Part Two Guide
1615. The knight rides out again — into a world that has already read about him.
The shape of Part II
Seventy-four chapters and a radical premise: Part I has been published, and everyone Quixote meets has read it. The joke is now on fame itself. Between the volumes, the spurious "Avellaneda" continuation of 1614 appeared; Cervantes spends Part II demolishing it — his characters have heard of the fake Quixote and prefer the real one.
Chapters 1–30 — the third sally begins
- Ch. 1–7. The curate, the barber, and the bachelor Samson Carrasco plot to get Quixote home; the knight debates the existence of knight-errantry with the canon's nephew; Sancho is promised the island again.
- Ch. 8–10. The road to El Toboso; the search for Dulcinea's palace; Sancho's desperate improvisation — three peasant girls become the enchanted Dulcinea.
- Ch. 11–14. The cart of Death (a traveling theater troupe); the Knight of the Mirrors — Samson Carrasco in disguise, defeated.
- Ch. 15–18. Don Diego de Miranda, the Knight of the Green Coat; the adventure of the lions, which Quixote faces down and which refuse to fight him.
- Ch. 19–22. The wedding of Camacho; the Cave of Montesinos, where Quixote sleeps and dreams a vision of Dulcinea; the puppet-show of Master Pedro (Ginés de Pasamonte in disguise), which Quixote destroys to "save" the puppets.
- Ch. 23–29. The braying aldermen; the boat enchanted on the Ebro; the road to the duke's castle.
Chapters 30–58 — the duke and duchess
- Ch. 30–33. The duke and duchess welcome the pair — as entertainment. The great practical jokes begin; Sancho is promised his island governorship.
- Ch. 34–41. The "enchanted" Dulcinea must be disenchanted by 3,300 lashes on Sancho's backside; the adventure of Clavileño, the wooden horse that "flies" them (blindfolded, with bellows for wind).
- Ch. 42–43. Don Quixote's counsels to Sancho before the governorship — the novel's great conduct manual, wise and funny at once.
- Ch. 44–53. Sancho's governorship of the island Barataria: the mock court, the impossible cases solved with peasant Solomon's wisdom, the invasion alarm, the fall from the bridge. "Happy he, to whom heaven has given a piece of bread for which he is not bound to give thanks to any but heaven itself!" (ch. 58).
- Ch. 54–58. Sancho resigns the island — "I was not born to be a governor" — and rejoins his master; the discourse on freedom: "Freedom, Sancho, is one of the most precious gifts that heaven has bestowed upon men" (ch. 58).
Chapters 59–74 — the end
- Ch. 59–60. The inn at the crossroads; Quixote reads the spurious Avellaneda continuation and denounces it; the adventure with Roque Guinart the bandit.
- Ch. 61–66. Barcelona; the printing-house where Quixote sees books being set in type and corrects a translation; the Knight of the White Moon — Samson Carrasco again — defeats him on the beach and extracts the oath: one year of retirement at home.
- Ch. 67–72. The road home; the mock "Arcadia" of the shepherds; the final inn; the meeting with Don Álvaro Tarfe, a character from the false Part II, who certifies that this Quixote is the true one.
- Ch. 73–74. The village; the plan to turn shepherd; the fever; Alonso Quixano wakes, renounces the books of chivalry, makes his will, and dies — "for in my deathbed I have… recovered my judgment." Cide Hamete hangs up his pen.
Source notes
- Chapter summaries condensed from the Ormsby text (Project Gutenberg eBook #996); chapter numbering follows Ormsby.
- "Freedom, Sancho, is one of the most precious gifts that heaven has bestowed upon men": Part II, ch. 58.
- "Happy he, to whom heaven has given a piece of bread…": Part II, ch. 58.
- The Avellaneda continuation (1614) and Cervantes' response: standard scholarly record; see sources.