Don Quixote Study Guide and Chapter Summaries
Part 1
Chapter 3 – Question 1
In this chapter, Don Quixote seeks to be knighted. He asks the innkeeper to perform the ceremony, explaining his reasons for wanting the title. The innkeeper, believing Don Quixote to be mad and seeing an opportunity to earn some money, agrees to the strange request.
For the ceremony, the knight’s weapons should be kept vigil in a chapel. However, as there was no chapel (supposedly it was being built), Don Quixote’s arms were placed in the courtyard. Don Quixote stood guard all day to ensure they weren’t stolen. He even confronted two men who tried to take them, until the innkeeper intervened and restored peace.
Finally, Don Quixote was knighted in the old way, receiving two touches of the sword on his shoulders. After the ceremony, two surprised women told Don Quixote they would serve him for life. Don Quixote asked their names and declared he would call them “donuts” from then on. In the end, nothing came of it, and Don Quixote left at dawn.
Chapter 17 – Question 2
Part 1: The Magic Potion
Don Quixote asks Sancho for ingredients to make a magic potion that would cure any physical illness. When the potion is made, Don Quixote drinks it, resulting in vomiting and retching. He then asks to be left alone to sleep. Upon waking, Don Quixote believes he is cured, and Sancho also believes it. Sancho, seeing the result, also wants to drink the strange brew. He too experiences vomiting and retching, but the potion has no beneficial effect on him.
Don Quixote tells Sancho that the potion couldn’t have worked for him because it was only for knights, and Sancho was not one.
Part 2: Trouble at the Inn
Don Quixote forces Sancho to leave the inn without paying. The innkeeper confronts Don Quixote about the unpaid bill, but Don Quixote refuses, claiming that it was a castle and knights shouldn’t have to pay in castles. The innkeeper, seeing that Don Quixote won’t budge, turns to Sancho, but the squire also refuses to pay.
Seeing this, some men who were street vendors start beating up poor Sancho and pour a jug of cold water on his head. Shortly after, the men leave, allowing the battered Sancho to leave the inn and continue their journey, but without their bags.
Chapter 21 – Question 3
This chapter tells the story of Don Quixote’s adventure to retrieve the Helmet of Mambrino and the hopes and illusions that both Don Quixote and Sancho have of becoming kings and nobles through their fame and courage.
At the beginning of the chapter, Don Quixote believes he sees the famous Helmet of Mambrino in the distance, worn by a knight on a great horse. When Don Quixote expresses interest, Sancho quickly tells him not to jump to conclusions. Don Quixote, ignoring him, attacks the poor man and snatches the supposed helmet.
The irony of this adventure is that the “Helmet of Mambrino” was nothing more than a simple brass basin used by barbers.
Chapter 47 – Question 4
During their travels, Don Quixote and Sancho encounter a group of riders, including a canon from Toledo. The canon asks why Don Quixote is carrying a caged man. Don Quixote replies that the man is a knight who has been enchanted and must be caged. However, Sancho contradicts him, saying his master is not well because his behavior is completely normal.
The priest, hearing this, takes the canon aside and explains Don Quixote’s madness. After listening, the canon begins to criticize books of chivalry, but he also highlights some interesting points about them.
Part 2
Chapter 11 – Question 1
Don Quixote sees a cart full of costumed people approaching from afar. He believes it to be another adventure and prepares to fight them. However, the people in the cart explain that they are part of a theater company that has just performed “Las Cortes de la Muerte” (a work by Garcilaso de la Vega) in a nearby town and haven’t had time to change their clothes. Don Quixote understands and wishes them well, mentioning that he also enjoyed theater in his youth.
Chapter 17 – Question 1
Don Quixote asks the man driving a cart carrying goods what it contains. He is told that there are two lions being transported as a gift to the king from General Oran. He is also warned that the lions are very hungry. Don Quixote orders the man to open the cage, declaring that he will face the lions because he has no fear.
The carter agrees but asks for time so that he and his companions can get away. When the keeper opens the cage door, the lion turns around, sees nothing of interest, and goes back to sleep, ignoring Don Quixote completely.
Don Quixote asks the keeper to provoke the lions, but the man refuses. The carter and his companions, witnessing Don Quixote’s actions, decide to call him “The Knight of the Lions.”
Chapter 22 – Question 2
When Don Quixote is ready to leave, he asks one of the students accompanying him to the wedding to find him a guide to the Cave of Montesinos. He is eventually accompanied by a cousin of a student who also reads books of chivalry. The student considers Don Quixote a humanist who is interested in useless knowledge and is preparing three books of Sancho’s jokes.
They spend the night in a village where Don Quixote buys a hundred fathoms of rope to descend into the Cave of Montesinos. At two o’clock in the afternoon, they arrive at the cave. The student and Sancho tie Don Quixote securely to the rope and begin to lower him down.
When Don Quixote reaches the entrance of the cave, he clears away the weeds blocking it. When the student runs out of rope, Sancho waits a while and then starts to pull Don Quixote up. After eighty fathoms, he notices no weight on the rope, and when he reaches ten fathoms, he sees Don Quixote. Don Quixote reassures him that he was only sleeping.
After waking up, Don Quixote begins to tell stories of what he claims happened in the cave, but Sancho doesn’t believe them.
Chapter 41 – Question 3
After a while, those present light the tail of Clavileño, which is full of fireworks. The fireworks shoot into the air, throwing Don Quixote and Sancho to the ground.
Sancho tells the Duchess that during his trip on Clavileño, his blindfold was removed and he saw the earth and the people as very small from those heights. The Duchess says that it’s impossible, but Sancho replies that nothing is impossible through enchantment.
Sancho goes on to say that he was so close to the sun that he proved it was truly great. He also claims that he was held captive in the constellation of the Seven Sisters, as Sancho had once been a goatherd and lingered with them for a bit.
Chapter 45 – Question 4
Story 1
Sancho witnesses a suspicious interaction between two men and concludes that neither of them has what he is looking for.
Story 2
Sancho is ordered to give a cane to the man who had left ten crowns. He says that the cane is already paid for. The surprise comes when the man breaks the cane and finds the ten crowns inside.
Story 3
Sancho sees a woman defending herself and tells her that if she grabs the bag, she will be forced to stay in the field. He sends her back, and the money bag is returned to the man.
Chapter 64 – Question 5
One day, while walking armed on the beach, Don Quixote encounters a man who calls himself the Knight of the White Moon. He says he has sought out Don Quixote to make him confess that his lady is more beautiful than the Knight of the White Moon’s lady. Don Quixote refuses and decides to fight a duel.
The agreement is that if Don Quixote loses, he must admit that his lady is not the most beautiful and must remain in his village for a year, living a peaceful life without using weapons. If Don Quixote wins, he will decide the fate of the other knight and will take his weapons, fame, and horse.
In the battle, Don Quixote is defeated and humiliated in front of the Knight of the White Moon. Don Quixote is forced to keep his word and says he will retire from knighthood for a year, but reaffirms that his lady is the most beautiful in the world. After the battle, the Knight of the White Moon leaves, and Don Quixote is carried back to town in a sedan chair.