Commentary and Analysis

Don Quixote Theme Analysis
Cervantes' theme throughout Don Quixote is quite consistent and straightforward. Though Cervantes ...

Review of Don Quixote
First published in 1605, and the second part in 1615, Don Quixote was written to ridicule what were ...

Editorial on Don Quixote
What can anyone say about Don Quixote that hasn't been said? The book's been around for four hundred...

Raleigh on Don Quixote
A Spanish knight, about fifty years of age, who lived in great poverty in a village of La Mancha, ga...

Don Quixote The Story
Alonso Quijano, a lean, less-than-affluent man of 50, lives modestly in a village in La Mancha with ...

Book 1 Don Quixote
Alonso Quijano, a lean, less-than-affluent man of 50, lives modestly in a village in La Mancha with ...

Technique and Style of Don Quixote
Each author has a "point of view" from which he invents and constructs his characters and incidents....

Don Quixote Disbelief Of Reality
The novel Don Quixote, by Miguel Cervantes, is an exploration into the idea of created reality. Ce...

Book 2 Don Quixote
Book Two of Don Quixote, originally published as a separate volume, includes an unusual literary twi...

Purpose of Don Quixote
Cervantes himself states that he wrote Don Quixote in order to undermine the influence of those "vai...

Cliff Notes

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 10 Summary
Cervantes says that the author, presumably Cide Hamete Benengeli, wanted to skip this chapter for fe...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 11 Summary
On the road, Don Quixote and Sancho encounter a wagon filled with actors in costume. Don Quixote sto...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 12 Summary
While sleeping in a grove, Don Quixote and Sancho meet another knight who claims to be pining away f...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 13 Summary
Sancho and the Squire of the Wood eat and drink while discussing their shared expectation that their...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 14 Summary
Meanwhile, Don Quixote and the Knight of the Wood discuss their knightly adventures. The Knight of t...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 15 Summary
Sampson reveals that he has been plotting with the priest and the barber to vanquish Don Quixote and...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 16 Summary
Sancho is confused about the identity of the Squire of the Wood and the Knight of the Mirrors. Don Q...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 17 Summary
Don Quixote sees a cart coming toward him hung with the king's flags, and he senses another adventur...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 18 Summary
Don Quixote receives a warm welcome at Don Diego's home, where he meets Don Diego's son, Don Lorenzo...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 19 Summary
Don Quixote and Sancho meet some students and peasants on their way to the wedding of Quiteria the f...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 1 Summary
Cervantes tells us that Cide Hamete Benengeli continues his account of Don Quixote's adventures by r...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 20 Summary
Don Quixote and Sancho arrive at the wedding, which the narrator describes in great detail. Sancho p...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 21 Summary
Quiteria and Camacho arrive at the wedding. Basilio shows up and throws himself on his dagger. With ...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 22 Summary
Don Quixote and Sancho leave for Montesinos's Cave with Basilio's cousin, an author who writes parod...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 23 Summary
Don Quixote tells Sancho and Basilio's cousin that when he went into the cave he found a small nook ...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 24 Summary
Cervantes says that the translator found a note from Cide Hamete Benengeli in the margin of the manu...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 25 Summary
At the inn, Don Quixote meets the man with the weapons. The man tells him a story of two magistrates...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 26 Summary
At the inn, Don Quixote meets the man with the weapons. The man tells him a story of two magistrates...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 27 Summary
Cervantes says that Cide Hamete Benengeli swears that Master Peter is actually Gines de Pasamonte, t...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 28 Summary
Don Quixote berates Sancho for stupidly braying to a group of villagers already sensitive to the sub...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 29 Summary
Don Quixote and Sancho come to the river Ebro, where they find a fishing boat. Don Quixote takes the...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 2 Summary
Sancho comes to visit Don Quixote to find out when they will again embark on their quest for adventu...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 30 Summary
In the woods, Don Quixote and Sancho encounter a Duchess hunting with a Duke. Don Quixote sends Sanc...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 31 Summary
Don Quixote, seeing that the Duke and Duchess are treating him according to chivalric traditions, fe...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 32 Summary
Don Quixote defends knight-errantry to a clergyman who condemns it as frivolity. The Duke promises S...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 33 Summary
Don Quixote defends knight-errantry to a clergyman who condemns it as frivolity. The Duke promises S...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 34 Summary
The Duke and Duchess go on a boar hunt with Sancho and Don Quixote. During the hunt, Sancho becomes ...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 35 Summary
An enormous wagon arrives carrying penitents dressed in white linen and a beautiful maiden with a go...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 36 Summary
Sancho shows the Duchess a letter he wrote to his wife to tell her about his governorship. The Duche...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 37 Summary
Given his difficult history with the maidservants, Sancho fears that they will interfere with his go...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 38 Summary
Cervantes says that Cide Hamete Benengeli briefly explains that the Countess Trifaldi's name�which m...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 39 Summary
The Countess says that the princess's indiscretion so shocked her mother, the queen, that her mother...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 3 Summary
While Sancho fetches Sampson, Don Quixote muses that the Moorish enchanter who wrote the book must e...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 40 Summary
Don Quixote swears to avenge the Countess and the princess. The Countess tells him that the giant wi...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 41 Summary
As the group waits in the garden, savages appear with a large wooden horse, which they deliver to Do...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 42 Summary
The Duke and Duchess, pleased with Don Quixote's and Sancho's reaction to the encounter with the Cou...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 43 Summary
Don Quixote warns Sancho to refrain from eating garlic and onions, since only peasants eat such thin...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 44 Summary
Cervantes interjects that �the real original history� claims that Cide Hamete Benengeli wrote this c...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 45 Summary
The townspeople receive Sancho and set him up on the governor's chair, where they have written a pro...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 46 Summary
In the morning, Don Quixote passes Altisidora, who pretends to faint. He asks a servant to put a lut...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 47 Summary
Sancho goes to dinner hungry on the first day on his alleged isle, only to discover that a physician...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 48 Summary
In the middle of the night, Do�a Rodriguez creeps into Don Quixote's room to ask him a favor. She te...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 49 Summary
Sancho encounters two criminal incidents on his rounds and then comes across a young girl dressed as...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 4 Summary
Sancho returns and explains that a thief stole Dapple from him when he was strung up. Sampson says t...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 50 Summary
The Duchess and Altisidora, Cervantes tells us, were listening outside Don Quixote's door to Do�a Ro...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 51 Summary
The morning after his rounds, Sancho hears the petition of some judges who cannot decide whether to ...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 52 Summary
His wounds from his fight with the cats are now healed, and Don Quixote resolves to leave for the jo...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 53 Summary
In the middle of the night after his seventh day in office, Sancho hears cries of an attack on his i...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 54 Summary
The dishonorable lover of Do�a Rodriguez's daughter, whom Don Quixote intends to fight, has fled the...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 55 Summary
After leaving Ricote, Sancho and Dapple fall into a pit from which they cannot escape. Don Quixote f...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 56 Summary
On the day of the duel, the Duke removes the steel tips from the lances so neither of the combatants...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 57 Summary
Don Quixote and Sancho bid the Duke and Duchess farewell and Sancho happily receives Teresa's letter...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 58 Summary
On the road, Don Quixote and Sancho encounter some workmen carrying icons of saints to a nearby chur...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 59 Summary
Don Quixote and Sancho stop at an inn, which Don Quixote, for once, does not mistake for a castle. E...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 5 Summary
Cervantes tells us that �the translator� doubts that this chapter is authentic because it seems impo...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 60 Summary
Sick of waiting for Dulcinea's disenchantment, Don Quixote tells Sancho he has decided to whip Sanch...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 61 Summary
Sick of waiting for Dulcinea's disenchantment, Don Quixote tells Sancho he has decided to whip Sanch...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 62 Summary
Don Quixote and Sancho's host, Don Antonio Moreno, confides in Don Quixote that he owns an enchanted...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 63 Summary
Don Quixote, Sancho, and Don Antonio visit the galleys. As a prank, the men hoist Sancho onto their ...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 64 Summary
Riding around one morning, Don Quixote encounters the Knight of the White Moon, who challenges Don Q...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 65 Summary
Don Antonio and others desperately want to know the true identity of the Knight of the White Moon, s...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 66 Summary
A forlorn Don Quixote departs Barcelona with Sancho, who urges his master to cheer up, saying that a...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 67 Summary
Don Quixote implores Sancho to whip himself for Dulcinea's sake, but Sancho says he does not believe...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 68 Summary
Don Quixote wakes Sancho in the middle of the night to ask him again to whip himself, but Sancho aga...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 69 Summary
When the horsemen drag Don Quixote and Sancho into the Duke's courtyard, Don Quixote recognizes Alti...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 6 Summary
The niece and housekeeper beg Don Quixote to stay at home. They say that if he must go he should joi...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 70 Summary
Cervantes says that Cide Hamete Benengeli tells how the Duke and Duchess were able to locate Don Qui...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 71 Summary
Don Quixote yet again suggests that Sancho whip himself, and Sancho again refuses. Don Quixote offer...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 72 Summary
While at the inn, Don Quixote and Sancho encounter Don Alvaro Tarfe, whom Don Quixote recalls from t...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 73 Summary
As Don Quixote and Sancho enter their village, they hear two boys quarreling and a hare running from...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 74 Summary
Don Quixote falls ill with a tremendous fever and lies in bed for six days, during which Sancho neve...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 7 Summary
Distressed at Don Quixote's madness, the housekeeper begs Sampson to speak with him. Sancho visits D...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 8 Summary
Cervantes says that Cide Hamete Benengeli blesses Allah before recounting that Don Quixote and Sanch...

Cervantes Don Quixote Book 2 Ch 9 Summary
Don Quixote and Sancho decide to enter El Toboso at night. Sancho panics because he does not know wh...

Cervantes Don Quixote Ch 10 Summary
Cervantes says he was quite irked by this break in the text, believing that such a knight deserves t...

Cervantes Don Quixote Ch 11 Summary
Don Quixote and Sancho join a group of goatherds for the night. They eat and drink together, and San...

Cervantes Don Quixote Ch 12 Summary
A goatherd named Peter arrives with news that the shepherd-student Chrysostom has died from his love...

Cervantes Don Quixote Ch 13 Summary
On the way to the funeral, a traveler named Vivaldo asks Don Quixote why he wears armor in such a pe...

Cervantes Don Quixote Ch 14 Summary
Vivaldo reads the poem aloud. It praises Marcela's beauty, laments her cruelty, and ends with Chryso...

Cervantes Don Quixote Ch 15 Summary
Don Quixote and Sancho stop to rest and eat lunch. Rocinante wanders off into a herd of mares owned ...

Cervantes Don Quixote Ch 16 Summary
Rather than admit that Don Quixote received a vicious thrashing from a gang of Yanguesans, Sancho te...

Cervantes Don Quixote Ch 17 Summary
Don Quixote tells Sancho that the inn is enchanted and recounts his version of the evening's events....

Cervantes Don Quixote Ch 18 Summary
As they ride away from the inn, Sancho complains bitterly to Don Quixote about the injuries their mi...

Cervantes Don Quixote Ch 19 Summary
Sancho tells Don Quixote that their troubles stem from Don Quixote's violation of his vow to keep a ...

Cervantes Don Quixote Ch 1 Summary
Cervantes mentions an eccentric gentleman from an unnamed village in La Mancha. The man has neglecte...

Cervantes Don Quixote Ch 20 Summary
Don Quixote and Sancho hear a scary pounding. Sancho implores his master to wait until morning to in...

Cervantes Don Quixote Ch 21 Summary
Don Quixote and Sancho see a man on a mule with something glittering on his head. The man is a barbe...

Cervantes Don Quixote Ch 22 Summary
The manuscript continues, Cervantes says, with the account of Don Quixote and Sancho's encounter wit...

Cervantes Don Quixote Ch 23 Summary
Don Quixote and Sancho ride into the woods of the Sierra Morena. Unfortunately for them, one of the ...

Cervantes Don Quixote Ch 24 Summary
The Ragged Knight of the Sorry Countenance asks Don Quixote for food and then says that he will tell...

Cervantes Don Quixote Ch 25 Summary
As Sancho and Don Quixote ride away, Sancho becomes angry with his master for imposing a code of sil...

Cervantes Don Quixote Ch 26 Summary
In his penance, Don Quixote decides to follow the example of the great knight Amadis, commending him...

Cervantes Don Quixote Ch 27 Summary
Equipped with their costumes, the priest and the barber set out with Sancho to find Don Quixote and ...

Cervantes Don Quixote Ch 28 Summary
Before returning to the narration, Cervantes says that Don Quixote's era is lucky that Don Quixote h...

Cervantes Don Quixote Ch 29 Summary
Cardenio is thrilled to learn from Dorothea that when Lucinda fainted, Ferdinand found a letter on h...

Cervantes Don Quixote Ch 2 Summary
Don Quixote sets off on his first adventure, the details of which Cervantes claims to have discovere...

Cervantes Don Quixote Ch 30 Summary
Dorothea weaves a story about the giant who has attacked her kingdom. She slips up several times dur...

Cervantes Don Quixote Ch 31 Summary
Don Quixote pulls Sancho aside and begs him to tell about his visit to Dulcinea. Sancho makes up a s...

Cervantes Don Quixote Ch 32 Summary
Don Quixote, Sancho, the priest, the barber, Dorothea, and Cardenio arrive at the same inn where San...

Cervantes Don Quixote Ch 33 Summary
The manuscript that the priest reads tells the story of Anselmo and Lothario, two close friends who ...

Cervantes Don Quixote Ch 34 Summary
Anselmo receives Camilla's letter, realizes that his plan is working, and refuses to come home early...

Cervantes Don Quixote Ch 35 Summary
While the priest is reading, Sancho rushes into the room to tell everyone that Don Quixote has slain...

Cervantes Don Quixote Ch 36 Summary
Ferdinand and Lucinda arrive at the inn in disguise. After a tearful scene, Ferdinand reunites with ...

Cervantes Don Quixote Ch 37 Summary
In distress, Sancho wakes Don Quixote to tell him that Dorothea is not really a princess and that th...

Cervantes Don Quixote Ch 38 Summary
Don Quixote continues his lecture on the superiority of knights over scholars. Everyone is impressed...

Cervantes Don Quixote Ch 39 Summary
The captive tells the group that he left home many years earlier after his father divided the family...

Cervantes Don Quixote Ch 3 Summary
In the middle of dinner, Don Quixote realizes that he has not been properly knighted. He begs the in...

Cervantes Don Quixote Ch 40 Summary
The captive recounts his capture and imprisonment in Algiers. One day he was on the roof of the pris...

Cervantes Don Quixote Ch 41 Summary
The captive says that he snuck into Zoraida's father's garden to see her, told her of his plan to es...

Cervantes Don Quixote Ch 42 Summary
After the captive finishes his story, a judge named Licentiate Juan Perez de Viedma arrives at the i...

Cervantes Don Quixote Ch 43 Summary
Dorothea wakes Clara so she can hear the singing, saying it is the most beautiful singing she has ev...

Cervantes Don Quixote Ch 44 Summary
Don Quixote makes such a racket that the innkeeper comes out to see what is going on. The horsemen a...

Cervantes Don Quixote Ch 45 Summary
The people at the inn play along with Don Quixote's insistence that the basin is actually Mambrino's...

Cervantes Don Quixote Ch 46 Summary
The priest pacifies the members of the Holy Brotherhood by convincing them that Don Quixote is insan...

Cervantes Don Quixote Ch 47 Summary
Don Quixote accepts the enchantment that he believes is afflicting him but wonders why he travels so...

Cervantes Don Quixote Ch 48 Summary
The canon says he began writing a book of chivalry but stopped because he discovered that an author ...

Cervantes Don Quixote Ch 49 Summary
Sancho tells Don Quixote that since enchanted people have no bodily needs, Don Quixote's need to use...

Cervantes Don Quixote Ch 4 Summary
On the way home to fetch money and fresh clothing, Don Quixote hears crying and finds a farmer whipp...

Cervantes Don Quixote Ch 50 Summary
Don Quixote tells the story of the Knight of the Lake, a fantasy story of enchantment that, he claim...

Cervantes Don Quixote Ch 51 Summary
The goatherd, whose name is Eugenio, tells the group that he and his friend Anselmo have been driven...

Cervantes Don Quixote Ch 52 Summary
The goatherd insults Don Quixote and the two of them brawl as the others cheer them on. Don Quixote ...

Cervantes Don Quixote Ch 5 Summary
A laborer finds Don Quixote lying near the road and leads him home on his mule. Don Quixote showers ...

Cervantes Don Quixote Ch 6 Summary
The priest and the barber begin an inquisition into Don Quixote's library to burn the books of chiva...

Cervantes Don Quixote Ch 7 Summary
Don Quixote wakes, still delusional, and interrupts the priest and the barber. Having walled up the ...

Cervantes Don Quixote Ch 8 Summary
After a full day, Don Quixote and Sancho come to a field of windmills, which Don Quixote mistakes fo...

Cervantes Don Quixote Ch 9 Summary
Cervantes says he was quite irked by this break in the text, believing that such a knight deserves t...