fernando explains that he is Don Pedro de Aguilar's brother.
Chapters 40-41
The captive was imprisoned in Algiers, which is where Lela Zoraida fell in love with him. She had never met the captive, but she saw him and fell in love with him nonetheless. One day, Zoraida goes to the prison window and slips a small bundled package to the captive. She has given him money to escape and a letter. She professes her love for him, her conversion to Christianity, and her desire for him to marry her and help her escape to Spain.
The captive frees himself and also frees some of his fellow captives. After the captive makes preparations for the passage to Spain, he "kidnaps" Lela Zoraida. Unfortunately, Lela's father wakes up in the middle of the kidnapping and the captive and his friends have no alternative but to carry Lela's father onto the ship. Realizing the extent of his daughter's willing betrayal (conversion, escape) Zoraida tries to jump off the ship and drown himself. The Spaniards on deck are Christians and they will not allow Zoraida to commit suicide. Instead, the Spaniards deposit Zoraida on shore once their ship is a safe distance away from Algiers.
Safely in Spain, the captive hopes for Lela to be baptized so that they can be wed. The captive also says that he would like to find his father.
Analysis
The narrative structure of these chapters relies upon "uncommon accidents" much like those of the stories told by the characters themselves: the likelihood of Don Quixote's giants, Sancho Panza's island, the numerous lovers joined, the "Curious Impertinent." The reunion motif is exploited to excessnot only with lovers, but with Don Pedro de Aguilar and Don Fernando, as well. The novel of Strategy wins out over the comedy of Errors, so long as Quixote is kept at bay. The characters work out their problems and entanglements without Don Quixote's active assistanceindeed, the plot accelerates when Quixote is not present to "interrupt." When Dorotea tells Don Quixote that she "never would have found this happiness except for you," she refers more to chance occurrences and not to a chivalrous act that the knight-errant might have performed. It is not often that a titular and central character (Don Quixote, in this case) is excluded from the novel's drama, as a means of bringing about the denouement (climax and conclusion) of the plot.
Don Quixote is deluded but his delusions are consistent. Just as INN = CASTLE, BEAUTIFUL WOMAN = NOBLE LADY. Sancho Panza should have recognized the parallel between Dorotea and Dulcinea. Quixote contended that Dulcinea was a noble lady, simply because he imagined her to be one, and Dorotea is similarly commended. When Sancho argues against Dorotea's nobility, Don Quixote accuses Sancho Panza of being a base, low-class "liar." Sancho, alone, expects Quixote to distinguish between true and false. Quixote is not capable of this task. True to character, Don Quixote believes the lie and punishes the truth-teller.
Zoraida is a rather empowered woman, though she does not tell her own story. She has rejected both her father and her religion. She is considered as an "ideal" woman and she has a suitor. Zoraida and the captive were once like Dulcinea and Quixote, in that there was no actual contact or communication between them. But unlike Dulcinea, Zoraida has actually performed on the captive's behalf. And unlike Quixote, the captive has now enjoyed contact with his beloved. Zoraida had the money to release the captive from prison, but she did not have the freedom to free herself. The baptism symbolizes a new life after the alteration and transformation that religious conversion brings. Lela Zoraida wants to change her name to Maria. This parallels Don Quixote's own self-renaming when he donned a basin and pursued a new calling.
In Chapter 37, Don Quixote begins a lucid discussion, and these scenes are in high reliefsuch a contrast from Quixote's mania. This recalls Don Quixote's early philosophical reflections and gives us hope that Don Quixote is salvageable. At one point, Don Quixote argues that "what costs most attaining is, and ought to be, most esteemed." Sadly, this is not true in reality. At the conclusion of Book I, Quixote is not kindly rewarded for his expensive attempt at grandeur. In Book II, he fares little better. Quixote's words foreshadow the conclusion. In discussing the balance of fame, fortune, and glory, Quixote seems to invite his incipient judgment.
Finally, Don Quixote argues that a warrior is superior to a man of letters. We should keep Cervantes' autobiographical details in mind. Cervantes was a soldier before he began writing. Cervantes was also held captive as a prisoner of war and this adds to the autobiographical detail of this section. The wars that the "captive" describes are not actual wars, however; they do not correspond with the historical or political context of the novel.
Don Quixote Book I Summary and Analysis of Book I, Chapters 42-46
Book I: Chapter 42-Chapter 46 Summaries
Chapter 42
The captive finishes his story as the inn receives another group of guests. A judge named Licentiate Juan Perez de Viedma arrives with his daughter, Doña Clara, and their attendants. Not long after Viedma explains that he is from Leon, the captive realizes that he is Viedma's brother. The priest intervenes and speaks to Viedma to determine whether or not the captive should confront Viedma with the truth. The priest learns that the judge loves his missing brother very much; furthermore, Viedma's father is still alivebut ailing. The aging father offers "incessant prayers," hoping to live long enough to see his missing son (the captive) again. When the brothers are reunited, there is great jubilation.
Chapter 43
Don Quixote exits the inn and stands outside as a "sentinel at the castle gate"just as he promises to do. In the middle of the night, a young man approaches the inn and sings love songs. Cardenio sneaks into the room where the women are sleeping and he wakes Dorotea. Once Dorotea hears the song, she wakes Doña Clara because the singer has a beautiful voice. Doña Clara recognizes the voice as soon as she hears it. The young man is in love with Doña Clara, and he has followed her in disguised pursuit. Clara has never had a conversation with the young man, and they have maintained their courtship at a distance and without any form of communication. Nonetheless, Clara wishes to marry this young man, who once lived next door to her. Dorotea and Maritornes decide to intervene on Doña Clara's behalf: perhaps tonight, the two lovers might speak to each other for the first time.
Chapter 44
Maritornes securely fastens Don Quixote's wrist to a doorpostjust to insure that the knight will not cause trouble. Quixote's posture is uncomfortable and awkward. Quixote is still on Rocinante's back, but his arm his tied so high upon the post that the knight is forced to stand-up in his stirrups. When four horsemen approach the inn, they deride Quixote because he looks ridiculous. Vulnerable and out-numbered, Quixote is in a worse situation when Rocinante moves: Quixote's feet slip out of the stirrups and the knight remains suspended by his tied arm. Quixote's feet almost reach the ground; stretching towards the ground, however, only tightens the pain in Quixote's choking wrist. The knight lets out a terrible roar that rouses the innkeeper to investigate the scene.
Chapter 45
The young man who would be Doña Clara's lover is Don Louis. The four horsemen, in the service of Don Louis' father, bid Don Louis to return home. Doña Clara's father, the judge, now sees through the disguise and recognizes his neighbor's son. The judge listens to Don Louis tell of his love for Doña Clara and he considers the marriage proposal. Two guests attempt to leave the inn without paying and, despite the innkeeper's insistence, Quixote abstains from intervening. The knight has sworn to abstain from "new" adventures until he has completed the terms of his service to Princess Micomicona. Nonetheless, when the two guests begin beating the innkeeper, Quixote successfully reasons with the rogues and bids them pause.
Towards the end of these chapters, justice finally catches up with Don Quixote. First, the barber from whom Quixote has stolen a basin now returns to the inn. Quixote stands by his original premise that the basin is actually "Mambrino's helmet." The barber defies Quixote, accusing the knight of blatant theft. The crowd of guests enjoys the bickering between the barber and the knight, mockingly defending Quixote's claim that the basin is truly Mambrino's helmet.
When the barber and his friends become violent, both the judge and Quixote's friend, the priest, call for peace and calm the crowd. As could be expected, a few members of the Holy Brotherhood make themselves visible, having been attracted to the commotion. Surveying the scene, one officer realizes that they have a warrant for Quixote's arrest: the "knight-errant" stands accused of "setting at liberty" a group of "galley-slaves."
Chapter 46
The officer intends to take Quixote into custody but the knight rebuffs the officer. Quixote launches into a hilarious speech, arguing that it is illogical and inane to subdue a knight with a warrant. Referring to the author of the warrant, Quixote asks: "Who was he that knew not that knights-errant are exempt from all judicial authority, that their sword is their law, their bravery their privileges, and their will their edicts?" The priest intercedes on Quixote's behalf, explaining that Quixote is merely a deranged gentleman: the gentleman's insanity fairly exempts the knight from punishment. After the priest guarantees that Quixote will behave, the Holy Brotherhood agrees not to arrest the knight.
Sancho tells Don Quixote that the Princess Micomicona is not a princess; Sancho has seen her kiss Don Fernando. Quixote is enraged, believing that Sancho is lying. Dorotea insists that she is the Princess Micomicona but, sympathizing with Sancho, she suggests that Sancho has been enchantedduped into believing that she kissed Don Fernando. The barber and the priest decide to convey Quixote home immediately. The knight is captured and bound; his friends then put him inside of a cage that is fastened to an ox-cart. The barber dresses up as a sage, issuing prophesy that Quixote will win great honors at home. And so, Quixote believes that he is traveling inside of some enchantmentnot a cage.
Analysis
The narrative structure returns to the inn and the plot action has been precipitated by new entrances (it has been a very long night). The novel describes these scenes as the "continuation of the unheard-of adventures." There is a sentimental parallel between the two triangles: Beautiful Clara is wooed by the singer, hoping to appease her father, the judge. Beautiful Zoraida was wooed by the captive, unable to appease her father, an obstinate Muslim. The lover who has never spoken to Clara (but loves her nonetheless) is much like Quixote, who has no substantive relationship with Dulcinea. Though the plot is very simplistic in these chapters, there is some variety of outcomes. We see the happy reunion of a Catholic Spanish family juxtaposed with the permanent rift between a convert, Zoraida, and her Muslim ("infidel") father.
As in the previous chapters, Don Quixote remains outside of the fabric of young lovers and storytellers. When Don Quixote stands as a sentinel outside the inn, he becomes a parody of himself. Physically, he is incapable of mounting a defense. Throughout the novel, Quixote has played the role of a knight. Quixote never played the role convincingly. Once fettered and disarmed, Quixote is another level removed from the ideal of the knight. Realistically, he insures the safety of the others by keeping his distance. He standsawayas a guard against himself. In Chapter 44, Don Quixote does not use his prowess as a knight to ward off the thieves. He uses plain talk to fend them off.
Don Quixote and Sancho Panza are criminals, as the presence of the judge reminds us. Don Quixote cannot escape the law forever. When the Holy Brotherhood appear on the scene, in Chapter 45, with a warrant for Quixote's arrest they are long foreshadowed. The priest's role becomes more complicated as he is forced to mediate between the religious authorities and the best interests of his friend. Quixote receives mercy only because he is convincingly insane.
Just as Quixote is tied to the post, he is soon trapped in a cage and carted home. The imagery of fire expresses the burning of books as a quasi-medical means of eliminating a contagious threat. Here, the cage is a prison for Quixote, designed to impose spatial limitations on a man who has a dangerously expansive imagination. Don Quixote claims to be of an order that is "exempt from all judicial authority" and adds "that their sword is their law." He punctures the law, violates the rights of others, and has wandered miles from home. If Quixote holds that the "sword" is his "law," his cage-prison is the parody and consequence of his suit of armor. Quixote has dressed himself as the law, but without legitimate power, his armor was pure symbol and costume. Quixote is insane and so he is exempt from the law, but his friends lock him inside the cage with the express permission of the Holy Brotherhood. Indeed, it is required.
The priest says "in matters of chivalryyield him the preference," but he does not argue that Quixote should have free rein. Rather, Quixote can define his delusions however he pleases, but the sane and rational outsiders should contain Quixote's delusions without destroying them. Put Quixote in a cage, but let him call the cage an enchantment.
In terms of aesthetics, this is a rephrasing of the form vs. content argument raised by the priest in Chapter 35. Now we can sum up the Priest's argument: The author of the madness is right about the details, regardless of whether it is madness or not (Friston, not Muñaton). The details of a lie can be right or wrong, regardless of the truth of the lie (Dorotea may have forgotten her name, but the Priest is right to remind her that she is called the Princess Micomicona).
The irony and humiliation of Quixote's fall create a somber mood. Quixote created real dangers but the law easily managed to survive Quixote's rebellion. On the other hand, the humor of Quixote's imagination does not survive the cage. When the barber pretends to be a prophetic sage, he is only speaking to Quixote and he predicts the precise opposite of what is true. There is no glory. Some argue that Don Quixote's friends are simply making mockery of Quixote for their own amusement. However, their persistent deception provides a mechanism to get Quixote to go homeand it also gives him a fair amount of emotional comfort. Mercy and efficiency do not necessarily go hand in hand, though. The barber's own words remind us how important glory and honor are for Quixote. Being carted in a cage in broad daylight is far crueler than the efforts of the laborer in Chapter 5. Even though he is not a close acquaintance of Quixote, the laborer waits for the cover of night before carrying the gentleman's abused body back into town.
The cage marks the climax of Book I because Don Quixote is definitely going home now. The cage is a plot device to secure Don Quixote so that this narrative thread can end. The cage seals off the possibility of any further complications. Some critics argue that the climax should have occurred earlier in the novel, but we have already read that the story continues beyond Book I. This is the resolution of Quixote's second expedition.
Don Quixote Book I Summary and Analysis of Book I, Chapters 47-52
Book I: Chapter 47-Chapter 52 Summaries
Chapter 47
Cooped up in the cart, Don Quixote says that he has never read of enchanted knights being transported in this form, and so it must be a new form of enchantment. Sancho argues with the knight and tries to explain, logically, that there is no enchantment. The barber threatens to throw Sancho inside the cart and so, the squire is quiet.
Chapter 48
Meanwhile, the priest is interested in reading a manuscript that he had obtained from the innkeeper, just before leaving.
Chapter 49
While traveling, the group encounters a "canon" who serves a religious function. The canon is not a fan of the books of chivalry, though he once attempted to pen such a story himself.
Chapters 50-51
Later, the group has lunch and the priest opens the cage and permits Don Quixote to exit. Quixote discusses chivalry with the canon and he manages to be both brilliant and ridiculous in his arguments. Besides recounting his own adventures to the canon, Quixote also tells the tale of the Knight of the Lake. During lunch, a goatherd named Eugenio approaches the group.
Chapter 52
Eugenio, the goatherd, ends up fighting with Quixote, much to the amusement of the group. Don Quixote causes more trouble by attacking a group of holy pilgrims. They are carrying an icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary within a cart: Quixote believes that they are criminals who have kidnapped and imprisoned a good lady. Holy or not, the group defends itself and Sancho is convinced that Don Quixote has received his last beating. Panza offers a very moving elegy for his dead master, but Quixote is not dead, of course. Quixote has been beaten so severely that he now goes home willingly.
Sancho returns home to his wife, Juana (at other points, her name is "Teresa"). "Juana" wants to know what Sancho has brought home as justification for his long time away from home. The squire says that he has won a governorship. Cervantes, as narrator, tells us in the final pages of Book I that even though Don Quixote is quietly taken in at home, his housekeeper and niece are right to fear that the "knight-errant" will soon grow restless.
Finally, Cervantes discusses the manuscripts of Quixote's adventures, telling us that he has found additional texts that he will prepare for translation and subsequent publication. We have more of Don Quixote's stories to look forward to, then: a third expedition.
Analysis
In Chapter 48, yet another religious figure (the canon) offers literary criticism. The canon argues that works of comedy appeal to the masses but offend serious literary critics, whereas, serious works that disengage the masses are acclaimed by the critics. The canon's remarks are amusing in light of Cervantes' literary output: the novelist's early works were both less comedic and less acclaimed than Don Quixote. As Book I comes to a close, the canon's references to government censorship and literary taste, recall the novel's earliest chapters.
In conversation, the canon is amazed that Don Quixote integrates reason and foolishness. If Quixote has gone mad, he has not gone completely mad. In the canon's eyes, Don Quixote parallels Don Quixote, as seen through our eyes. Like the character, the novel presents the plausible and the absurd, with little regard for the distinctions between them.
The enchantment constitutes a change in Don Quixote's environment, but this enchantment does not resemble what Quixote knows from his stories. Still, he concludes that the relevant passage of text must have been lost. This enchantment cannot be a new thing. Don Quixote remains devoted to his orthodoxy.
Sancho Panza stands out as the one character willing to reason with Quixote, in part, because Sancho knows that he will not win his island if Quixote returns home. In Chapter 49, Sancho Panza expands upon the theme of delusion and truth-telling by incorporating forms of logic, evidence and proof. Using deductive reasoning, Sancho argues that Quixote is not suffering from an enchantment because Quixote needs to relieve himself. The storied descriptions of enchantment make no mention of the enchanted suffering the urgency of bodily functions. Quixote replies that the omission of this detail does not preclude the possibility. In Chapter 3, Quixote follows the (first) innkeeper's advice to carry shirts and money with him, even though Quixote "never read in the histories of knights-errant, that they carried any." The innkeeper's logic is that with "the authors thinking it superfluous to specify a thing so plain, and so indispensably necessary to be carried, as money and clean shirts, it was not therefore to be inferred, that [the knights] had none."
The larger question involves the form and function of the modern novel, and the extent to which the novel can and ought to capture the details of everyday life. Critics enjoy pointing out that Cervantes introduces a question that remains controversial three centuries later. Virginia Woolf railed against James Joyce's 1922 novel, Ulysses, because the fourth chapter narrates a character's minutes in the outhouse.
Don Quixote illustrates the fear that man might revert into a beast without social structures and constraints. Set free from his cage, Quixote battles a goatherd, and enacts a parody of his own story of "The Knight of the Lake." He attacks a pilgrimage, perceiving an icon of the Virgin Mary to be the hostage of the penitents. He is a hostage, newly freed, and he seeks glory by freeing a perceived hostage.
The end leaves very much undone: Sancho returns home, persistent in his belief that he will become governor of an island. Quixote has made no decision regarding Dulcinea. Quixote has not been arrested, nor has there been an exorcism, nor a conversion. Indeed, Quixote has said precious little to suggest an alteration in his future plans.
Don Quixote Book I About the Medieval Romance
Medieval Romance: What is It?
Don Quixote of la Mancha is a parody of the 'medieval romance' genre: a type of literature that flourished from the 12th to the 14th centuries. Don Quixote was written when this genre was already in decline (15th century) but a detailed knowledge of the characteristics of the 'medieval romance' are necessary for a profound understanding of the work.
What does 'Medieval' Mean?: A Brief History of the Middle Ages
The Roman Empire started declining towards the AD 300's and its crumbling gave rise to the Medieval Ages, or Middle Ages. This period lasted from AD 500 to 1500 and is referred as "middle" because it was the time when the European nations began to form. Since the borders of present-day European nations were being set, the Middle Ages was a period of great warfare. The initial lack of strong government divided the people into feudal states. Because of the constant warfare between these states, the concept of the knight came into being. A knight is simply a mounted warrior. Young men were taught to wear heavy armor, ride a war-horse, and fight with sword and lance . With the rise of the knight came the rise of chivalry, the knightly code of behavior. The chivalrous knight was supposed to be loyal to his feudal state, virtuous, brave, selfless, and protector the weak.
What does 'Romance' Mean?: The Beginnings of the Genre
In the beginning of the Middle Ages, the word "romance" (in Old French "romanz") was a term used indiscriminately to any kind of long narrative in French verse. "Romanz" meant "the speech of the people" or "the vulgar tongue." For instance, the "Roman de la Rose," a chronicle of aristocratic courtship and "Roman d'Alexandre," a semi fantastic chronicle of the adventures of Alexander the Great, are two romances that were known by the vulgate. By the end of the Middle Ages, the term "romance" had been narrowed down to describe a tale of knightly prowess, usually set in remote times or places, and involving some element of the supernatural .
Several factors contributed to what "romance" meant during the Middle Ages: legends of now deceased Roman Empire, the curriculum of rhetoric used by the Catholic Church education system, and the transformation in perception that man was not a static object but a mobile one in a continuous spiritual journey. The classical Roman poet Ovid had postulated during his lifetime that love was a "restless malady." Medieval writers took this concept of love and interwove it into romantic classical stories by such greats as Virgil and Homer. Virgil's The Aneneid was transformed into the Roman d'Eneas and Homer's tale of Troy was transformed into the Roman de Troie. Professional writers of the time, known as "clerks," would be trained in rhetoric in cathedral schools. They in turn would copy classical stories, like the ones mentioned above, into the medieval romance format (described below). Where exactly these writers got the idea to interweave them with classical stories is still a mystery.
Finally, there occurred a change in perception about man during the Middle Ages. Towards the end of the Roman Empire, man had been perceived as a static object, hit upon by life events, and from these "hits" he would accrue spiritual meaning. During the Middle Ages, man was perceived as a mobile object, one that would be in a constant journey to find spiritual meaning. Instead of being "hit" by random life events, man would be in search of these "hits," therefore becoming the architect of his own spiritual world. For this reason, the imagery of "journeying" and the "knight errant" became popular during the Middle Ages. The knight is in search of spiritual meaning. In Arthurian romances, this spiritual meaning is usually portrayed as the unattainable Holy Grail. It is for this reason that Don Quixote leaves his home: by emulating medieval knights, he is in search of spiritual meaning. In the Middle Ages, action was only a means to a spiritual end .
The Characteristics of a Medieval Romance
We have talked much about the origins of medieval romance, but we have not touched upon the common characteristics which make up such a work. Here are then, the characteristics and themes that you will find in most medieval romances:
Journeying: The journey is a metaphor for the spiritual quest of man during the Middle Ages. In Arthurian romances, all of King Arthur's knights are in search of the Holy Grail, a metaphor for spiritual fulfillment. In the medieval romance of Tristan and Isolde, a story of young star-crossed lovers, Tristan and Isolde are in a continuous journey trying to escape situations that try to keep them apart and therefore of fulfilling their romantic destiny.
Love: The medieval knight usually swears his undying love to a beautiful maiden. (Don Quixote swears his undying love to Dulcinea del Toboso.) It is this love which keeps the knight alive in the course of his wanderings and also keeps him from entering any relationships with women he encounters along the way. The maiden may sometimes submit the knight to "tests" so that she can be sure that he loves her. For instance, in Arthurian romances, Lady Guinevere, King Arthur's wife, is actually in love with one of her husband's knights, Sir Lancelot. In Sir Thomas Malory's romance Le Morte D'Arthur, Guinevere makes Lancelot undergo perilous tests at a tournament to see if he really loved her.
Virtue: A medieval knight has to prove his virtue, specifically his purity of heart and purpose, time and time again during his journey. This purity of heart will give the knight fame and respect back at home. But most importantly, it will make it easier for him to find spiritual fulfillment. In the romance Queste del Saint Graal, we learn of Sir Galahad, the perfect knight. His perfection lies in his perfect morality and physical virginity, two Christian values. It is his perfection in virtue that allows him to find the Holy Grail and soon after die in ecstasy. No other knight had ever or will ever achieve this accomplishment in medieval literature.
Man and God: In their journeys, knights have to prove that they are pure of heart, specifically by not succumbing to any temptations or spells they encounter. It is only abstinence which will save the knight's soul when he dies. This theme of abstinence becomes more and more prevalent as medieval romances came to be influenced by Christianity. For instance, when Arthurian romances became impregnated with Christian ideals, the illicit love affair between Lady Guinevere and Sir Lancelot came to be seen as the ultimate sin of adultery. It is this sin which leads to a falling out between Lancelot and King Arthur, a breakdown between the knights of the Round Table, and finally to the destruction of King Arthur's kingdom. It also puts Sir Lancelot's soul in a perilous position with God.
Supernatural: Medieval romances are ridden of supernatural beings such as dwarves, fairies, magicians, and giants, to name a few. These beings were created by the authors themselves to add excitement to the story but also to test the knight's virtue. In Don Quixote, the protagonist encounters some windmills, which he believes to be giants. Although funny, this scene shows that elements of the supernatural are an integral part of medieval romances.
Amadis de Gaula: The Spanish Medieval Romance
In reading Don Quixote, you have probably already encountered the continuous reference to Amadis de Gaula. Many people have never heard of this man and usually continue reading without paying much attention. But sure enough, the name pops again and attention much be given to understand why Gaula is always being mentioned and why Don Quixote is always comparing himself to him.
Amadis de Gaula is the product of Arthurian romances. Gaula is the Spanish medieval knight, who like any Arthurian knight encounters supernatural adventures in his journeys. For Spain, Gaula was the epitome of what a perfect knight should be. This work first appeared towards late 13th century. But it was finally published in 1508 by Garci Rodriguez de Montalvo. This work revolved around the concept of chivalry and the exercise of such a concept. After being published it was translated into many languages and it is said to have affected the concept of chivalry which we have today. Don Quixote adopts many of Amadis's habits because he wants to become a perfect knight. Today, the term chivalry connotes virtuousness, honor, and gallantry.
References:
Brenan, Gerald. Historia de la Literatura Espanola. Barcelona: Editorial Critica, 1986.
Chaytor, H.J. From Script to Print: An Introduction to Medieval Vernacular Literature. New York: October House Inc., 1966.
Lacy, Norris J. (ed) The New Arthurian Encyclopedia. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc. 1996 ed.
Loomis, Roger Sherman and Laura Hibbard Loomis. Medieval Romances. New York: The Modern Library, 1957.
Perry, Marvin et al. History of the World. Boston: McDougal Littell Inc., 1995.
"The Art of Literature." The New Encyclopedia Britannica: Macropedia. Vol. 23. Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 1990.
Southern, R.W. The Making of the Middle Ages. New Haven: Yale UP, 1953.
Vedel, Waldemar. Ideales de La Edad Media. Tomo II: Romantica Caballeresca. Barcelona: Editorial Labor, 1927."
FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen Lt Col Charlie Brown LTC Greg Henning LTC Jeff Shearer Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Maj William W. "Bill" Price Maj Marty Hogan CPT Scott Sharon CWO3 Dennis M.SSG William Jones SGT (Join to see) SP5 Mark Kuzinski PO1 H Gene Lawrence PO2 Kevin Parker PO3 Bob McCord SGT Kevin Hughes SPC Margaret Higgins
It would not be until 1615 that the final Part II, Segunda parte del ingenioso caballero don Quijote de la Mancha (“Second Part of the Ingenious Knight Don Quixote of La Mancha”), was published.
Don Quixote, Part I: Chapters I-X (cont.)
"Cervantes' Don Quixote (SPAN 300)
González Echevarría continues from the end of his last lecture by referring to the self invention and self legitimation of Don Quixote, which is the most innovative aspect of the book. The main character is, as it is suggested in the famous first sentence of the book, beyond family and social determinisms, hence literature appears as a realm for wit and a capacity for invention, breaking with the previous literary tradition and with its predecessors. Perspectivism is expressed in the novel through various linguistic fluctuations, regional differences, and spaces such as the inn, which becomes a key place in the novel by providing an archaeology of society. The first episodes of the Quixote, from the first sally to the first adventure with Sancho, show the gap between literature and reality by probing into Don Quixote's very particular madness which refuses to recognize and accept social conventions. Cervantes' literary techniques, such as dialogue, and the presence of his squire blur the differences between fiction and reality, and ultimately question our beliefs and view of the world.
00:00 - Chapter 1. Innovative Features in Don Quixote
10:17 - Chapter 2. Time, Space and Place; Reality into Illusion
24:01 - Chapter 3. Don Quixote's Particular Madness
37:17 - Chapter 4. The Inquisition of the Library
45:29 - Chapter 5. An Invitation to Blur Fiction and Reality
52:39 - Chapter 6. Sancho Enters the Scene
58:07 - Chapter 7. Windmills: Reality in a State of Flux; The Basque
01:03:02 - Chapter 8. Remarks on Background Readings"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yubdgwR768
Images:
1. Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
2. In October of 1571 he fought in the Battle of Lepanto and a bullet left his left arm useless. For this, he was called "The Cripple of Lepanto". He continued to fight and then traveled around Italy, finally settling down for two years in Naples.
3. Miguel de Cervantes summary birth, soldier wounded at 1571 Battle of Lepanto
4. 'Doña Catalina de Salazar, the wife of Miguel de Cervantes until her death.'
Information
1. Biography from famousauthors.org/miguel-de-cervantes
2. Study guide for Part 1 gradesaver.com/don-quixote-book-i/study-guide/
1. Background on Cervantes from famousauthors.org/miguel-de-cervantes
"Miguel De Cervantes
One of the most famous figures in Spanish literature, Miguel De Cervantes was a poet, playwright, novelist and the creator of Don Quixote from Don Quixote de la Mancha, an unforgettable character of Spanish literature. Published when Cervantes was 58 years old, the book became extremely successful and highly acclaimed, casting a profound influence on European literature. The theme of the book explores the universal nature of human beings. Sadly, the fame and success of Cervantes’ writing did little to improve his financial conditions and lifestyle.
The fourth child of surgeon Don Rodrigo de Cervantes and doña Leonor de Cortinas, Miguel De Cervantes was born near Madrid in the city of Alcalá de Henares, Spain. His life was full of hardships and adventures. While his father hunted for work, Miguel’s childhood was spent moving from one place to another. Miguel served as a soldier in a Spanish Regiment in Naples during 1570 after studying literature and philosophy in Italy. His left hand became useless when he encountered an injury on aboard ship Marquesa during the battle of Lepanto (1571). A few years later Cervantes was kidnapped from a ship on his way back home. He made several unsuccessful escape attempts but was released after five years of slavery when his mother had finally raised enough money to pay the ransom. Upon return to Madrid in 1580, Cervantes supported his expenses by undertaking several low paying jobs which did little to improve his financial crisis.
In Madrid, Cervantes had an affair with an actress named Ana de Villafranca. They had a daughter, Isabel de Saavedra. In 1584 he married Catalina de Palacios who was 18 years his junior and the daughter of a well to do peasant. It was after marriage that Cervantes began writing poetry and plays. His first published work was La Galatea (1585). When he was not able to generate enough income from writing to run the family, Cervantes obtained a job in the government as a tax collector. He was imprisoned several times on charges of bankruptcy and fiscal irregularities. Also imprisoned another time when a man died in front of his house and the authorities suspected he had something to do with the man’s death.
Cervantes lived in Seville during 1595 and 1600. Later he moved to Madrid, where he spent the rest of his life, after the publication of Don Quixote. In 1613, Cervantes published, The Exemplary Novels of Cervantes which comprises of short stories about gypsies and pirates. The book was largely inspired by Miguel’s own life and experiences. The second part of Don Quixote was published in 1615. It was followed by Persiles and Segismunda in 1616.
Miguel De Cervantes died in 1616. He is buried in the Convent of the Barefoot Trinitarians in Madrid, Spain. A much appreciated writer, Cervantes influence is evident in the works of many other famous writers such as Sir Walter Scott, Charles Dickens, Gustave Flaubert, Herman Melville, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, James Joyce and Jorge Luis Borges."
2. Don Quixote Book I Study Guide from gradesaver.com/don-quixote-book-i/study-guide/
Don Quixote Book I Study Guide
Cervantes is considered one of the greatest writers of all time. Often, Cervantes is compared to Shakespeare. Both men have become "national literary treasures" glowing during "golden ages" of literature. Cervantes was writing along aside a number of literary luminaries, many of whom were more esteemed during their era than ours. Lope de Vega, Quevedo, and Calderon among them. The words in the preface of Book I suggest that Quixote began thinking about the novel while he was in prison. Even after Book I was completed, it took some time before Quixote was able to find a publisher. This publisher, Francisco Robles of Madrid, was reluctant to take the book and he did not bother securing a copyright for Aragon or Portugal, thinking that Castile would be enough.
The book was an immediate success. Pirated editions could be found in Valencia and Portugal until the next year, when Cervantes acquired the appropriate copyrights. The aristocracy was not amused with the novel's critique on chivalric literature. Lope de Vega, the most renown of Cervantes' contemporaries, was extremely dismissive of Don Quixote. A Brussels edition was published in 1607. The seventh edition of the novel was published in Madrid in 1608.
The first translation of Don Quixote was the English translation done by Shelton in 1608, and published in 1612. In 1687, John Philips, a nephew of John Milton, re-translated Don Quixote, announcing that it was "made English according to the humour of our modern language."
Milan followed in 1610, and Brussels brought ought their second edition in 1611. In the intervening years, Cervantes wrote other works, postponing his work on Book II. His Novelas Ejemplares was published in 1613, and was dedicated to the Conde de Lemos. In the preface of Novelas, Quixote writes: "You shall see shortly the further exploits of Don Quixote and the humors of Sancho Panza." At this point, Cervantes was only halfway through Book II. Ironically, Cervantes had high hopes of becoming Spain's great dramatist. He wanted to create a national epic drama, but unfortunately, his dramatic works were quite unsuccessful.
In the Fall of 1614, Cervantes had made it to Chapter LIX of Book II. To his horror, he discovers a small book being printed at Tarragona entitled: "Second Volume of the Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha: by the Licentiate Alonso Fernandez de Avellaneda of Tordesillas." The last half of Chapter LIX and most of the following chapters of Book II respond to Avellaneda. Cervantes could see how his nine year delay had invited such a disaster. Still, there was no real justification for the invective found in Avellaneda's preface. As John Ormsby put it, in 1885, Avellaneda "taunts Cervantes with being old, with having lost his hand, with having been in orison, with being poor, with being friendless, accuses him of envy of Lope's success, of petulance and querulousness, and so on; and it was in this that the sting lay." To this day, critics remain uncertain as to who "Avellaneda" was ("Avellaneda" was only a nom de plume, and not an actual person). Avellaneda's work does not match the brilliance of Cervantes' work, but it is clear that Avellaneda's imposter sequel certainly made Book II a prompt and more superior effort than might have been the case otherwise. The volume was published at the end of 1615 and Cervantes died a few months later, in April, 1616. Except for The Bible, no book has been so widely diffused into as many different languages and editions as Don Quixote.
Don Quixote Book I Summary
Alonso Quixana is an older gentleman who lives in La Mancha, in the Spanish countryside. He has read many of the books of chivalry and as a result, he has lost his wits, and he decides to roam the country as a knight-errant named Don Quixote de La Mancha. Neither his niece nor his housekeeper can stop him from riding his old horse, Rocinante, out into the country. Quixote's first sally ends quickly. He insists on having an innkeeper knight him into the chivalric order. Quixote believes that the inn is a castle. Returning home for clothes and money, Quixote is beaten and left for dead. A commoner rescues Quixote and brings him home.
The niece and housekeeper deliberate with two of Quixote's friends, the priest and barber, and they decide to destroy Quixote's library, burning many of the books of chivalry. These books are the culprit. When Quixote recovers, he asks for his books and his niece tells him that the sage Muñaton has taken them. Quixote believes it was the sage Friston, his mortal foe. Having found a squire, a common peasant named Sancho Panza, Quixote leaves yet again. This second sally provides the story for the rest of Book I. Panza quickly realizes that his master is mad, but the squire hopes that Quixote will make good on his promise to name Sancho as the Governor of an island. Quixote attacks a windmill, believing it to be a giant, destroying his lance in the process. Indeed, Quixote gets involved in several altercations and violent disputes while traveling on the road.
There is a peaceful and pastoral interlude when Quixote joins the goatherds who mourn the death of their friend Chrysostom, a poet who died of a broken heart. Continuing on the road with Sancho, Quixote has a run in with some horse-breeders and he is beaten so badly that Sancho has to quickly get the knight to an inn. Quixote perceives the inn to be a castle, yet again. Quixote believes the innkeeper's daughter to be a beautiful princess who has promised to come to his bed during the knight. Later that night, Quixote ends up caressing Maritornes: the half-blind, hunchbacked servant girl. Her lover, a mule carrier, is enraged and the carrier beats Quixote when he realizes that his lover, Maritornes, is struggling to get away from Quixote. In the darkness a brawl ensues, including Sancho, Maritornes, the innkeeper, the mule carrier and Quixote‹who quickly passes out. An officer of the Holy Brotherhood enters the room, having heard the commotion, and he fears that Quixote is dead.
Quixote is not dead. When he revives, he asks for the ingredients so that he might prepare for himself the "true balsam of Fierabras." He prepares the balsam, vomits, passes out, and wakes up feeling better. Sancho drinks the balsam and nearly dies. The next day, knight and squire leave the inn without paying. Quixote believes it to be an enchanted castle and he is offended by the suggestion that he should pay. Sancho does not escape as easily as Quixote does. Indeed, the squire is tossed in a blanket and his bags are stolen. In an arc of violence, Quixote murders some sheep, loses some teeth, steals a barber's basin (believing it to be Mambrino's helmet) and sets free a chain of galley-slaves who repay the knight's kindness with bruises.
Quixote befriends Cardenio, The Ragged Knight of the Sorry Countenance, who mourns the fact that his true love, Lucinda, has married another man: Don Fernando. Cardenio has gone mad with grief, running half-naked through the hills of Sierra Morena. Quixote imitates Cardenio, pining for his beloved lady, Dulcinea del Toboso. Quixote sends Sancho with a letter to deliver to Dulcinea but instead Sancho finds the barber and priest and leads them to Quixote.
With the help of Dorotea, a woman who has been deceived by Don Fernando, the priest and barber make plans to trick Don Quixote into coming home. Dorotea pretends to be the Princess Micomicona, desperately in need of Quixote's assistance. The final chapters of the novel combine romantic intrigue with the comedy of errors surrounding Don Quixote. Dorotea is reunited with Don Fernando and Cardenio is reunited with Lucinda. This takes place at the same inn which Quixote visited earlier (where was boxed by Maritornes' lover). Numerous guests arrive at the inn, as long-lost brothers are reunited, two other pairs of lovers are blessed and Don Quixote is almost arrested. The Holy Brotherhood has an arrest for Quixote's arrest on account of his "setting at liberty" a "group of galley-slaves." The priest begs for the officer to have mercy on Quixote because the knight is insane. The officer assents; Quixote is locked in a cage and carted home. Quixote believes the cage to be an enchantment, but when it is clear that he is going home he does not fight back. Of course, in Book II, Quixote goes out on his third and final sally, so Book I is not resolved.
Don Quixote Book I Character List
Buy Study Guide
Cid Hamet Ben Engeli
the Arab translator of Don Quixote, Cervantes consistently accuses him of dishonesty.
Don Quixote (Señor Alonso Quixana, The Knight of the Sorrowful Figure)
Alonso Quixana is an elderly gentleman who has read too many books of chivalry. He decides that he will become a knight-errant and enjoy his own adventures, winning fame and honor. His first sally into the world is aborted quickly. On the way home, intending to get money and clean shirts, Quixote is attacked and left for dead. A peasant sees Quixote and brings him home. The best efforts of Quixote's niece, housekeeper and friends (the barber and the priest) are to no avail. Quixote leaves for a second adventure, this time bringing a squire with him, a commoner named Sancho Panza.
Quixote's delusions get him into serious trouble with the law and the church. He baffles strangers with his ability to alternate between states of lucid sanity and its exact opposite.
Dulcinea del Toboso (Aldonza Lorenzo)
Aldonza Lorenzo is a common woman who lives in the town of Toboso. Don Quixote sees here and decides to call her Dulcinea del Toboso. Dulcinea means "sweetness" and Don Quixote imagines Dulcinea to be his Lady. Quixote defends her honor, though she never appears in the novel.
The priest-one of Quixote's friends, the priest does not behave as one would expect, considering his ecclesiastical vocation. The priest regulates the book-burning early in Book I, but he saves as many books as he can. The priest organizes the successful conspiracy to get Quixote back home to La Mancha. When Quixote is on the verge of being arrested by an officer of the Holy Brotherhood, the priest defends Quixote, attesting to the gentleman's insanity.
Sancho Panza
Sancho is Don Quixote's squire, having left his wife and daughter at home in the hopes of becoming Governor of an island. A common peasant, Panza seeks fortune so that his daughter can marry a nobleman. Sancho has a lot of common sense but he consistently defers to his master and assents to dangerous schemes. As squire, Sancho becomes sincerely attached to Quixote and he looks out for the knight as well as he can. At the end of Book I, Sancho is saddened to see Quixote imprisoned in the cage. Sancho, alone, tries to convince Quixote that the cage is not an enchantment. Alone, Sancho is unable to sway Quixote's opinion.
Cardenio ("The Ragged Knight of the Sorry Countenance")
a young man whose heart is broken when his lover, Lucinda, marries Don Fernando. He and Dorotea apprehend Don Fernando at the inn, late in Book I. Cardenio ends up with Lucinda in the end.
Dorotea ("The Princess Micomicona")
a woman who has been deceived by Don Fernando. Don Fernando promised to marry Dorotea but he married Lucinda instead. Disgraced, Dorotea leaves her village disguised in men's clothing. She conspires with Cardenio to hunt down Don Fernando, and she also helps the priest and barber bring Don Quixote home. She pretends to be the Princess Micomicona, winning Quixote's promise to slay a giant so that she might regain her kingdom. With the Princess' help, the priest is able to get Quixote under his control.
Don Quixote's niece
she lives with Quixote and is concerned for his safety. She helps to hide the fact that Quixote's books have been burned.
Don Quixote's housekeeper
a woman eager to burn Quixote's books of chivalry in hopes of preventing the gentleman
Rocinante (sometimes spelled Rocinante)
Don Quixote's old horse.
Innkeeper #1
the innkeeper performs a ceremony to knight Quixote. He also advises the knight to return home for money and clean shirts to carry on the road.
Andres
a young laborer who is beaten by his master, John Haldudo the Rich. Quixote intervenes but only makes matters worse.
John Haldudo the Rich
a wealthy man, while beating his servant-boy, he is apprehended by Quixote.
The barber
one of Quixote's friends, he is basically the priest's sidekick, participating in the efforts to safeguard Quixote from knight-errantry.
Muñaton
the sage accused by Quixote's niece of stealing Quixote's library.
Friston
the "sage enchanter" who figures as Quixote's arch-nemesis. Quixote accuses Friston of stealing his library and robbing him of a victory by transforming giants into windmills just as Quixote was on the verge of victory against them.
Juana/Teresa Panza
Sancho's wife is called Teresa at the beginning of Book I, but at the end she is called Juana. In Book II, she is called Teresa.
Dapple
Sancho's donkey. Whether or not Dapple is kidnapped by Gines de Pasamonte remains a point of contention.
"The valiant Biscainer"
he battles Quixote, wounding the knight in the ear, though he loses the battle to Don Quixote
Antonio
a goatherd and friend of Chrysostom and Peter. He composes ballads and love songs.
Peter
a goatherd who brings the news of Chrysostom's death.
Chrysostom
a young shepherd who has died, heartbroken because of his unrequited love for Marcela.
Marcela
an incredibly beautiful shepherdess who comes from a wealthy family. She refuses to be married or courted and lives in the wild, hoping to avoid the advances of men. She gives a rational defense of her character at Chrysostom's funeral.
Señor Vivaldo
a random traveler who attends Chrysostom's funeral, accompanying Don Quixote, Sancho Panza, and the goatherds.
Ambrosio
a friend of Chrysostom who officiates at the funeral service.
The Yangüesians
horse breeders who pelt Rocinante with stones when he attempts to mate with one of their fillies. They also attack Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.
Innkeeper #2
Quixote enters patronizes this innkeeper in Chapter 16 and again in Chapter 32. The innkeeper involves himself in the squabbles, arguments and concerns of his patrons. Quixote believes that this inn is a castle and that Innkeeper #2 is the lord of the castle.
Innkeeper #2's daughter
a beautiful young woman who Quixote believes to be a princess. Quixote suspects that she is romantically interested in him.
Maritornes
the hunchbacked and half-blind servant woman who works at Inn #2.
The mule carrier
Maritornes' lover. He attacks Quixote when Quixote embraces Maritornes, perceiving her to be a beautiful princess.
Holy Brotherhood Officer #1
Lodging at Inn #2, he hears the fight between the carrier, Maritornes, Innkeeper #2, Sancho and Don Quixote. He surveys the scene and initially suspects that Don Quixote has died from his injuries.
Alifanfaron
"a furious pagan" who rides on horseback in the battle scene that Quixote imagines, though the pagan soldiers are actually sheep.
Alonso Lopez
one of the mourners whose "walking lights" frighten Don Quixote. After Quixote attacks one of the mourners, Alonso Lopez explains that they are only mourners, not devils.
A Barber
not Quixote's barber friend. "A man on horseback, who had on his head something which glittered, as if it had been of gold," he is, in fact, wearing a basin on his head because it is raining and he is on his way to work. Quixote attacks this barber and steals the basin. Quixote believes it to be "the helmet of Mambrino."
Galley-slaves
a chain-gang of violent criminals who are on their way to execution when Quixote perceives their distress and helps them escape. When Don Quixote suggests that the galley-slaves present themselves to Dulcinea, the criminals beat the knight merciless and then escape in different directions.
Gines de Pasamonte
one of the most violently ungrateful of the galley-slaves, he steals Dapple in the Sierra Morena. A few chapters later, Dapple reappears. This discrepancy is discussed in Book II, though it is not convincingly resolved.
Lucinda
a woman who Cardenio hoped to marry. She instead marries Cardenio's friend, Don Fernando, who is the son of a Duke. Lucinda marries Don Fernando to appease her parents but she truly loves Cardenio. Lucinda and Cardenio are reunited late in Book I.
Don Fernando
he betrays his friend, Cardenio, by marrying Cardenio's lover, Lucinda. Don Fernando has also taken Dorotea's virginity, only to break his promise to marry her. Late in the novel, Don Fernando is reunited with Dorotea and he vows to keep his promise to her. Don Fernando is the brother of Don Pedro de Aguilar.
Tinacrio the Wise and Queen Xaramilla
father and mother of the Princess Micomicona.
"The captive"
a man from Leon who was a prisoner of war, held in Algiers. He escaped with the help of a beautiful woman, Lela Zoraida, whom he plans to marry (once she has been baptized). "The captive" is the brother of a judge, Licentiate Juan Perez de Viedma, who arrives at Inn #2 with his daughter, Doña Clara.
Lela Zoraida
a beautiful woman who helps "the captive" escape from an Algiers prison. She leaves her father, her religion, and her country seeking baptism in Spain and a happy marriage with "the captive."
Don Pedro de Aguilar
one of the captive's comrades, he is the long-lost brother of Don Fernando.
Licentiate Juan Perez de Viedma
a judge from Leon, he is the father of Doña Clara and the brother of the captive. The priest reunites the two brothers.
Doña Clara
the beautiful daughter of Licentiate Juan Perez de Viedma, she is in love with a young man, Don Louis, who has followed her to the inn.
Don Louis
a neighbor of the Viedma family, he is in love with Doña Clara. He asks the judge for permission to marry Clara.
Holy Brotherhood Officer #2
near the end of the novel, he intends to take Quixote into custody for "setting at liberty" a group of "galley-slaves." The priest dissuades the officer on account of Quixote's insanity.
A canon
a religious figure who appears near the end of the novel. He once tried to write a tale of chivalry though he now condemns this literary art form. In conversation with Quixote, the canon marvels at the knight's easy ramblings between lucid intellectualism and ridiculous foolishness.
Eugenio
a goatherd who gets in a fist-fight with Don Quixote, not long after the knight is (temporarily) released from his cage.
Anselmo
the titular character of a story called "The Novel of the Curious Impertinent." The priest reads this story, which has been hidden in a trunk, in chapters 33-35. Anselmo is married to Camilla. To test Camilla's fidelity, Anselmo forces his friend, Lothario, to seduce Camilla. Anselmo regrets this foolish idea once Lothario and Camilla commence an affair. Anselmo dies of grief.
Camilla
a character in "The Novel of the Curious Impertinent," Camilla is the wife of Anselmo. Anselmo forces Camilla into Lothario's arms.
Lothario
Anselmo's best friend in "The Novel of the Curious Impertinent." To test Camilla's fidelity, Anselmo forces his friend, Lothario, to seduce Camilla. Lothario accidentally falls in love with Camilla and they begin an affair. Their romance blossoms as Anselmo dies of grief.
Leonela
Camilla's servant and confidante in "The Novel of the Curious Impertinent." Leonela helps Camilla keep her affair secret. Meanwhile, Leonela has an affair of her own.
Leonela's lover
for a time, Lothario suspects that Leonela's lover, who he has seen leaving the house early in the morning, is competition (Camilla's other lover).
Don Quixote Book I Glossary
Amadis de Gaul
Gaul is the Latin name for France but Amadis de Gaul is a Spanish tale of chivalry, written by Garci Rodriguez de Montalvo in 1508, almost a century before Don Quixote was published.
Balsam of Fierabras
Prince Fierabras is a character from "Twelve Peers," an old Spanish epic. From the Saracens, a tribe of fierce Muslim warriors, Fierabras gets the recipe for this all-healing balm.
Benedictine monks
An order of monks established by St. Benedict, a writer who died in 547.
Biscainer
A person from the region bordering the Bay of Biscay, a gulf defined by the coasts of western France and Northern Spain.
Chivalry
the system, spirit, or customs of medieval knighthood.
Holy Brotherhood
The Holy Brotherhood was formed in the 1470s as an alliance between the towns and the monarchy, against the nobility. They began as armed guards and emerged as a nationalized police force under Don Fernando and Isabella.
King Arthur
Founder of the Knights of the Round Table. Arthur is the illegitimate son of King Uther Pendragon. He becomes king by pulling the sword Excalibur from its fixed position, with the blade locked inside of a stone. King Arthur is deceived by his right-hand man, Lancelot; betrayed by his wife, Guinevere; and murdered by his son, Mordred.
Knight-errant
a knight traveling in search of adventures in which to exhibit military skill, prowess and generosity.
Leon
This was the first region of Spain that the Spanish re-conquered. Under King Don Fernando, Leon grew in territorial size and untied with Castile to form one unified Spanish kingdom.
Mambrino's Helmet
This is derived from two old chivalric tales: Orlando Furioso, by Ariosto; and the more famous Roland in Love, by Boiardo. Mambrino is much like King Midas of Greek mythology. He is pagan, proud, and arrogant‹and he wears a helmet constructed of solid gold. While wearing the helmet, Mambrino cannot be harmed, and so Quixote is eager to find this treasure.
Moors
Arabs from Northern Africa who captured Spain in the 700s. They were expelled from Spain in 1492.
Winnowing
a process of separating the chaff (waste) from grain by fanning the stalks in the air.
Don Quixote Book I Themes
Reliable Narration and the Aesthetics of Accuracy
From the beginning of the novel, the narrative's accuracy is called into question. In terms of authorship, Cervantes tells us that he has found this story and translated it from the work of a Moor named Cid Hamet Ben Engeli. Cervantes continually tells us that Ben Engeli cannot be trusted because he is a Moor. In an exterior frame, the narrative is immediately destabilized.
Within the novel, Don Quixote, the priest, the innkeeper (#2), the canon and numerous others weigh in on various chivalric tales and other literary works. The priest's aesthetics suggest that the style of narration determines the "reliability" of a narrative‹not the accuracy of the details. If the "facts" are properly arranged, the most improbable story can seem true.
Indeed, Cervantes' comic novel attests to this fact. Don Quixote is hailed as the first modern novel and praised for its realism. Realism applies more to the style in which the details are relayed than the actual narrative content. It seems highly unlikely that a man like Don Quixote might actually exist. In Chapters 33-35, "The Novel of the Curious Impertinent" figures in the exact same way. The priest says that he favors "the manner" in which the story was written though he sees Anselmo as an implausibly, unrealistically naïve and idiotic character. The story is realistic, but the character is unrealistic: How can this be so?
Part of what buttresses these reliable narratives (or perhaps, "reliably unreliable narratives") is their fetish for textual, historical, and or literary documentation. Cervantes' novel incorporates ballads, poems, oral narratives, editorial annotation and aesthetic commentary. Don Quixote incorporates diverse forms from disparate sources: unless they are all lying, the story is sound. "Curious Impertinent" is just as wily: the narrator reproduces the entire and unedited text of Camilla's love letters, while Lothario recites whole stanzas of lyric poetry without skipping a beat. These inner texts anchor the whole work. These inner texts become "evidence" and these details are credited as accurate.
Edmundo Delgado is a literary critic who looks at how the word historía signifies both 'story' and 'history' depending upon the context. Quixote is candid about his desire for fame and he continually discusses the history-historía of knight-errantry. The other characters largely read chivalry as story-historía. Still, Quixote's focus on his personal history, combines with the historiography of Cid Hamet Ben Engeli: when arguments about how the details should be told become arguments about how the details actually occurred, story-historía subtly transforms into history.
Book II complicates these issues in one major way. Avellaneda's "imposter sequel" (1614) complicates Book II (1615) in a way that was not possible for Book I (1605). Book II has to prove itself as the true sequel‹but when Avellaneda published his work, Cervantes was already writing Chapter LIX (there are only seventy-four chapters in Book II). In "narratological" terms, these final chapters get far more complicated than what preceded.
Delusion, Enchantment, and Imagination
The books of chivalry have left Don Quixote incapable of seeing "reality." When Don Quixote believes that the inn is a "castle" or a "windmill" is a "giant," he is not merely deluding himself. He has subverted his physical senses. While there are repetitions (inn = castle), not every "enchantment" is predictable. Quixote sees festooned pagan warriors on horseback battling in a field where there are only two herds of sheep.
To this day, the word "quixotic" is used to describe a person who is "foolishly impractical, especially in the pursuit of ideals." Chivalry is a social order that was disappearing. Quixote's delusions are not without philosophical underpinnings: he is deluded but also utopian; imaginative and idealistic. Quixote is not just living out any delusion; he is living out his fantasy. "Mad I am and mad I must be" is what Quixote tells Sancho. Delusion imprisons Quixote but the knight's imagination secures him freedom. Caged and ox-carted, there is no Utopia for Quixote, but his ideals are intact. "Mad I am," the knight exclaims, having fit himself into a role that has already been written in the chivalric literature. The delusion is strict and Quixote practices knight-errantry with orthodoxy. His imagination is expansive, however; every scene awards Quixote to see the enchantments as he chooses. He must battle giants, but they need not have been the windmills. He must search for Mambrino's helmet, but it need not have been a barber's basin. Quixote reserves the right to locate the enchantment right before his eyes.
Deception, Manipulation, and Strategy
This theme is treated differently in Book II, where the Duke and Duchess deceive and abuse Quixote. In Book I, Quixote is deceived by the priest, the barber, his housekeeper, his niece, Cardenio and Dorotea, among others. Even Sancho lies to Quixote, claiming to deliver the letter to Dulcinea. In the early chapters, the characters conspire to destroy Quixote's library and when the knight-errant prepares for his second sally, there is an effort to prevent him from leaving. In the second half of Book I, the priest and the barber enjoy numerous distractions but their primary concern is getting Don Quixote home safely. Their strategy is to use Quixote's delusions as a means of tricking him. Quixote believes that a cage is an enchantment to carry him to his next adventure. Meanwhile, the barber disguises himself and pretends to be a prophet, foretelling Quixote's triumphal return home. When Quixote speaks to the Princess Micomicona he does no think to ask 'Where is Dorotea?' because he does not Dorotea. But when the barber disappears in and out of costume, Quixote remains deceived. Indeed, the characters do not even bother wearing their disguises at one point because Quixote is so deep within his fantasy that there is no risk of him perceiving reality.
Don Quixote Book I Summary and Analysis of Book I, Chapters 1-6
Book I: Preface-Chapter 6 Summaries
Preface
Don Quixote begins with a preface by Cervantes. The author claims to be the "stepfather of Don Quixote" (as opposed to the father) because he is sharing an old story that was told to him long ago. At first, Cervantes decided that his book would have few allusions to classical or medieval stories‹as was the custom of the day. In the end, however, his friend convinced him that these allusions will make the book larger and will convince the readers that Cervantes is a well-educated man.
Chapter 1
There is an older gentleman (named Quixana or perhaps Quesada) and he lives in a Spanish village called La Mancha. As the story begins, this man has lost his wits. "His imagination was full of all that he read in his books"‹stories of medieval knights, chivalry, and bloody battles. As a result, he changes his name to Don Quixote and decides to become a knight-errant. Neither his niece nor his housekeeper can persuade him from dressing his old horse and setting off to battle giants.
Chapter 2
On the road, Don Quixote stumbles upon a very ordinary peasant woman. Quixote sees her as a beautiful noble lady and so he calls her Dulcinea and vows to fight for her honor and glory.
Chapter 3
Upon reaching an inn, Quixote envisions that the inn is a castle, that two lingering prostitutes are beautiful damsels, and that a dwarf opens the drawbridge to the castle. Quixote is crudely dressed as a warrior (with a helmet made of pasteboard). The innkeeper and guests are frightened by Quixote, but they soon become amused. The innkeeper plays along with Quixote's imaginations and agrees to knight Don Quixote in the morning. But when Quixote violently attacks one of the guests, the innkeeper hurriedly knights Don Quixote and sends him off.
The innkeeper advises Don Quixote that knights must travel with a few sets of clothing as well as a good amount of money.
Chapter 4
Don Quixote returns to La Mancha to get the necessary supplies, and on the way, he hears crying sounds from a bush. Don Quixote discovers a young laborer (Andres) being ruthlessly whipped by his master, John Haldudo the Rich. The boy claims that the master owes him unpaid wages, but the master claims that the boy is dishonest. Quixote sides with the boy against his master, but then believes the master when he assures Quixote that the boy will be promptly recompensed. Don Quixote perceives that justice has been done, and so he continues on his path. Once Don Quixote is safely gone, the master continues to whip his servant.
Chapter 5
Don Quixote also suffers a beating soon after, when he forces an altercation with a group of thirteen men. His body is bruised though his life is not endangered. A peasant from La Mancha discovers Don Quixote and leads the gentleman back to his home, where his anxious niece and housekeeper are waiting.
Chapter 6
While Don Quixote sleeps, the niece and housekeeper conspire with two of Don Quixote's friends (the priest and the barber). In the end, they decide to burn almost all of the gentleman's sin-provoking books‹those books that aren't burned in the hellish fire are removed from the house altogether.
Analysis
Authorship is one of the central themes of this novel. In the Preface, Cervantes claims that the story was originally recorded by a Moor. As "author," Cervantes has merely translated and embellished the work. Of course, this is not true. Ironically, authorship does become a major issue in terms of the publication of the sequel to Book I. Cervantes intended to publish a sequel to Book I; it arrived on the scene ten years later, in 1615. In the intervening decade, an "imposter" published a sequel to Book I. The book was denounced as a fraud, disclaimed by Cervantes, but nonetheless read and enjoyed by a very large audience.
In Book II, Cervantes responds to the "imposter sequel" and he noticeably takes authorship more seriously. These details certainly make Cervantes' Preface rather ironic, even if in retrospect. At any rate, the reader should not take the Preface seriously‹especially Cervantes' claim that he is publishing Don Quixote in order to "destroy the authority and acceptance" enjoyed by "books of chivalry." Within the larger story of Book I, a number of smaller stories will be told‹and questions of authorship will become one of Cervantes' favorite games.
As heroes go, Don Quixote gets off to a rather inauspicious start. In his attempts to become a knight-errant, Don Quixote is really a parody: His suit of armor is composed of rubbish and trash. His horse, Rocinante, is an old steed. Hardly a figure of renown, Don Quixote remains so undistinguished that even those familiar with him are not sure exactly what is name is (perhaps Quixana, Quesada or Quixana). Don Quixote's ambitions are as great and numerous as his inabilities and he spends a lot of time thinking about how the story of his "famous exploits" will be recorded.
Delusion is another major thematic concern of the novel. The books of chivalry have left Don Quixote incapable of seeing "reality." Many of Quixote's deluded interpretations are rather ironic. Perhaps Quixote is merely innocent and naïve when he mistakes the two prostitutes for damsels. Later in Book I, Quixote will argue that the idealization of a person makes this person ideal. True to the chivalric standard, Quixote idealizes women with little justification or provocation. When Don Quixote believes that the inn is a "castle" and the swineherd is a "dwarf," he is not merely idealizing. These delusions are self-serving; the castle and the dwarf fit into the story that Don Quixote wishes were true. To this day, the word "quixotic" is used to describe a person who is "foolishly impractical, especially in the pursuit of ideals." Certainly, this is true of Quixote when he explains that he did not bring any money or changes of clothes with him because he had "never read in the histories of knights-errant, that they carried any."
Don Quixote is definitely "in the pursuit of ideals," old chivalric ideals that were no longer the mode in his society. At the same time, the characterization of Quixote is rather complex. For an innocent, Quixote certainly causes a good amount of damage‹if Quixote is a hero, he is not an ordinary hero. Andres suffers far more than he would have, had Don Quixote never 'come to the rescue.' Throughout Book I, Don Quixote reveals himself to be both impatient and violent.
When Quixote causes a row at the inn, the innkeeper warns the other guests about accosting the knight: "The host cried out to them to let him [Don Quixote] alone, for he had already told them he [Don Quixote] was mad, and that he would be acquitted as a madman though he should kill them all." If nothing else, this passage gives us social context. This is the age of the Inquisition with its Index of forbidden books; these are years of law and order. As foreshadowed here, it will not be long before Quixote seriously trespasses the law. Quixote commits crimes because he pursues his ideals without giving any thought to the law; he does not take aim at the law.
In Don Quixote, deception functions as a parallel to delusion. Don Quixote suffers delusions of being a knight-errant. His family, friends, and acquaintances consistently deceive Quixote throughout Book I. Sometimes‹as we will see later‹these deceptions are intended to mock and ridicule Quixote. In these early chapters, Quixote's niece, and Quixote's two friends‹the priest and the barber‹seek to protect the would-be knight-errant from the books that have ravaged his sensibilities. Quixote's sane compatriots will frequently deceive him in order to protect him.
Finally, the reader should also be aware of Cervantes' self-reference in Chapter 6. Cervantes' work, Galatea, (published in 1585) is‹at least temporarily‹among the books that the priest and barber spare from the fire. The priest argues that the book cannot be adequately judged until "the second part" is published and critiqued. Only then, can Cervantes "obtain that entire pardon which is now denied him." This is quite the parallel to Michelangelo's self-depiction in the Sistine Chapel: a hollowed-out skin, dangling in the awkward space between heaven and hell. Today, literary critics generally look at Don Quixote as the formative step, the germ of the modern novel. Cervantes may not have used this language, but he knew that he was writing a different type of work. And so, we might expect this exorcism of The Author's nagging fears‹the demons of self-doubt and censorship; and we might have expected it to come early on in the story.
This is, however, only the beginning of a very long discourse on literature in general, focusing largely on aesthetics, poetics and criticism. Don Quixote is very much a book about reading and its consequences. But Don Quixote is also a book about the experiences of authors and storytellers.
Don Quixote Book I Summary and Analysis of Book I, Chapters 7-10
Book I: Chapter 7-Chapter 10 Summaries
Chapter 7
Don Quixote has been brought back to his home in La Mancha, but he has not let go of his imaginations. Quixote still believes that he is a knight-errant and he will not be convinced otherwise. Quixote's niece, his housekeeper, the barber and the priest are discussing which books need to be burned when Quixote interrupts them. Specifically, Quixote is upset because they have blocked his entrance to the library. After the gentleman is put to bed, the housekeeper burns the books.
Don Quixote is looking for his books a few days later, but of course, he cannot find them. The housekeeper sees Quixote searching for his library and she tells him that there is no point in looking for the books‹because "the devil himself has carried all away." The niece explains that it wasn't the devil, but a sage named Muñaton. The niece and the housekeeper have already decided what they would tell Quixote. Don Quixote explains to his niece that the sage was named Friston, not Muñaton. Friston has taken Quixote's books because of a rivalry between Quixote and one of Friston's powerful knights.
Quixote's niece perceives that her plan has backfired: her uncle is determined to leave home again and he will not be persuaded to do otherwise. Traveling into town, Don Quixote meets Sancho Panza, a commoner, and convinces Sancho to serve as his squire. Sancho Panza is hesitant to leave his wife, Teresa, but Quixote convinces Panza that there are treasures to be won. At the very least, Panza will likely become the Governor of an island.
Chapter 8
On this, his second journey, Quixote is no less plagued by absurd imaginations. Traveling the countryside, Quixote soon stumbles into "the dreadful and never-before-imagined adventure of the windmills." Quixote prepares for "lawful war" against an army of giants, despite Sancho Panza's urgent warnings. Sancho realizes that Quixote's "giants" are merely windmills. Quixote insists upon charging at the windmills and he falls to the ground, when his lance jams into the sails of the windmill. Quixote is not badly hurt, though his horse, Rocinante, is more seriously wounded.
When it becomes clear to Quixote that this is a field of windmills, he argues that an evil enchanter has transformed the giants into windmills in order to rob Quixote of a dashing victory.
Chapter 9
Armed with a tree branch (to replace the broken lance), Quixote continues on his quest. On a side road, Quixote attacks two monks who are accompanying a lady. Quixote argues that the lady has been kidnapped and is imprisoned in her carriage. Sancho tries to dissuade the knight, but he is unsuccessful. Sancho then joins in the battle and attempts to steal the monks' clothes. At this point, the monks' servants intervene and give Sancho a rather serious beating. Quixote is wounded in the ear, but he nearly kills one of the lady's attendants, a man called "the valiant Biscainer." Staying true to the code of chivalry, Quixote says that he will spare the attendant's life if the man agrees to "present himself before the peerless Dulcinea, that she may dispose of him as she shall think fit." The company of the lady, her attendants, the monks and their servants are all bewildered by Quixote's request. Nonetheless, they enthusiastically agree to Quixote's demands because they can see that he is dangerous.
Chapter 10
After the two groups part ways, Sancho asks to become governor of his island. Quixote cannot yet make good on this promise, but he assures Sancho that their rewards and treasures will come soon.
Analysis
The scene in Chapter 8, when Quixote perceives the windmills as giants, is perhaps the most famous scene of the novel. Don Quixote's imagination turns the dull Spanish countryside into a magical place. Jostling between Sancho and Quixote's point-of-view, the reader sees the juxtaposition of an ordinary landscape and an absurd daydream. Because Cervantes shows us what Quixote sees, it is easier for us to empathize with the knight. At the same time, we can also understand why Sancho feels so confused by his irrational master.
Sancho Panza is described as "honest, poor, shallow-brained" and he becomes Don Quixote's squire. Panza is not deluded, but he has too much faith in Don Quixote and the squire will suffer for it. As a practical man, Sancho Panza fears the Holy Brotherhood once Don Quixote has committed violence against the Benedictine monks. Quixote, an educated man, is unable to grasp reality. On the other hand, Quixote is so well-versed in the nuances of chivalry and adventures that he is able to correct his niece when she incorrectly names the evil sage: "Friston he meant to sayŠ" This especially ironic because the niece is lying, simply repeating a story she has already rehearsed. Literacy is also expressed as an issue of social "class' in the interactions between Quixote and his squire. When Sancho raises a concern, Quixote can pose the question: "Have you read in storyŠ?" This effectively silences Sancho and foreshadows the point in the novel when Quixote commands Sancho not to speak.
Don Quixote is determined to follow the texts that he has read, even if that means breaking the law and violating the religious codes and morals of his society. So far, Quixote proves to be rather orthodox and unswerving in regards to following the text. There is tension between the projects of the author-narrator and the main character. At one point, Quixote says to his squire: "Sancho, let not that trouble you, which gives me pleasure; nor endeavor to make a new world, or to throw knight-errantry off its hinges." In a sense, the hero only wants to duplicate and share the glories of the previous knights. But this recalls Cervantes' own tongue-in-cheek explanation of why he published Don Quixote. As stated in the Prologue, the novel is intended "to destroy the authority and acceptance the books of chivalry have had in the world."
The two major themes in this section are delusion and deception. Quixote's experience with the windmills is definitive of delusion and the motif of "mills" will recur several times in the novel. The theme of deception is initiated once Don Quixote is deceived by his friends and family. This will continue throughout Books I and II. Indeed, it will become important to separate the "delusion" of Quixote from the "deception" of others, if only because both run rampant. Quixote's friends and loved ones ultimately spend considerable time and energy deceiving Quixote as a means of protecting our hero from himself.
Don Quixote Book I Summary and Analysis of Book I, Chapters 11-15
Book I: Chapter 11-Chapter 15 Summaries
Chapter 11
Looking for a place to sleep, Don Quixote and Sancho Panza stumble upon a group of goatherds. The goatherds are immediately friendly‹and curious about Don Quixote. The goatherds invite Quixote and Panza to sit around the fire and eat with them. Sancho declines the offer because he thinks it is inappropriate to sit and eat alongside his master. After Quixote's insists, Panza agrees to join the group. While Sancho indulges in the wine, his master begins a very long lecture on the "jargon of squires and knights-errant." The goatherds do not understand Quixote's speech, but having sensed that the gentleman means well, they appreciate his good will. Quixote ends his speech by calling them his "brother goatherds."
Chapter 12
After the speech, the goatherds offer Don Quixote "some diversion and amusement" when Antonio arrives on scene. Antonio is a goatherd who composes ballads and love songs. Antonio sings a few of his songs to the group. After Antonio's song, another goatherd, Peter, arrives with sad news: A young shepherd named Chrysostom has died, heartbroken because of his unrequited love for Marcela. Marcela is a shepherdess who comes from a wealthy family. Despite her fortune, she has refused to marry or be courted. This is very frustrating for the men of the town because Marcela's beauty is unparalleled. Chrystostom's death outrages the goatherds against Marcela.
When Don Quixote expresses his sadness and sympathy for Chrysostom, the goatherds invite Quixote to attend the next day's burial service. Just as he did the previous night, Quixote spends the night wide-awake while others sleep. He spends these hours thinking about his lady, Dulcinea.
Chapters 13 and 14
Early the next morning, Don Quixote is full of alacrity: one would never guess that he had not had any sleep. On the road, the group encounters Señor Vivaldo, who is traveling in the same direction. When Vivaldo sees Don Quixote he asks him why he wears armor though he travels though a safe and peaceful country. Quixote explains the order of chivalry and refers to the English histories of King Arthur. Vivaldo seems impressed with the discipline and strictures of Quixote's service, likening the knight to a monk. Quixote argues that "we soldiers and knights really execute what [monks and priests] pray for, defending it with the strength of our arms and the edge of our swords." As the company nears the funeral site, Vivaldo and Quixote continue their discussion of the religious and spiritual aspects of knight-errantry. Chrysostom has given instructions to burn his writings after his burial; Vivaldo pleads for Chrysostom's friend Ambrosio not to do this. At Ambrosio's request, Vivaldo recites one of Chrysostom's poems, "The Song of Despair." The poet mourns that Marcela never loved him. He also writes, "No common language can express" his pain. The gathered mourners approve Chrysostom's song, disparaging Marcela as a cold cruel torturer. When Marcela appears on scene, she flatly rejects the mourners' argument. First, Marcela holds that not she, but God, is the accountable creator of her beauty. Second, though Marcela's beauty may win the love of others, the fact of being loved does not oblige Marcela to love her suitors, in return. Marcela says "I was born free" and she intentionally secludes herself "that [she] might live free." Marcela has never led any suitor to believe that she loved him and, for her chastity, Marcela offers no apology. Marcela leaves abruptly, and Don Quixote defends the shepherdess, promising to slay any man who follows her. Quixote then persists after Marcela, offering her the sturdy services of a knight-errant. (She declines.)
Chapter 15
Knight and squire retire to a grassy field to enjoy their lunch. Don Quixote's horse, Rocinante, sees a small herd of fillies and he trots towards them. The Yangüesian horse-breeders violently chase off Rocinante, and they attack Don Quixote and Sancho Panza as well. Don Quixote is seriously wounded and the knight asks Sancho to carry him to "some castle where [he] may be cured of [his] wounds." Sancho becomes disillusioned but Quixote reiterates his promises: the knight and squire will soon be "filling the sails of [their] desires" and Sancho will soon have the "islands" that Quixote has promised. Don Quixote reflects on his previous adventures and gains confidence by recalling the literary examples of valiant knights‹heroes who were similarly met with obstacles. Self-assured, Don Quixote decides that he and Sancho Panza will continue along their path. But Quixote cannot walk; indeed he can barely sit upon his horse. Rocinante has suffered such a beating; the horse can barely drag itself down the road, let alone support Quixote's weight. Quixote sits upon Sancho's donkey, and Rocinante, unable to lead, is tied (by the head) to the donkey's tail. Fortunately, Sancho does not have to struggle for long as there is lodging nearby. The two men arrive at an inn, which Don Quixote perceives as a castle. Sancho argues with his master and refuses to capitulate.
Analysis
Pulling up to another inn, Don Quixote is convinced that the inn is a castle. In a sense, it is as if Don Quixote's character is not developing at all. His delusions run deep but there seems to be a logical structure. INN = CASTLE for Don Quixote and this equation does not change until much later in the novel. The foreshadowing is usually grim: there will be accidents, confusion, and violence. Don Quixote will cause some unintended damage. But these iterations become more and more hilarious. What follows for the remainder of the novel, is almost entirely farce.
Unlike the tales of chivalry and medieval romance, Don Quixote is a novel full of commoners and ordinary people. Within the narrative, we can attribute this to the fact that Don Quixote is traveling the road: he is more likely to meet itinerants and rustics than landed gentry. In literary terms, however, Cervantes contributions to the genre of the novel helped the form to evolve as an expression of the "middle-class" as opposed to the upper classes. Along these lines, we see the "pastoral" motif in this section of the novel. The "pastoral" refers to pastures, shepherds and goatherds, and the idea that utopia exists outside of the town or village (outside of society). True to tradition, these herders are a source of music and poetry, and they are devoted to love.
The goatherd named Chrysostom is named after a saint of the Roman Catholic Church.
St. John the Chrysostom was a doctor who earned the moniker "Chrystostom," which means "golden mouthed," because he was an eloquent preacher. There is irony in Don Quixote's Chrysostom‹a love-struck poet who gives us the lyric: "For Ah! No common language can express/ the cruel pains that torture my sad heart." The saint was eloquent in spreading the gospel; the goatherd is inarticulate in expressing his pain, a pain that language is incapable of expressing.
Don Quixote long rant alludes to the "prelapsarian" idea of Eden. "Prelapsarian" means before (pre-) the fall (lapse), referring to the Fall of Man in the Garden of Eden. The idea, according to literary critics, is that language functioned in a perfect way before Sin. After Sin, language also lost its perfection and became corrupted. On one hand, the knight's ranting helps to confirm that Don Quixote truly believes that he is doing well, despite the obvious evidence to the contrary.
It is also interesting to note that practically all of Don Quixote's model knights are originally from Britain, France, or Italy. King Artús is simply a Spanish translation of King Arthur. The importance of a national literature is discussed in passages of Book II. Considering Cervantes' decision to write his novel in Spanish, as opposed to Latin or French, we can see Don Quixote as a Spanish alternative to the unrealistic and foreign literary creations that prefigured him.
In terms of characterization, knight and squire are continually described through contrasts, though there is frequently an irony involved. Sancho Panza likes to drink and he sleeps soundly. Don Quixote consistently abstains from food and drink, and during the night, he remains wide awake, as alert as a sentinel. But Sancho's drunkenness never gets in the way of his rational, clear-headed thinking. And Quixote, though he is sharp and alert, is no less delusional. Behavioral characteristics are in ironic contrast to character features that would suggest the opposite.
When Quixote does go to sleep, the next day, he decides to dream "in imitation of Marcela's lovers." Don Quixote inhabits the role of "knight-errant" by imitating his predecessors. When the knight finds contemporary love-sick medievalist fools, his foolhardy resolve is strengthened. The goatherds supply Quixote with more examples for imitation. As characters go, Marcela is very rational and prudent. She is a woman who is immune to the folly that seems contagious among the company of men. The motif of the "tyrannical" female who spurns romantic advances is not Cervantes' alone, having been established in the poetry of Petrarch, Shakespeare, and Edmund Spenser, among many others. Here, Cervantes critiques the "Tyrannesse" motif by allowing Marcela to respond with logic. This does not happen in the older works.
Finally, the motif of book burning recurs with the debate on whether or not to bury the dead man's poetry along with him. Just as earlier in the novel, the words are spared. This tempers Cervantes' claim of seeking to obliterate the books of chivalry. A dove-tailing takes place in Don Quixote, the books of chivalry are reiterated for a final time‹the modern novel provides the continuation. Books of chivalry do not need to be burned: modern novels need to be written.
Don Quixote Book I Summary and Analysis of Book I, Chapters 16-22
Book I: Chapter 16-Chapter 22 Summaries
Chapter 16
The innkeeper sees Don Quixote's wounds and he asks Sancho what has happened. Sancho says that Quixote has fallen and injured his ribs. The innkeeper's wife, his beautiful daughter, and his half-blind servant girl, Maritornes, all tend to Quixote's wounds. They suspect the wounds are on account of a beating, as opposed to a mere "fall." Quixote is a marvel for the innkeeper and company: they have never heard of a knight-errant and they surely do not consider the inn to be an enchanted castle.
Chapter 17
Quixote imagines that the innkeeper's daughter has promised to come to his bed during the knight. Quixote is titillated by the prospect though, of course, he will not be disloyal to his Dulcinea. The innkeeper's daughter never enters the room where Quixote sleeps (along with Sancho, and a mule carrier). The mule carrier is Maritornes' lover but when Maritornes enters the room, looking for the carrier‹Quixote apprehends her, perceiving the servant to be the daughter. Maritornes is bewildered; her lover is enraged, especially when he realizes that Quixote's solicitude is unwelcome, indeed. The carrier attacks Quixote, crushes his jaw and trampling his ribs. Maritornes is tossed from the bed-pallet, landing on Sancho. These two then begin to fight with vigor. The innkeeper has heard the commotion and he enters the room, bearing a light. He immediately chastises Maritornes and they begin exchanging blows.
An officer of the Holy Brotherhood, lodging at the inn, enters the room on account of the violent noises. Quixote is an unconscious sprawl, the other four combatants doing well enough on their own. Thinking that Quixote is dead, the officer leaves the room to seek assistance, shouting: "Shut the inn door, see that nobody gets out; for they have killed a man here." This immediately ends the fight: the innkeeper leaves with his candle; the carrier and servant retreat to their separate sleeping spaces; Sancho retreats to his master's side.
Chapter 18
Revived, Quixote believes that he has suffered the evil of an "enchanted Moor." Sancho does not interpret their calamity as an enchantment, however. The officer returns, astonished to see that Quixote is alive. Quixote explains that he is in need of a healing tonic called "the true balsam of Fierabras." He prepares the balsam, according to recipe, drinks the solution and then vomits. Quixote then suffers convulsions, sleeps for three hours and then wakes up, feeling perfectly healthy.
When Quixote gives the balsam to Sancho, Sancho suffers so terribly that those present fear that the squire is going to die. Several hours later, Sancho has not fully recovered but Quixote insists on leaving. The innkeeper wants Quixote to pay for lodging, but Quixote is insulted that the lord of a castle (an enchanted one, no less) would ask a knight for compensation. Don Quixote and Sancho leave but the innkeeper sends a gang of rogues after them, to collect his payment. Quixote escapes but Sancho is captured, tied inside of a blanket, and tossed into the air repeatedly. The rogues also steal Sancho's bags‹though Sancho does not realize this, at first.
Chapter 19
Sancho is angry because he has suffered and yet, Don Quixote neither defended nor avenged him. The two travelers continue along their road and Sancho sees "two great flocks of sheep" in the distance. Quixote, on the other hand, sees two opposing armies preparing for battle‹and he aims to intervene and assist the weaker side. Sancho begs Don Quixote to abandon his plan and refrain from attacking the harmless sheep. The knight sees two armies and, in fact, he is able to name the various warriors who are marching into battle, Alifanfaron, "a furious pagan," chief among them. Sancho cannot help but marvel at Quixote's ability to provide such an extensive history of the knights, considering that the knights were sheep. Quixote intervenes and manages to slay about seven sheep with his lance before the shepherds and herdsmen pelt him with stones. His ribs are bruised and his teeth are knocked out.
The shepherds leave with their flocks and Sancho rushes to Quixote's side. Quixote says that his enemy has transformed the soldiers into sheep. Quixote tells Sancho to be courageous because they have many more adventures ahead. They continue riding, though Quixote is quite sore.
Chapter 20
Later in the night, the two travelers see a procession of "walking lights" heading towards them. It is a funeral procession of over twenty people in white robes, and six more in black mourning clothes. They are wearing funeral masks and they hum a sad plaintive song. Quixote is outraged, believing them to be devils. Quixote demands that one of them give an account of their business after he has already wounded one of the mourners. One of the mourners is named Alonso Lopez and he explains that the group is traveling to bury the bones of a man who has died of pestilential fever. Quixote allows them to continue without further harm.
In conversation with Sancho, Quixote expresses his concern that he has wounded a holy man and so, he might be excommunicated from the church. This does not prevent the knight and squire from enjoying the food that they stole from the holy travelers, upon apprehending the group. It is late in the night, but there is no inn close by. Knight and squire decide to settle in the grass and sleep outside, but their repose is disturbed by a loud sound, as if it were rushing water. Quixote insists upon investigating but Sancho urges him to wait until morning. Sancho offers to tell Quixote a story, but Quixote keeps interrupting Sancho‹who follows the storytelling custom of his town by repeating everything that he says twice. Sancho does not like the questions that Quixote asks, and he soon gives up.
Chapter 21
In the morning, Quixote stalks his new adventure, creeping closer and closer to the source of the noise only to discover that the noise emanates from a set of fulling-hammers (large mills that beat wool into a refined material). Sancho cannot suppress his laughter but he pays dearly when Quixote gives him two whacks with the lance. Quixote commands Sancho to show more respect.
It starts to rain and so Don Quixote and Sancho try to move quickly, though their destination is unclear. Quixote sees a man ahead who is wearing a gold and glittering helmet: the famed helmet of Mambrino. The "helmet" is simply a brass basin‹the man is a barber on his way to work. The barber is unprepared for Quixote's advance. He is knocked off his donkey but he soon scrambles to his feet and flees, leaving his basin behind. Quixote concludes that the helmet must have fallen into the hands of a man who clearly did not know its value. Sancho claims that the helmet is a barber's basin and Quixote does admit that the helmet does resemble a basin.
Chapter 22
Quixote only creates more trouble when he comes across a chain of galley-slaves, criminals who are chained together and are being led to their punishment. Sympathizing with the criminals as victims of love, Quixote attacks the armed guard and in the chaos that ensues, the criminals are able to escape. Sancho is worried that Don Quixote will surely be apprehended by the officers of the Holy Brotherhood and arrested. Quixote asks that freed men present themselves to Dulcinea and pay homage but the criminals refuse, fearing that they will be caught. They throw stones at Quixote, slightly injuring him, before they escape. The knight is baffled to find himself so mistreated by the very people he has assisted.
Analysis
In these chapters, Don Quixote becomes a more complicated character. He is not entirely devoted and loyal. The scene in Chapter 22, when Don Quixote frees the enslaved prisoners is bizarre. Quixote does not merely challenge the law and cause harm to society, but is questionable whether the knight is truly defending his own values. In assessing the damages that Quixote causes, "imagination" is held to be the culprit.
Sancho Panza wants the enchanted treasure but he disbelieves in the enchanted violence. Sancho does not believe the inn to be a castle, and he perceives the criminals to be who they are‹but Sancho persists in believing that Quixote will make him a governor. Don Quixote has an "intrepid heart" and the "breast of Mars." Mars is the Roman name for the Greek god of war, Ares. Sancho Panza is a naturally fearful man who serves in a submissive role to Quixote; Panza was "born to sleep." Panza does not have heroic attributes but Panza does not cause trouble. Quixote has heroic potential but his energy is too chaotic. Postulating on good and evil, the knight unwittingly describes himself when he is in fact describing the devil as "the devil, who sleeps not, and troubles all things." Quixote looks at the troubles that surround him‹troubles of his own creation‹and he blames them on the devil.
The theme of delusion is demonstrated when Quixote mistakes the inn-keeper's daughter to be a beautiful princess Just as an inn equals a castle, a basin equals a helmet‹though it is a dunce cap for Quixote. The literal darkness of the room blinds Quixote to the fact that he embraces Maritornes, and not another woman. But his delusion overpowers his senses: he ought to vomit but instead he enjoys Maritornes despite her foul smells.
Don Quixote has not respected the law but the Holy Brotherhood appears on the scene just as Don Quixote is need of assistance. The lantern is an object-symbol of light, representing law and justice. We see human nature in action when the cry of 'murder' is sounded. The characters flee even though there has been no murder. Later, on the King's Highway in Chapter 19, Don Quixote expresses the idea that revenge is his law. Of course, this is not the sort of argument that can be justified if applied universally. Quixote is bent on revenge and honor. Quixote disregards the law in the hopes of achieving a sort of glory that justifies his adventurous breaches of the law. But in the course of these adventures, Quixote comes to need the law and its protection. "The Knight of the Sorrowful Figure" is merely an elder gentleman with his teeth knocked out. But give him a lance, and see Quixote give insanity, chance, and chaos equal rein. Attacking a procession of funeral mourners, Quixote risks excommunication from the Church and this would be sure damnation to Hell. Having attacked two flocks of sheep (killing seven members), perceiving them to be "pagan warriors" on horseback, Quixote has already committed a symbolic crime of the highest order. The fact of Quixote's delusion cannot atone for his rather merciless assault on persons and beings that represent peace, innocence, and the civil life. Quixote ultimately evades all forms of legal prosecution and punishment, but the knight will lose a few more teeth and a good deal more before the novel has ended.
It is difficult to empathize with Don Quixote when he commits blatant wrongs and then remains unapologetic. A pattern emerges in the plot: Don Quixote kills the sheep because he is following his delusion. Sancho Panza sees reality but Don Quixote discounts Sancho Panza's wise advice. Sancho Panza impeaches himself by willingly following Don Quixote into sure disaster, only to subsequently continue the argument.
Cervantes is being sarcastic when he describes the conversations between knight and squire as "sage discourse." Quixote misdirects his own intellect while Sancho betrays his own common sense. While traveling, Sancho Panza uses astronomy as his guide, whereas Don Quixote uses his stories as maps. In one discussion, the knight says to Sancho: "I know not what kingdom, for I believe it is not in the map." Sancho knows that the path of the knight is lined with "numberless hardships," for the very same reason that he, Sancho, relies upon astronomy and the fixed stars as his guide. Once Don Quixote has made up his own mind to plow ahead, Sancho can do little but follow the knight into disaster.
Don Quixote Book I Summary and Analysis of Book I, Chapters 23-26
Book I: Chapter 23-Chapter 26 Summaries
Chapter 23
Don Quixote agrees with Sancho Panza's warning to leave the area, and they travel into a nearby forest called Sierra Morena. This decision turns out to be ill fated, however, when one of the freed prisoners steals Sancho's donkey. At this point, Don Quixote and Sancho Panza must walk on foot. Along this route, Don Quixote discovers the belongings of a traveler who has deserted the area. Sancho Panza is happy to take the traveler's money and Don Quixote reads the traveler's notebook. Don Quixote opens the man's notebook and discovers a love letter. The traveler has suffered from unrequited love‹and because he has been rejected, he has gone mad.
Soon after reading the letter, Don Quixote sees a half-naked man running in the distant hills. Of course, the knight intends to seek the man out, though Sancho Panza disagrees with this plan. Sancho Panza's obvious concern is that he suspects that the half-naked man is the traveler who has left his saddlebag on the side of the road; Sancho is worried that the man will ask for his money back.
A goatherd then explains to Don Quixote and Sancho Panza that the half-naked man is a stranger to the region. He appeared one day, asking directions, because he intended to go to the most craggy and thorny part of the wilderness. The Sierra Morena goatherds became concerned because this wild man began hijacking villagers on the road and stealing their food. After this occurred, they offered to leave food for the man.
A man called "The Ragged Knight of the Sorry Countenance" advances towards Don Quixote, and the two men embrace "as if they were old friends." They are not old friends, however, and Don Quixote has the man tell his story.
Chapter 24
The Ragged Knight of the Sorry Countenance agrees to tell his story but he warns that he will immediately end the story if anyone interrupts him.
The Ragged Knight is an aristocrat, named Cardenio, and he intended to marry a woman named Lucinda. Unfortunately, Cardenio is called away from home to work for the Duke and he is separated from Lucinda. Cardenio begins a very complicated explanation of how the Duke's son, Don Fernando, becomes infatuated with Lucinda. Don Quixote interrupts (and ends) the story, when he comments on Lucinda's interest in the same books that he enjoys. Cardenio and Don Quixote begin arguing about chivalry. Cardenio then attacks the group and runs back into the mountains.
Chapter 25
Don Quixote decides that he will emulate Cardenio's example by going mad because Dulcinea has been unfaithful to him. When Sancho Panza points out that Don Quixote does not know this to be true, Don Quixote argues that what he imagines is more important than what has actually happened. Don Quixote gives Sancho a letter to deliver to Dulcinea and Sancho is repulsed: Sancho has just realized that "Dulcinea" is a common woman, not a princess. Don Quixote argues that Dulcinea is a princess because he has decided that she is a princess.
Don Quixote wants Sancho to go home and tell Dulcinea that he has gone mad because of his love for her. "Mad I am and mad I must be," Don Quixote says ¬and Don Quixote proves his madness by taking off most of his clothes, rolling around on the ground, jumping up and down, and attempted a rather feeble headstand. Quixote thinks about the stories that he has read, so that he can be sure to go mad in the proper way. The knight wanders through the trees, saying prayers and carving love songs into the tree trunks.
Chapter 26
Sancho encounters the priest and the barber and they ask about Don Quixote. Sancho Panza explains Quixote's condition but Sancho still believes that Don Quixote will keep his promise to make him governor of an island. The priest and barber see that Sancho has been following Don Quixote but they do not realize that Sancho is gullible. Instead, the priest and the barber decide that Sancho Panza has gone insane!
The priest and the barber are worried about Don Quixote but they do not take Sancho very seriously, telling him jokes to make him think that his island is in jeopardy. At the end of Chapter 26, the priest and barber begin planning a disguise that will help them trick Don Quixote into coming back home. Sancho Panza, however, is not included in these plans.
Analysis
When they meet each other for the first time, Don Quixote and the Ragged Knight are "old friends" because they are part of the same delusion. Both "knights" are locked into the world of chivalry and so it is easy for them to recognize each other, misfits in an increasingly hostile world. This foreshadows some of the encounters that Quixote has in Book II with various "knights" who range in friendliness, integrity, and adherence to the chivalric ideals.
In these chapters, the idea is expressed that the common poor tend to be sensible people. On the other hand, the upper classes, nobility and gentlemen are prone to various forms of insanity. The crazy mountain man, for example, was once a noble‹making his fall from grace all the more dramatic and severe.
Dulcinea is a peasant and Sancho Panza now knows her history, but this history conflicts with Don Quixote's story. In one sense, lineage is necessary for establishing the distinctions between the characters of the novel (principally, Don Quixote and Sancho Panza). Nonetheless, Don Quixote gives Dulcinea nobility without lineage.
There is social commentary in the scene when Don Quixote silences Sancho. He gives the squire two options: serve as lackey or go home and rule his own house. It never occurs to Quixote (or Sancho, for that matter) that the two men are equals. When Don Quixote takes his clothes off, there is an allusion to the drunkenness of Noah, in the Biblical book of Genesis. Sancho Panza forbids himself from viewing his lord and is motivated to assist the older man on account of compassion, sympathy and genuine concern. As we see in Chapter 26, Sancho Panza is compassionate but also gullible. The barber and priest suspect that Sancho is also mad.
The narrative structure of the novel is developed with more nuances and variations in these chapters. Because the Ragged Knight is interrupted in the middle of his story, he tells no more. This recalls Sancho Panza's complaint, in Chapter 20, when Don Quixote chastises him for repeating several details. Sancho Panza replies that he is simply telling his story in the same way in which stories are told in his town. Don Quixote is a novel full of interruptions, but the story always continues where it left off. Here, we read a story within a story. The story is cut off when Don Quixote interrupts to discuss chivalry. (We will get the continuation of the Ragged Knight's story later on in the novel).
Dapple the mule was stolen by the thief in Chapter 23, but Sancho Panza has Dapple in Chapter 25. This has led some modern readers to erroneously conclude that the novel was originally serialized. Most literary scholars conclude that Cervantes simply made a mistake here‹but this only reaffirms this nuanced idea of the faulty, inaccurate text.
Don Quixote parallels Hamlet as we explore the question of whether or not his madness is feigned. On one hand, we might argue that part of Quixote's madness is the very fact that he now articulates a plan to appear insane. On the other hand, there is the argument that Quixote is simply playing a role, with a heavy focus on having witnesses attest to his performance. Quixote says: "Mad I am and mad I must be." It sounds as if madness where Quixote's vocation, but at the same time, these words don't make sense. These are words that only a mad man would say. Already suffering from delusions, Quixote has decided to coax himself into a sham lunacy. The barber and the priest decide to trick Don Quixote for his own good. This takes up the second half of Book I.
Don Quixote Book I Summary and Analysis of Book I, Chapters 27-29
Book I: Chapter 27-Chapter 29 Summaries
Chapter 27
Sancho Panza gives the barber and the priest more information about Don Quixote's madness and the three men travel towards Sierra Morena. The priest and barber hope that they will not have to resort to trickery in order to bring Don Quixote back home. Sancho Panza is to lie to Don Quixote, claiming that he has delivered the letter to Dulcinea and as a result, Dulcinea demands that Quixote present himself to her. Sancho goes ahead of the barber and the priest, and the latter end up meeting Cardenio, the madman of Sierra Morena. Cardenio is singing a song that beings "What causes all my grief and pain?" referring, of course, to his failed relationship with Lucinda.
We now get the full story from Cardenio because Don Quixote is not present to interrupt the storytelling. When Cardenio served the Duke, he befriended the Duke's son, Don Fernando. On one occasion, Don Fernando visited Cardenio's house and within the leaves of Cardenio's copy of the book Amadis de Gaul (a classic tale of chivalry), Don Fernando found a letter that Lucinda had sent to Cardenio. The letter expressed Lucinda's love with such clarity and energy that Don Fernando found himself in love with Lucinda, and he resolved to have her. Don Fernando sends Cardenio back to the Duke's palace and, in Cardenio's absence, befriends Lucinda's parents‹ultimately forcing her hand in marriage. Cardenio has gone mad because he feels that both Don Fernando and Lucinda betrayed him.
Chapter 28
In the next part of the story, Cardenio joins the barber and the priest and after walking a short distance, they encounter Dorotea‹a woman dressed up as a man. They ask Dorotea if she is in some sort of trouble, and her answer exceeds their expectations. Dorotea is the daughter of a farmer who has been hired to do work for a wealthier man. Complications arose when this manager's son became fond of Dorotea and ultimately coerced her into having sex with him. This debacle ruined Dorotea's reputation and she was run out of town in disgrace. The man had promised to marry Dorotea but in fact, he was already married and after having sex with Dorotea, he returned to the town where his wife lived.
As it turns out, Don Fernando is the man who has deceived Dorotea. When Cardenio and Dorotea compare stories, Cardenio learns that Lucinda continued to love him even when she was forced to marry Don Fernando. Cardenio and Dorotea join forces, hoping to punish Don Fernando and reunite the true lovers, Cardenio and Lucinda.
Chapter 29
Sancho Panza hurries back to the scene, informing the (significantly larger) group that Don Quixote feels that he has been dishonored. Don Quixote requires of himself some arduous task in which he can redeem himself and regain his honor. Ultimately, Don Quixote refuses to present himself to Dulcinea until he has appropriately regained his honor. The group begins plotting a way to bring Don Quixote home, but Sancho Panza is kept in the dark because he is too loyal to Don Quixote to agree to deception. Hence, even Sancho Panza is fooled into believing that Dorotea is actually a Princess who goes by the name of Micomicona. Her official title is "the mighty Princess Micomicona, queen of the great kingdom of Micomicon in Ethiopia."
Coincidentally, Princess Micomicona is need of the services of just such a knight as Don Quixote, to "kill a great lubberly giant." The giant has chased the Princess away, but with Don Quixote's help, she might be restored to her kingdom. Two promises are extracted from the knight: first, that he will agree to assist the Princess and second, that he will decline to accept any other missions until he has fulfilled this one. Sancho Panza is worried that he will become governor of a territory in Micomicon and this displeases him because his subjects will be black Africans. After the Princess has won Don Quixote's assent, the priest approaches Don Quixote but Quixote does not seem recognize his good friend. The priest complains that he has been robbed by an escaped convict. This worries Sancho Panza because he is aware of Don Quixote's guilt in this matter.
Analysis
Here we find females who resist idealization and the nonsense of chivalry. Lucinda, like Marcela (the shepherdess in Chapter 14) refuses to play a "Juliet" role. Though Lucinda is romantically involved, she is practical and decidedly non-suicidal. Dorotea is supposedly in need of rescue but in the end, she assists in the deception of Don Quixote. Dorotea helps rescue Don Quixote by pretending that she needs assistance.
As in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, the characters' storytelling becomes part of the narrative structure. Here, the novel's plot is interrupted by Cardenio's story of his relationship with Lucinda. Aspects of the inner (Cardenio) and outer (Quixote) stories are similar. The refusal to come home, for example, is a motif that punctuates both Cardenio and Quixote's life.
In terms of narrative structure, we get a story within the story within a story, when Don Fernando and Lucinda begin plotting and story-telling. Coincidence plays an incredibly overbearing role in the story about Cardenio, contributing to parody and plot. Cervantes mocks this convention, but he uses it anyway. The plausibility of the narrative is tested by the storytelling process itself. One of the characters recounts a love letter that was exchanged, and he repeats the text verbatim: "He said he remembered it perfectly well." But how well do we trust a fictional character? Even the "author" is a character in this novel, with Cervantes constantly at odds with the Arab interpreter of the work, Cid Hamet Ben Engeli. Chapter 27 marks the end of Cid Hamet's 3rd part. Even if the characters are telling the truth, Cid Hamet Ben Engeli might be lying.
As characters of the modern novel, these men and women engage in strategy, cooperation, vengeance. As if a combination of Jane Austen and Charles Dickens, Cervantes actually prefigured both writers in crossing the "novel of strategy" with the "comedy of errors." The logistics of romantic warfare (as in Austen) are derailed by the often comedic misfortunes of day-to-day life (as in Dickens). By chapter 29, there is clearly a hierarchy among the characters: we can divide them into the storytellers and the deceived. Storytelling and deceit become the strategy of the successful. The deceived and deluded characters stumble through life and love, providing comic entertainment for the reader. In Cardenio and Don Quixote's friends, we see the theme of deception in terms of abused trust. This foreshadows violations of trust that are still to come. Both in Cardenio's story and in Don Quixote's travails, we see masks, shields and transvestitism are the props and devices of dramatic comedy, modes of deception that are sturdy enough for 'strategy' but flimsy enough for 'comedy.'
In Book II, Don Quixote comments on Book I (which has already been published, though the knight has not read it) suggesting that the focus on minor characters was gratuitous and unnecessary. Plenty of literary critics have agreed. What remains significant is the fact that the novel's primary mode of characterization is the successive introduction of new characters. The main character, Don Quixote, is not developed in the latter half of Book I. In fact, Don Quixote is often off-stage, and while on stage he varies little. Don Quixote shocks us with his actions, but his character does not surprise us.
Delusion might be considered as a form of psychological escape from reality. In these chapters, nostalgia is treated as another theme representing "escape." For Cardenio, Memory is cursed as "mortal enemy of my repose" because the past is a personal tragedy. Cervantes juxtaposes grief-stricken Cardenio with Don Quixote, who poses in grief. Don Quixote does not truly suffer the memory of lost love. As a parallel to "memory," Don Quixote remembers his books‹and this becomes nostalgia for the medieval era, an era that the knight has never seen. The medieval period was more welcoming of the chivalric ideals. Still, the reader should be clear on the fact that the knight-errant was a literary trope. This aspect of culture was celebrated by a very small group of people and was never the political reality of a society. Not knights-errant but rogue thieves roamed and prowled the unpaved highways and fringes of medieval European town life.
Don Quixote Book I Summary and Analysis of Book I, Chapters 30-32
Book I: Chapter 30-Chapter 32 Summaries
Chapter 30
In the course of leading Don Quixote to "the great kingdom of Micomicon," Dorotea and the others intend to lead Don Quixote back to his home in La Mancha. At several points, the priest has to intervene and help "Princess Micomicona," as she is telling her story to Don Quixote. Though Princess Micomicona offers her hand in marriage, Don Quixote is entirely devoted to his lady, Dulcinea. Quixote demands that Sancho give him the details of the trip to deliver the letter to Dulcinea.
This request puts Sancho in a situation much like Dorotea's, for he is forced to create a hopefully plausible story without extensive preparation. Quixote asks whether Dulcinea was stringing pearls or embroidering something for him, but Sancho replies that Dulcinea was merely "winnowing two bushels of wheat in a backyard of her house." Quixote keeps demanding fanciful and romantic details, but Sancho denies Quixote his pleasure. In the end, Sancho Panza explains that not only is Dulcinea illiterate, but she is also far too busy to pause in the middle of the day to read a love letter.
Chapter 31
In Chapter 4, a young man named Andres was severely beaten by his master, John Haldudo the Rich. Don Quixote threatened to kill Haldudo for severely beating Andres and also for refusing to pay Andres for his labors. Haldudo promised to repay Andres, but when Quixote continued down the road, Haldudo beat Andres even more severely and then fired the boy, as opposed to paying Andres for his labor. At the end of Chapter 30, Andres crosses paths with Don Quixote and he does not have pleasant words. Indeed, Andres mocks Quixote as an incompetent knight. For his part, Don Quixote vows to kill Haldudo once he has learned what has happened. Andres assures Quixote that he need not waste his time because he will only "cause more harm than good." Don Quixote chases Andres down the road, intending to chastise the young man for his insolence. Andres easily escapes and Quixote is sorely embarrassed because his reputation has been tarnished.
Chapter 32
In Chapter 32, the group of six travelers (Cardenio, Princess Micomicona, Sancho Panza, Don Quixote, the barber, and the priest) arrive at the same inn that Don Quixote and Sancho Panza hurriedly exited at the close of Chapter 17. Don Quixote is removed to sleep in a quiet room, for the innkeeper remembers Don Quixote's madness. Don Quixote is the topic of conversation and nearly every one participates (including the innkeeper, his wife, his daughter, and Maritornes the half-blind hunchbacked laborer). Sancho Panza does not offer much of a defense of his master's behavior and the group is generally disapproving of Quixote's frivolity. Most of the individuals do believe that Quixote's madness is the result of reading too much‹and specifically, too much chivalry. The chapter ends when the innkeeper discloses that a guest has left an antique trunk of books and papers. The priest is intrigued and he begins to read a story from the collection.
Analysis
Don Quixote does not understand the impropriety of his decision to free the galley slaves. Is Don Quixote a hero? He helps the unfortunate with no respect to their crimes. The re-appearance of Andres in Chapter 31, reminds us of Don Quixote's ignorant error in Chapter 4. Don Quixote is unable to render justice. In chapter 32, Don Quixote is asleep, all others convinced of his insanity. In terms of the immediate plot-drama, Quixote is almost a non-entity. Even when he is awake, it is as if Quixote is sleeping or has his eyes closed. The "players" can shed their disguises and yet Don Quixote does not perceive this fact upon sight.
In terms of genre, the novel increasingly resembles a cycle of stories, like The Decameron or Canterbury Tales. Unlike those works, this novel does not feature storytelling characters on a pilgrimage. In chapter 32, the inn assumes the traditional literary role (symbol of hospitality). At the same time, it represents a microcosm of Don Quixote's society. Here, the characters have separate destinations and not all of them are travelers. Several, though not all of the characters get the opportunity to display their storytelling talent, and this group ultimately includes individuals who might not have been given a voice otherwise: women, the poor, young people, Moors (non-Christians).
The theme of storytelling intersects with ideas of truth-telling and deception. "This, gentlemen, is my history" is a suitable statement for a character to make when presenting her autobiography; Dorotea, however, tells a false autobiography. She hesitates at the beginning and cannot remember her name (Princess Micomicona, daughter of Tinacrio the Wise and Queen Xaramilla). The priest prompts Dorotea and corrects the errors throughout her story. We can wonder about the logical repercussions here, and the semantics of Dorotea's factual error within her lie, within a fictional work. It seems somewhat paradoxical that Dorotea could make a genuine mistake in the middle of telling a made-up lie. The priest's correction was no truer than Dorotea's original erroneous claim.
All the same, Don Quixote believes what stories "resemble the style and manner of his foolish books." The priest's correction is more correct in a stylistic or aesthetic sense. For further clarity, the reader can consider two similar quirks of the work. Recall that in Chapter 7, Quixote's niece lies and tells the knight that "the sage Muñaton" has wrested away the library. Quixote replies that it was not Muñaton, but Friston. We can also consider the return of Sancho's mule, Dapple. This is a discrepancy within a work of fiction, the error of the humans who produced the book, not the error of a fictional being. (In Book II, however, this discrepancy will be accounted for and explained away, though not in the most convincing manner.)
These details are important because of the context of the novel. Cervantes' work, published in 1605, was already sensitive to a number of meta-literary concerns. On a primary level, we can say that Book I is concerned about books: Don Quixote loves literature; literature affects Quixote's life. But these levels are increasingly complex: Quixote wants to become like literary characters; literary ideals conflict with the real world; books are burned. And Quixote is not the only character for us to focus upon: Cid Hamet Ben Engeli has translated a fictional work and injected his own opinions. The author, Cervantes, has invented Cid Hamet Ben Engeli, a "straw man" with whom to argue. Cervantes says that he wants to eradicate the influence of the anti-realism of chivalric books. Characters argue about the aesthetics of realistic portrayal and what makes a book good or bad. Numerous characters tell stories, write letters, compose poems, and debate the merits of literature as well as literary characters.
In between the publication of Books I and II, an imposter sequel is published: a man only known today as "Avellaneda" created his own Book II, published it as Cervantes' own, and reaped profit. As a consequence, Cervantes' sensitivity to meta-literary concerns is greatly heightened in Book II, and these "quirks" of Book I are discussed in the sequel.
In these chapters, premature literary criticism takes the form of a critique of the novel as a potential genre. Remember that the novel was not an established writing form at this point. It matters when the characters discuss a story's claim to present the whole truth. It matters that the novel is able to allow different characters to speak and that letters, arrest warrants, and elegiac poems can be read out aloud 'into the record,' so to speak.
The book fetish is intended to be a simple motif. The book is mysterious and potentially dangerous: a manuscript has been left in a trunk and abandoned. The trunk implies travel and foreigners or perhaps, a foreign land. Travel suggests wanderlust and imagination, like Quixote's‹an open door. The danger of foreignness occurs even as the narrative warns about Cid Hamet's literary treachery‹a closed door. We are left to wonder: Is one of these books Don Quixote? In his "Preface," Cervantes set out to blast the books of chivalry but now there is empathy with almost every text portrayed.
Don Quixote Book I Summary and Analysis of Book I, Chapters 33-35
Book I: Chapter 33-Chapter 35 Summaries
Chapter 33
Chapters 33, 34, and 35 consist of the story that the priest reads to the group: "The Novel of the Curious Impertinent." The story takes place in Florence, Italy and largely involves two friends named Lothario and Anselmo. Anselmo is married to Camilla and, for no good reason, Anselmo decides to test Camilla's fidelity. When Anselmo insists that Lothario help him, Lothario says that "the enterprise itself is downright madness." Anselmo wants Lothario to attempt to seduce Camilla, to see whether or not she will succumb to the advances of another man. Lothario finally agrees, and he soon returns to Anselmo, telling him that Camilla has remained faithful.
Not much later, Anselmo finds out that Lothario has been lying: Lothario never attempted to seduce Camilla. Anselmo then makes Lothario pledge to make good on his promise to seduce Camilla. Anselmo leaves town to make the seduction easier, and Camilla soon writes letters urging him to return. Lothario has truly fallen in love with Camilla; in her letters, Camilla warns Anselmo that Lothario is trying to seduce her. Camilla does not realize that Anselmo is aware of Lothario's advances. Anselmo does not realize that Lothario is truly in love with Camilla.
Because Anselmo does not return, Camilla grows weary under pressure and she falls in love with Lothario. The two continue their affair when Anselmo returns home. In part, this is easier because Camilla's servant, Leonela, keeps Camilla's secret.
Chapter 34
Complications arise because Leonela has a secret lover of her own. One day, Lothario sees Leonela's lover exiting Camilla's house just as he is arriving. Lothario concludes that Camilla has found yet another lover. Lothario then tells Camilla's husband, Anselmo, that he has finally seduced Camilla. Lothario gives Anselmo a time and place where Anselmo will see Lothario seduce Camilla; then, Anselmo can judge the situation on his own. Anselmo is now distraught.
Later in the day, when Lothario and Camilla meet, Camilla discloses Leonela's secret lover. Lothario then realizes his jealous error and he confesses everything to Camilla. Camilla and Lothario then create a plan to be rid of Anselmo, once and for all. When Camilla and Lothario meet, Camilla pretends that she does not know that Anselmo is watching. When the time comes for her to kiss Lothario, Camilla states that she would rather die than commit infidelity, though she does love Lothario.
Camilla eloquently states "since fortune denies a complete satisfaction to my just desires, it shall not, however, be in its power to defeat that satisfaction entirely." Camilla then struggles to keep her dagger away from Lothario and ultimately, she stabs herself in the chest and falls to the ground.
Lothario is immediately shocked because Camilla was only to pretend to stab herself, but when he looks closely he sees that Camilla has only wounded herself slightly. Lothario then begins to grieve loudly and with Leonela's help, he carries Camilla's body away. Anselmo is now convinced of Camilla's honesty. As a result, Camilla is able to continue her affair once she recovers from her minor stab wound.
Chapter 35
Sancho Panza interrupts the story to announce that Don Quixote has just killed the giant. This is madness and the group fears the worst, when they enter Quixote's room. Quixote is thrashing in his sleep and what Sancho thought to be the giant's head is actually a set of valuable wineskins owned by the innkeeper. Don Quixote's has destroyed them while thrashing because of his violent dream. The characters return to the common room, where the priest concludes 'The Novel of the Curious Impertinent.' In the last section of the story, Anselmo suffers for his excessive curiosity.
Leonela's lover accidentally reveals himself and Anselmo confronts Leonela. Leonela fears that Anselmo is going to kill her and so she says that she has a valuable secret to disclose to him the next day. Anselmo recounts the incident to Camillaand Camilla fears that Leonela will disclose her (Camilla's) affair with Lothario. With few options before them, Lothario and Camilla run away that very night. Unsurprisingly, Leonela runs away the next day. Anselmo searches for all three of them in vain, and accidentally discovers (from a stranger) that Camilla and Lothario have been deceiving him for some time. Anselmo begins writing an account of his own sad story, but Anselmo's sadness is so profound that he actually dies before he finishes writing his account.
The 'Novel of the Curious Impertinent' starts a discussion on the merits of the story. The priest is very well read and everyone listens to his critique of the story. In the end, he decides that he likes "the manner" in which the story was written, though he sees Anselmo as an implausibly, unrealistically naïve and idiotic character.
Analysis
The aesthetic argument made by the priest is that the manner in which the story is told is more important than the content's probability. Certainly, this is true for Don Quixote. Is Don Quixote a "more accurate" novel because the priest's narrated story includes the text of the letter? The Priest's narrated story starts in Chapter 33 and continues at the start of Chapter 34 without interruption. Ultimately, the narrative structure combines Don Quixote's story with Anselmo's. The "Conclusion of the Novel of the Curious Impertinent" is integrated with Don Quixote's "battle."
The battle is a critical moment but not the climax. If the characters of Don Quixote stray too far, the novel becomes discredited not realistic. The novel's characters can create the most far-fetched and outrageous characters for their storiesand so, they will seem more realistic by contrast. Don Quixote battles in his sleep not in his delusion. It is Sancho Panza who has misperceived, mistaking some wineskins to be a giant's head. It seems that Don Quixote has contaminated Sancho Panza and the very fact of Quixote's madness being contagious justified the book-burning in the early chapters.
Don Quixote expresses paternalism in his over-protection of women and his domination of Sancho Panza. The Priest's story alludes to Eve as "woman is an imperfect creature, and that one should not lay stumbling-blocks" before her. This story provides a foundation for paternalism. Ironically, Don Quixote is in no position to function in the paternalistic mode, as paternalism is reversed upon Quixote himself. Because Quixote is "an imperfect creature," his books have been removed and his friends now surround him. The weak need to be protectedand Don Quixote is weak.
In exchange for the common sense of common people, Sancho Panza is adopting "the absurdities of master and man." Sancho grieves "my earldom will melt away like salt in water" and the irony of logic recalls Dorotea's error and Quixote's correction "Friston." Sancho never had an earldom. His earldom is as secure as it never was. Because of Quixote's dream, Sancho's dream has become a less durable fictionbut it is still no less a fantasy.
Lothario resembles Don Quixote's friends and just as we read in the previous stories within the story, the theme of deception continues to loom. Don Quixote and Anselmo are both tempting fate and looking for trouble. Often, the distance between the story and the story-within is used to create a foil, a character whose contrasts to the main character offer more clarity and distinction to the main character. Here, Anselmo is not a foil for Quixote; he is a parallel, a co-definer. We realize that Quixote is also a "curious impertinent." Both men become rejected outsiders; Quixote will suffer sadness and confusion just as Anselmo has. Both men adhere to a strict and private ideology. Their ideas are different from the ideas held by their friends. As ideological purists, these men are too stubborn to enjoy positive, meaningful social interactions.
Don Quixote Book I Summary and Analysis of Book I, Chapters 36-41
Book I: Chapter 36-Chapter 41 Summaries
Chapter 36
It is late at night, but the inn is still receiving more guests. Old friends and lovers are reunited in the process. Lucinda and her husband, Don Fernando, are disguised when they arrive on scene. They have traveled with men wearing black masks on their faces. This provokes Dorotea to veil her face. Cardenio and Lucinda are reunited and Don Fernando apologizes to Dorotea for deserting her. Don Fernando promises to marry Dorotea and she is satisfied with his promise. Sancho is upset because he has just realized that Dorotea is not the Princess Micomiconaand so he will not become a governor of her territory.
Chapter 37
Sancho awakens Don Quixote and confronts him with this news, but Quixote does not believe Sancho. Don Quixote argues that Sancho has been deluded by one of the castle's enchantments. Sancho's words backfire because Dorotea continues with the plan to bring Don Quixote home. When Dorotea confirms to Don Quixote that she is, in fact, the Princess Micomicona, Quixote becomes angry with Sancho.
Chapters 38-39
Another set of travelers arrives at the inn, including a man referred to as "the captive" and a beautiful Moorish noblewoman named Lela Zoraida. She wants to become baptized into the Catholic faith with the name Maria. After Don Quixote gives a speech praising the glories of knighthood, the captive tells his story. The captive grew up "in the mountains of Leon," one of several sons born to a gentleman with a penchant for squandering his money. Worried that he would leave his sons penniless, the father summoned the young men and told them that he would soon give them their inheritance, lest he spend it and leave them with nothing. He advises them to pursue a career in one of three fields: "the church, the sea, or the court." The captive chose the latter of these three options, serving in the king's army.
The captive fought in a number of wars that took him to Genoa, Milan, Flanders, Algiers, Malta, and Constantinople. In Constantinople, one of the captive's comrades, a man named Don Pedro de Aguilar, escaped from prison and presumably "recovered his liberty." Indeed, Don Fernando explains that he is Don Pedro de Aguilar's brother.
Chapters 40-41
The captive was imprisoned in Algiers, which is where Lela Zoraida fell in love with him. She had never met the captive, but she saw him and fell in love with him nonetheless. One day, Zoraida goes to the prison window and slips a small bundled package to the captive. She has given him money to escape and a letter. She professes her love for him, her conversion to Christianity, and her desire for him to marry her and help her escape to Spain.
The captive frees himself and also frees some of his fellow captives. After the captive makes preparations for the passage to Spain, he "kidnaps" Lela Zoraida. Unfortunately, Lela's father wakes up in the middle of the kidnapping and the captive and his friends have no alternative but to carry Lela's father onto the ship. Realizing the extent of his daughter's willing betrayal (conversion, escape) Zoraida tries to jump off the ship and drown himself. The Spaniards on deck are Christians and they will not allow Zoraida to commit suicide. Instead, the Spaniards deposit Zoraida on shore once their ship is a safe distance away from Algiers.
Safely in Spain, the captive hopes for Lela to be baptized so that they can be wed. The captive also says that he would like to find his father.
Analysis
The narrative structure of these chapters relies upon "uncommon accidents" much like those of the stories told by the characters themselves: the likelihood of Don Quixote's giants, Sancho Panza's island, the numerous lovers joined, the "Curious Impertinent." The reunion motif is exploited to excessnot only with lovers, but with Don Pedro de Aguilar and Don Fernando, as well. The novel of Strategy wins out over the comedy of Errors, so long as Quixote is kept at bay. The characters work out their problems and entanglements without Don Quixote's active assistanceindeed, the plot accelerates when Quixote is not present to "interrupt." When Dorotea tells Don Quixote that she "never would have found this happiness except for you," she refers more to chance occurrences and not to a chivalrous act that the knight-errant might have performed. It is not often that a titular and central character (Don Quixote, in this case) is excluded from the novel's drama, as a means of bringing about the denouement (climax and conclusion) of the plot.
Don Quixote is deluded but his delusions are consistent. Just as INN = CASTLE, BEAUTIFUL WOMAN = NOBLE LADY. Sancho Panza should have recognized the parallel between Dorotea and Dulcinea. Quixote contended that Dulcinea was a noble lady, simply because he imagined her to be one, and Dorotea is similarly commended. When Sancho argues against Dorotea's nobility, Don Quixote accuses Sancho Panza of being a base, low-class "liar." Sancho, alone, expects Quixote to distinguish between true and false. Quixote is not capable of this task. True to character, Don Quixote believes the lie and punishes the truth-teller.
Zoraida is a rather empowered woman, though she does not tell her own story. She has rejected both her father and her religion. She is considered as an "ideal" woman and she has a suitor. Zoraida and the captive were once like Dulcinea and Quixote, in that there was no actual contact or communication between them. But unlike Dulcinea, Zoraida has actually performed on the captive's behalf. And unlike Quixote, the captive has now enjoyed contact with his beloved. Zoraida had the money to release the captive from prison, but she did not have the freedom to free herself. The baptism symbolizes a new life after the alteration and transformation that religious conversion brings. Lela Zoraida wants to change her name to Maria. This parallels Don Quixote's own self-renaming when he donned a basin and pursued a new calling.
In Chapter 37, Don Quixote begins a lucid discussion, and these scenes are in high reliefsuch a contrast from Quixote's mania. This recalls Don Quixote's early philosophical reflections and gives us hope that Don Quixote is salvageable. At one point, Don Quixote argues that "what costs most attaining is, and ought to be, most esteemed." Sadly, this is not true in reality. At the conclusion of Book I, Quixote is not kindly rewarded for his expensive attempt at grandeur. In Book II, he fares little better. Quixote's words foreshadow the conclusion. In discussing the balance of fame, fortune, and glory, Quixote seems to invite his incipient judgment.
Finally, Don Quixote argues that a warrior is superior to a man of letters. We should keep Cervantes' autobiographical details in mind. Cervantes was a soldier before he began writing. Cervantes was also held captive as a prisoner of war and this adds to the autobiographical detail of this section. The wars that the "captive" describes are not actual wars, however; they do not correspond with the historical or political context of the novel.
Don Quixote Book I Summary and Analysis of Book I, Chapters 42-46
Book I: Chapter 42-Chapter 46 Summaries
Chapter 42
The captive finishes his story as the inn receives another group of guests. A judge named Licentiate Juan Perez de Viedma arrives with his daughter, Doña Clara, and their attendants. Not long after Viedma explains that he is from Leon, the captive realizes that he is Viedma's brother. The priest intervenes and speaks to Viedma to determine whether or not the captive should confront Viedma with the truth. The priest learns that the judge loves his missing brother very much; furthermore, Viedma's father is still alivebut ailing. The aging father offers "incessant prayers," hoping to live long enough to see his missing son (the captive) again. When the brothers are reunited, there is great jubilation.
Chapter 43
Don Quixote exits the inn and stands outside as a "sentinel at the castle gate"just as he promises to do. In the middle of the night, a young man approaches the inn and sings love songs. Cardenio sneaks into the room where the women are sleeping and he wakes Dorotea. Once Dorotea hears the song, she wakes Doña Clara because the singer has a beautiful voice. Doña Clara recognizes the voice as soon as she hears it. The young man is in love with Doña Clara, and he has followed her in disguised pursuit. Clara has never had a conversation with the young man, and they have maintained their courtship at a distance and without any form of communication. Nonetheless, Clara wishes to marry this young man, who once lived next door to her. Dorotea and Maritornes decide to intervene on Doña Clara's behalf: perhaps tonight, the two lovers might speak to each other for the first time.
Chapter 44
Maritornes securely fastens Don Quixote's wrist to a doorpostjust to insure that the knight will not cause trouble. Quixote's posture is uncomfortable and awkward. Quixote is still on Rocinante's back, but his arm his tied so high upon the post that the knight is forced to stand-up in his stirrups. When four horsemen approach the inn, they deride Quixote because he looks ridiculous. Vulnerable and out-numbered, Quixote is in a worse situation when Rocinante moves: Quixote's feet slip out of the stirrups and the knight remains suspended by his tied arm. Quixote's feet almost reach the ground; stretching towards the ground, however, only tightens the pain in Quixote's choking wrist. The knight lets out a terrible roar that rouses the innkeeper to investigate the scene.
Chapter 45
The young man who would be Doña Clara's lover is Don Louis. The four horsemen, in the service of Don Louis' father, bid Don Louis to return home. Doña Clara's father, the judge, now sees through the disguise and recognizes his neighbor's son. The judge listens to Don Louis tell of his love for Doña Clara and he considers the marriage proposal. Two guests attempt to leave the inn without paying and, despite the innkeeper's insistence, Quixote abstains from intervening. The knight has sworn to abstain from "new" adventures until he has completed the terms of his service to Princess Micomicona. Nonetheless, when the two guests begin beating the innkeeper, Quixote successfully reasons with the rogues and bids them pause.
Towards the end of these chapters, justice finally catches up with Don Quixote. First, the barber from whom Quixote has stolen a basin now returns to the inn. Quixote stands by his original premise that the basin is actually "Mambrino's helmet." The barber defies Quixote, accusing the knight of blatant theft. The crowd of guests enjoys the bickering between the barber and the knight, mockingly defending Quixote's claim that the basin is truly Mambrino's helmet.
When the barber and his friends become violent, both the judge and Quixote's friend, the priest, call for peace and calm the crowd. As could be expected, a few members of the Holy Brotherhood make themselves visible, having been attracted to the commotion. Surveying the scene, one officer realizes that they have a warrant for Quixote's arrest: the "knight-errant" stands accused of "setting at liberty" a group of "galley-slaves."
Chapter 46
The officer intends to take Quixote into custody but the knight rebuffs the officer. Quixote launches into a hilarious speech, arguing that it is illogical and inane to subdue a knight with a warrant. Referring to the author of the warrant, Quixote asks: "Who was he that knew not that knights-errant are exempt from all judicial authority, that their sword is their law, their bravery their privileges, and their will their edicts?" The priest intercedes on Quixote's behalf, explaining that Quixote is merely a deranged gentleman: the gentleman's insanity fairly exempts the knight from punishment. After the priest guarantees that Quixote will behave, the Holy Brotherhood agrees not to arrest the knight.
Sancho tells Don Quixote that the Princess Micomicona is not a princess; Sancho has seen her kiss Don Fernando. Quixote is enraged, believing that Sancho is lying. Dorotea insists that she is the Princess Micomicona but, sympathizing with Sancho, she suggests that Sancho has been enchantedduped into believing that she kissed Don Fernando. The barber and the priest decide to convey Quixote home immediately. The knight is captured and bound; his friends then put him inside of a cage that is fastened to an ox-cart. The barber dresses up as a sage, issuing prophesy that Quixote will win great honors at home. And so, Quixote believes that he is traveling inside of some enchantmentnot a cage.
Analysis
The narrative structure returns to the inn and the plot action has been precipitated by new entrances (it has been a very long night). The novel describes these scenes as the "continuation of the unheard-of adventures." There is a sentimental parallel between the two triangles: Beautiful Clara is wooed by the singer, hoping to appease her father, the judge. Beautiful Zoraida was wooed by the captive, unable to appease her father, an obstinate Muslim. The lover who has never spoken to Clara (but loves her nonetheless) is much like Quixote, who has no substantive relationship with Dulcinea. Though the plot is very simplistic in these chapters, there is some variety of outcomes. We see the happy reunion of a Catholic Spanish family juxtaposed with the permanent rift between a convert, Zoraida, and her Muslim ("infidel") father.
As in the previous chapters, Don Quixote remains outside of the fabric of young lovers and storytellers. When Don Quixote stands as a sentinel outside the inn, he becomes a parody of himself. Physically, he is incapable of mounting a defense. Throughout the novel, Quixote has played the role of a knight. Quixote never played the role convincingly. Once fettered and disarmed, Quixote is another level removed from the ideal of the knight. Realistically, he insures the safety of the others by keeping his distance. He standsawayas a guard against himself. In Chapter 44, Don Quixote does not use his prowess as a knight to ward off the thieves. He uses plain talk to fend them off.
Don Quixote and Sancho Panza are criminals, as the presence of the judge reminds us. Don Quixote cannot escape the law forever. When the Holy Brotherhood appear on the scene, in Chapter 45, with a warrant for Quixote's arrest they are long foreshadowed. The priest's role becomes more complicated as he is forced to mediate between the religious authorities and the best interests of his friend. Quixote receives mercy only because he is convincingly insane.
Just as Quixote is tied to the post, he is soon trapped in a cage and carted home. The imagery of fire expresses the burning of books as a quasi-medical means of eliminating a contagious threat. Here, the cage is a prison for Quixote, designed to impose spatial limitations on a man who has a dangerously expansive imagination. Don Quixote claims to be of an order that is "exempt from all judicial authority" and adds "that their sword is their law." He punctures the law, violates the rights of others, and has wandered miles from home. If Quixote holds that the "sword" is his "law," his cage-prison is the parody and consequence of his suit of armor. Quixote has dressed himself as the law, but without legitimate power, his armor was pure symbol and costume. Quixote is insane and so he is exempt from the law, but his friends lock him inside the cage with the express permission of the Holy Brotherhood. Indeed, it is required.
The priest says "in matters of chivalryyield him the preference," but he does not argue that Quixote should have free rein. Rather, Quixote can define his delusions however he pleases, but the sane and rational outsiders should contain Quixote's delusions without destroying them. Put Quixote in a cage, but let him call the cage an enchantment.
In terms of aesthetics, this is a rephrasing of the form vs. content argument raised by the priest in Chapter 35. Now we can sum up the Priest's argument: The author of the madness is right about the details, regardless of whether it is madness or not (Friston, not Muñaton). The details of a lie can be right or wrong, regardless of the truth of the lie (Dorotea may have forgotten her name, but the Priest is right to remind her that she is called the Princess Micomicona).
The irony and humiliation of Quixote's fall create a somber mood. Quixote created real dangers but the law easily managed to survive Quixote's rebellion. On the other hand, the humor of Quixote's imagination does not survive the cage. When the barber pretends to be a prophetic sage, he is only speaking to Quixote and he predicts the precise opposite of what is true. There is no glory. Some argue that Don Quixote's friends are simply making mockery of Quixote for their own amusement. However, their persistent deception provides a mechanism to get Quixote to go homeand it also gives him a fair amount of emotional comfort. Mercy and efficiency do not necessarily go hand in hand, though. The barber's own words remind us how important glory and honor are for Quixote. Being carted in a cage in broad daylight is far crueler than the efforts of the laborer in Chapter 5. Even though he is not a close acquaintance of Quixote, the laborer waits for the cover of night before carrying the gentleman's abused body back into town.
The cage marks the climax of Book I because Don Quixote is definitely going home now. The cage is a plot device to secure Don Quixote so that this narrative thread can end. The cage seals off the possibility of any further complications. Some critics argue that the climax should have occurred earlier in the novel, but we have already read that the story continues beyond Book I. This is the resolution of Quixote's second expedition.
Don Quixote Book I Summary and Analysis of Book I, Chapters 47-52
Book I: Chapter 47-Chapter 52 Summaries
Chapter 47
Cooped up in the cart, Don Quixote says that he has never read of enchanted knights being transported in this form, and so it must be a new form of enchantment. Sancho argues with the knight and tries to explain, logically, that there is no enchantment. The barber threatens to throw Sancho inside the cart and so, the squire is quiet.
Chapter 48
Meanwhile, the priest is interested in reading a manuscript that he had obtained from the innkeeper, just before leaving.
Chapter 49
While traveling, the group encounters a "canon" who serves a religious function. The canon is not a fan of the books of chivalry, though he once attempted to pen such a story himself.
Chapters 50-51
Later, the group has lunch and the priest opens the cage and permits Don Quixote to exit. Quixote discusses chivalry with the canon and he manages to be both brilliant and ridiculous in his arguments. Besides recounting his own adventures to the canon, Quixote also tells the tale of the Knight of the Lake. During lunch, a goatherd named Eugenio approaches the group.
Chapter 52
Eugenio, the goatherd, ends up fighting with Quixote, much to the amusement of the group. Don Quixote causes more trouble by attacking a group of holy pilgrims. They are carrying an icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary within a cart: Quixote believes that they are criminals who have kidnapped and imprisoned a good lady. Holy or not, the group defends itself and Sancho is convinced that Don Quixote has received his last beating. Panza offers a very moving elegy for his dead master, but Quixote is not dead, of course. Quixote has been beaten so severely that he now goes home willingly.
Sancho returns home to his wife, Juana (at other points, her name is "Teresa"). "Juana" wants to know what Sancho has brought home as justification for his long time away from home. The squire says that he has won a governorship. Cervantes, as narrator, tells us in the final pages of Book I that even though Don Quixote is quietly taken in at home, his housekeeper and niece are right to fear that the "knight-errant" will soon grow restless.
Finally, Cervantes discusses the manuscripts of Quixote's adventures, telling us that he has found additional texts that he will prepare for translation and subsequent publication. We have more of Don Quixote's stories to look forward to, then: a third expedition.
Analysis
In Chapter 48, yet another religious figure (the canon) offers literary criticism. The canon argues that works of comedy appeal to the masses but offend serious literary critics, whereas, serious works that disengage the masses are acclaimed by the critics. The canon's remarks are amusing in light of Cervantes' literary output: the novelist's early works were both less comedic and less acclaimed than Don Quixote. As Book I comes to a close, the canon's references to government censorship and literary taste, recall the novel's earliest chapters.
In conversation, the canon is amazed that Don Quixote integrates reason and foolishness. If Quixote has gone mad, he has not gone completely mad. In the canon's eyes, Don Quixote parallels Don Quixote, as seen through our eyes. Like the character, the novel presents the plausible and the absurd, with little regard for the distinctions between them.
The enchantment constitutes a change in Don Quixote's environment, but this enchantment does not resemble what Quixote knows from his stories. Still, he concludes that the relevant passage of text must have been lost. This enchantment cannot be a new thing. Don Quixote remains devoted to his orthodoxy.
Sancho Panza stands out as the one character willing to reason with Quixote, in part, because Sancho knows that he will not win his island if Quixote returns home. In Chapter 49, Sancho Panza expands upon the theme of delusion and truth-telling by incorporating forms of logic, evidence and proof. Using deductive reasoning, Sancho argues that Quixote is not suffering from an enchantment because Quixote needs to relieve himself. The storied descriptions of enchantment make no mention of the enchanted suffering the urgency of bodily functions. Quixote replies that the omission of this detail does not preclude the possibility. In Chapter 3, Quixote follows the (first) innkeeper's advice to carry shirts and money with him, even though Quixote "never read in the histories of knights-errant, that they carried any." The innkeeper's logic is that with "the authors thinking it superfluous to specify a thing so plain, and so indispensably necessary to be carried, as money and clean shirts, it was not therefore to be inferred, that [the knights] had none."
The larger question involves the form and function of the modern novel, and the extent to which the novel can and ought to capture the details of everyday life. Critics enjoy pointing out that Cervantes introduces a question that remains controversial three centuries later. Virginia Woolf railed against James Joyce's 1922 novel, Ulysses, because the fourth chapter narrates a character's minutes in the outhouse.
Don Quixote illustrates the fear that man might revert into a beast without social structures and constraints. Set free from his cage, Quixote battles a goatherd, and enacts a parody of his own story of "The Knight of the Lake." He attacks a pilgrimage, perceiving an icon of the Virgin Mary to be the hostage of the penitents. He is a hostage, newly freed, and he seeks glory by freeing a perceived hostage.
The end leaves very much undone: Sancho returns home, persistent in his belief that he will become governor of an island. Quixote has made no decision regarding Dulcinea. Quixote has not been arrested, nor has there been an exorcism, nor a conversion. Indeed, Quixote has said precious little to suggest an alteration in his future plans.
Don Quixote Book I About the Medieval Romance
Medieval Romance: What is It?
Don Quixote of la Mancha is a parody of the 'medieval romance' genre: a type of literature that flourished from the 12th to the 14th centuries. Don Quixote was written when this genre was already in decline (15th century) but a detailed knowledge of the characteristics of the 'medieval romance' are necessary for a profound understanding of the work.
What does 'Medieval' Mean?: A Brief History of the Middle Ages
The Roman Empire started declining towards the AD 300's and its crumbling gave rise to the Medieval Ages, or Middle Ages. This period lasted from AD 500 to 1500 and is referred as "middle" because it was the time when the European nations began to form. Since the borders of present-day European nations were being set, the Middle Ages was a period of great warfare. The initial lack of strong government divided the people into feudal states. Because of the constant warfare between these states, the concept of the knight came into being. A knight is simply a mounted warrior. Young men were taught to wear heavy armor, ride a war-horse, and fight with sword and lance . With the rise of the knight came the rise of chivalry, the knightly code of behavior. The chivalrous knight was supposed to be loyal to his feudal state, virtuous, brave, selfless, and protector the weak.
What does 'Romance' Mean?: The Beginnings of the Genre
In the beginning of the Middle Ages, the word "romance" (in Old French "romanz") was a term used indiscriminately to any kind of long narrative in French verse. "Romanz" meant "the speech of the people" or "the vulgar tongue." For instance, the "Roman de la Rose," a chronicle of aristocratic courtship and "Roman d'Alexandre," a semi fantastic chronicle of the adventures of Alexander the Great, are two romances that were known by the vulgate. By the end of the Middle Ages, the term "romance" had been narrowed down to describe a tale of knightly prowess, usually set in remote times or places, and involving some element of the supernatural .
Several factors contributed to what "romance" meant during the Middle Ages: legends of now deceased Roman Empire, the curriculum of rhetoric used by the Catholic Church education system, and the transformation in perception that man was not a static object but a mobile one in a continuous spiritual journey. The classical Roman poet Ovid had postulated during his lifetime that love was a "restless malady." Medieval writers took this concept of love and interwove it into romantic classical stories by such greats as Virgil and Homer. Virgil's The Aneneid was transformed into the Roman d'Eneas and Homer's tale of Troy was transformed into the Roman de Troie. Professional writers of the time, known as "clerks," would be trained in rhetoric in cathedral schools. They in turn would copy classical stories, like the ones mentioned above, into the medieval romance format (described below). Where exactly these writers got the idea to interweave them with classical stories is still a mystery.
Finally, there occurred a change in perception about man during the Middle Ages. Towards the end of the Roman Empire, man had been perceived as a static object, hit upon by life events, and from these "hits" he would accrue spiritual meaning. During the Middle Ages, man was perceived as a mobile object, one that would be in a constant journey to find spiritual meaning. Instead of being "hit" by random life events, man would be in search of these "hits," therefore becoming the architect of his own spiritual world. For this reason, the imagery of "journeying" and the "knight errant" became popular during the Middle Ages. The knight is in search of spiritual meaning. In Arthurian romances, this spiritual meaning is usually portrayed as the unattainable Holy Grail. It is for this reason that Don Quixote leaves his home: by emulating medieval knights, he is in search of spiritual meaning. In the Middle Ages, action was only a means to a spiritual end .
The Characteristics of a Medieval Romance
We have talked much about the origins of medieval romance, but we have not touched upon the common characteristics which make up such a work. Here are then, the characteristics and themes that you will find in most medieval romances:
Journeying: The journey is a metaphor for the spiritual quest of man during the Middle Ages. In Arthurian romances, all of King Arthur's knights are in search of the Holy Grail, a metaphor for spiritual fulfillment. In the medieval romance of Tristan and Isolde, a story of young star-crossed lovers, Tristan and Isolde are in a continuous journey trying to escape situations that try to keep them apart and therefore of fulfilling their romantic destiny.
Love: The medieval knight usually swears his undying love to a beautiful maiden. (Don Quixote swears his undying love to Dulcinea del Toboso.) It is this love which keeps the knight alive in the course of his wanderings and also keeps him from entering any relationships with women he encounters along the way. The maiden may sometimes submit the knight to "tests" so that she can be sure that he loves her. For instance, in Arthurian romances, Lady Guinevere, King Arthur's wife, is actually in love with one of her husband's knights, Sir Lancelot. In Sir Thomas Malory's romance Le Morte D'Arthur, Guinevere makes Lancelot undergo perilous tests at a tournament to see if he really loved her.
Virtue: A medieval knight has to prove his virtue, specifically his purity of heart and purpose, time and time again during his journey. This purity of heart will give the knight fame and respect back at home. But most importantly, it will make it easier for him to find spiritual fulfillment. In the romance Queste del Saint Graal, we learn of Sir Galahad, the perfect knight. His perfection lies in his perfect morality and physical virginity, two Christian values. It is his perfection in virtue that allows him to find the Holy Grail and soon after die in ecstasy. No other knight had ever or will ever achieve this accomplishment in medieval literature.
Man and God: In their journeys, knights have to prove that they are pure of heart, specifically by not succumbing to any temptations or spells they encounter. It is only abstinence which will save the knight's soul when he dies. This theme of abstinence becomes more and more prevalent as medieval romances came to be influenced by Christianity. For instance, when Arthurian romances became impregnated with Christian ideals, the illicit love affair between Lady Guinevere and Sir Lancelot came to be seen as the ultimate sin of adultery. It is this sin which leads to a falling out between Lancelot and King Arthur, a breakdown between the knights of the Round Table, and finally to the destruction of King Arthur's kingdom. It also puts Sir Lancelot's soul in a perilous position with God.
Supernatural: Medieval romances are ridden of supernatural beings such as dwarves, fairies, magicians, and giants, to name a few. These beings were created by the authors themselves to add excitement to the story but also to test the knight's virtue. In Don Quixote, the protagonist encounters some windmills, which he believes to be giants. Although funny, this scene shows that elements of the supernatural are an integral part of medieval romances.
Amadis de Gaula: The Spanish Medieval Romance
In reading Don Quixote, you have probably already encountered the continuous reference to Amadis de Gaula. Many people have never heard of this man and usually continue reading without paying much attention. But sure enough, the name pops again and attention much be given to understand why Gaula is always being mentioned and why Don Quixote is always comparing himself to him.
Amadis de Gaula is the product of Arthurian romances. Gaula is the Spanish medieval knight, who like any Arthurian knight encounters supernatural adventures in his journeys. For Spain, Gaula was the epitome of what a perfect knight should be. This work first appeared towards late 13th century. But it was finally published in 1508 by Garci Rodriguez de Montalvo. This work revolved around the concept of chivalry and the exercise of such a concept. After being published it was translated into many languages and it is said to have affected the concept of chivalry which we have today. Don Quixote adopts many of Amadis's habits because he wants to become a perfect knight. Today, the term chivalry connotes virtuousness, honor, and gallantry.
References:
Brenan, Gerald. Historia de la Literatura Espanola. Barcelona: Editorial Critica, 1986.
Chaytor, H.J. From Script to Print: An Introduction to Medieval Vernacular Literature. New York: October House Inc., 1966.
Lacy, Norris J. (ed) The New Arthurian Encyclopedia. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc. 1996 ed.
Loomis, Roger Sherman and Laura Hibbard Loomis. Medieval Romances. New York: The Modern Library, 1957.
Perry, Marvin et al. History of the World. Boston: McDougal Littell Inc., 1995.
"The Art of Literature." The New Encyclopedia Britannica: Macropedia. Vol. 23. Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 1990.
Southern, R.W. The Making of the Middle Ages. New Haven: Yale UP, 1953.
Vedel, Waldemar. Ideales de La Edad Media. Tomo II: Romantica Caballeresca. Barcelona: Editorial Labor, 1927."
FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen Lt Col Charlie Brown LTC Greg Henning LTC Jeff Shearer Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Maj William W. "Bill" Price Maj Marty Hogan CPT Scott Sharon CWO3 Dennis M.SSG William Jones SGT (Join to see) SP5 Mark Kuzinski PO1 H Gene Lawrence PO2 Kevin Parker PO3 Bob McCord SGT Kevin Hughes SPC Margaret Higgins
(9)
(0)
LTC Stephen F.
4. Don Quixote, Part I: Chapters XI-XX
Cervantes' Don Quixote (SPAN 300) González Echevarría starts out by commenting on what he calls the two overarching plots of the Quixote: the story about the...
Don Quixote, Part I: Chapters XI-XX
Yale Courses
González Echevarría starts out by commenting on what he calls the two overarching plots of the Quixote: the story about the writing of the novel, and the story about the mad hidalgo. The first is based upon several levels of narratives that distance Cervantes from his own creation. He does so as the painter Diego Velázquez in Las Meninas which shows multiple incomplete perspectives of the same work, portrays the work behind the scenes of creation, it includes the viewer in the painting as well as the author, as another character, not in a central position, but in an oblique one. With their techniques, both Cervantes and Velázquez present the limitations of human knowledge. The madness of Don Quijote is present in the two episodes that González Echevarría comments upon afterward. The episode with the goatherds connects the ideal world (inside the hidalgo's mind) and the real world of the goatherds. Their human kindness becomes a human quality in the novel displayed by many regardless of social origin. The story of Marcela and Grisóstomo follows. Here Cervantes portrays their socio-economic world while at the same time he defends their free will above everything else.
00:00 - Chapter 1. Exaggerated Mimicry, Virtual Texts and Ironic Distancing
09:41 - Chapter 2. Cervantes and Velázquez: Self-Reflection and the Limits of Knowledge
31:19 - Chapter 3. Introduction to The Holy Brotherhood; The Goatherds and Human Kindness
41:34 - Chapter 4. Marcela and Grisóstomo, Social Position and Free Will"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHJ9E0EDEAI
FYI SP5 Jeannie Carle SPC Chris Bayner-Cwik SPC Diana Rodriguez SPC Diana D. SSG Diane R. LTC Hillary Luton Maj Kim Patterson Sgt Kelli Mays SFC (Join to see) SGT Elizabeth S SFC James J. Palmer IV aka "JP4" SSG(P) (Join to see) 1SG Steven Imerman Col Carl Whicker Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen MAJ Rene De La Rosa TSgt David L.PO1 William "Chip" NagelSgt Albert CastroLTC Bill Koski
Yale Courses
González Echevarría starts out by commenting on what he calls the two overarching plots of the Quixote: the story about the writing of the novel, and the story about the mad hidalgo. The first is based upon several levels of narratives that distance Cervantes from his own creation. He does so as the painter Diego Velázquez in Las Meninas which shows multiple incomplete perspectives of the same work, portrays the work behind the scenes of creation, it includes the viewer in the painting as well as the author, as another character, not in a central position, but in an oblique one. With their techniques, both Cervantes and Velázquez present the limitations of human knowledge. The madness of Don Quijote is present in the two episodes that González Echevarría comments upon afterward. The episode with the goatherds connects the ideal world (inside the hidalgo's mind) and the real world of the goatherds. Their human kindness becomes a human quality in the novel displayed by many regardless of social origin. The story of Marcela and Grisóstomo follows. Here Cervantes portrays their socio-economic world while at the same time he defends their free will above everything else.
00:00 - Chapter 1. Exaggerated Mimicry, Virtual Texts and Ironic Distancing
09:41 - Chapter 2. Cervantes and Velázquez: Self-Reflection and the Limits of Knowledge
31:19 - Chapter 3. Introduction to The Holy Brotherhood; The Goatherds and Human Kindness
41:34 - Chapter 4. Marcela and Grisóstomo, Social Position and Free Will"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHJ9E0EDEAI
FYI SP5 Jeannie Carle SPC Chris Bayner-Cwik SPC Diana Rodriguez SPC Diana D. SSG Diane R. LTC Hillary Luton Maj Kim Patterson Sgt Kelli Mays SFC (Join to see) SGT Elizabeth S SFC James J. Palmer IV aka "JP4" SSG(P) (Join to see) 1SG Steven Imerman Col Carl Whicker Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen MAJ Rene De La Rosa TSgt David L.PO1 William "Chip" NagelSgt Albert CastroLTC Bill Koski
(2)
(0)
LTC Stephen F.
5. Don Quixote, Part I: Chapters XI-XX (cont.)
Cervantes' Don Quixote (SPAN 300) After pointing out the prosaic world depicted in the Quixote with subtle but sharp irony, González Echevarría analyzes the ...
Don Quixote, Part I: Chapters XI-XX (cont.)
Yale Courses
Cervantes' Don Quixote (SPAN 300)
After pointing out the prosaic world depicted in the Quixote with subtle but sharp irony, González Echevarría analyzes the episode at Juan Palomeque's inn, which may well be seen as a representation of the whole first part of the novel. The episodes at the inn are an instance of the social being subverted by erotic desire and they show the subconscious of literature. Then follows a commentary on the characters that appear in the episode, all drawn from the picaresque and the juridical documents of the period, and many of whom are marked by a physical defect that makes them unique and yet attractive, even if ugly. Don Quixote's and Sancho's bodily evacuations dramatize the violent forces behind their basic drives to live; the ramshackle improvised architecture of the inn symbolizes the apparently improvised design of the novel, yet, like the inn, it has cosmic connections.
00:00 - Chapter 1. Prose, Heroism and Irony
05:25 - Chapter 2. Juan Palomeque's Inn and its Characters
26:23 - Chapter 3. The Phenomenology of Ugliness; The Staging of Basic Drives
42:46 - Chapter 4. Juan Palomeque's Inn as an Internal Emblem for the Novel
49:09 - Chapter 5. Cervantes's Notorious Errors
53:42 - Chapter 6. The Deepening Relationship between Don Quixote and Sancho
Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: <<open.yale.edu/courses>>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-6c_jrlIJM
SPC Tom DeSmet SPC Woody Bullard SSgt Brian Brakke SMSgt Lawrence McCarter SGT Gregory Lawritson SGT (Join to see) CWO3 (Join to see) PO1 William "Chip" Nagel LTC (Join to see)1sg-dan-capriSGT Robert R.CPT Tommy Curtis Cynthia Croft ] SGT Jim Arnold SSgt Terry P. Maj Robert Thornton SFC (Join to see) SGT Steve McFarland MSG Andrew White
Yale Courses
Cervantes' Don Quixote (SPAN 300)
After pointing out the prosaic world depicted in the Quixote with subtle but sharp irony, González Echevarría analyzes the episode at Juan Palomeque's inn, which may well be seen as a representation of the whole first part of the novel. The episodes at the inn are an instance of the social being subverted by erotic desire and they show the subconscious of literature. Then follows a commentary on the characters that appear in the episode, all drawn from the picaresque and the juridical documents of the period, and many of whom are marked by a physical defect that makes them unique and yet attractive, even if ugly. Don Quixote's and Sancho's bodily evacuations dramatize the violent forces behind their basic drives to live; the ramshackle improvised architecture of the inn symbolizes the apparently improvised design of the novel, yet, like the inn, it has cosmic connections.
00:00 - Chapter 1. Prose, Heroism and Irony
05:25 - Chapter 2. Juan Palomeque's Inn and its Characters
26:23 - Chapter 3. The Phenomenology of Ugliness; The Staging of Basic Drives
42:46 - Chapter 4. Juan Palomeque's Inn as an Internal Emblem for the Novel
49:09 - Chapter 5. Cervantes's Notorious Errors
53:42 - Chapter 6. The Deepening Relationship between Don Quixote and Sancho
Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: <<open.yale.edu/courses>>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-6c_jrlIJM
SPC Tom DeSmet SPC Woody Bullard SSgt Brian Brakke SMSgt Lawrence McCarter SGT Gregory Lawritson SGT (Join to see) CWO3 (Join to see) PO1 William "Chip" Nagel LTC (Join to see)1sg-dan-capriSGT Robert R.CPT Tommy Curtis Cynthia Croft ] SGT Jim Arnold SSgt Terry P. Maj Robert Thornton SFC (Join to see) SGT Steve McFarland MSG Andrew White
(4)
(0)
SGT Kevin Hughes
Wow! Thanks so much for posting this. It has been a long time since I took a deep dive into a book and all its meanings laid bare by smarter folks than me. I shall enjoy all these lectures. By the way, I took a course from Harvard (online) and found out right away that there is a reason those kids went to Harvard...and I went to a local community college. LOL Yale has the same caliber of student and faculty...luckily, if the desire is there , you can get a stunning Formal Education at almost any college nowadays. Heck, with the internet, some are skipping the traditional routes all together...and getting a heck of an education.
(4)
(0)
SGT Kevin Hughes
Man oh man, my head hurts. I read this book a long long long time ago. For some strange reason I remember it being funnier. It stunned me, that like the book :"Ulysses"- when I read it I had no idea it was mainly guys getting beat up in bars, and here I find out poor Don Quixote is beaten to a pulp with regularity. Something I somehow didn't notice when he was chasing windmills. It must be the Autism.
I knew the Powers that Be, back then, didn't like his portrayal of their system...but the in depth, piece by piece study, deconstruction of the tiniest details that make this book the first Novel in the Western world - took all my brain power. Sheesh.
I knew the Powers that Be, back then, didn't like his portrayal of their system...but the in depth, piece by piece study, deconstruction of the tiniest details that make this book the first Novel in the Western world - took all my brain power. Sheesh.
(0)
(0)
6
6
0
It is kind of people to put this post up.
I have been referring to and quoting Don Quixote for weeks as a metaphor for impeachment, and sadly it seems no one reads books anymore.
This particular one is excellent, right up there with Machiavelli for poignancy in our current times.
I have been referring to and quoting Don Quixote for weeks as a metaphor for impeachment, and sadly it seems no one reads books anymore.
This particular one is excellent, right up there with Machiavelli for poignancy in our current times.
(6)
(0)
SGT Kevin Hughes
Top...Cervantes, and Machiavelli (The Prince), and Seneca...people do read books Top, just not the heavy hitters you bring to the table. You would have made a good Ancient Greek: Soldier, Scholar, Poet, and Athlete. Good job!
(4)
(0)
4
4
0
Read This Next
Continue with Facebook 
Continue with Google