Don Quixote

Miguel de Cervantes

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1605

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Download PDF

Part 2, Chapters 70-74Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 2, Chapter 70 Summary

The narrator explains the duke and duchess learned about Carrasco’s plan when Carrasco stopped at their home on the way to Barcelona before dueling Quixote as the Knight of the White Moon. Upon learning that Carrasco sought to bring an end to Quixote’s adventures, the duke and duchess wanted to play one last prank on Quixote. Hence, they enlisted Altisidora to dupe Quixote into believing she was dead. Later, Altisidora continues the ruse. She describes her near-death experience to Quixote in lurid detail, flattering him with feigned declarations of love. The next day, the duke and duchess ask Quixote about Altisidora, and he tells them she should focus more on her chores rather than any supposed love she might have for him.

Part 2, Chapter 71 Summary

Quixote once again asks Panza to whip himself for the sake of Dulcinea. Panza continues to refuse until Quixote offers to pay him. Panza accepts the offer, walks into the woods, and loudly pretends to whip himself. Later, Quixote and Panza stop at an inn where Quixote loudly appraises the art on the wall. One day, he explains, he hopes he might be the subject of similar paintings.

Part 2, Chapter 72 Summary

Quixote and Panza stay at the inn where they meet Don Alvaro Tarfe. According to the counterfeit book about Quixote, Alvaro Tarfe was a great friend of theirs. They talk to Alvaro, who confesses he was great friends with the fake Quixote. However, he now recognizes the man in front of him is the authentic Quixote. He gives a notarized declaration of this statement in front of the town mayor. Quixote and Panza sleep in the woods, and Panza continues to pretend to whip himself.

Part 2, Chapter 73 Summary

Entering their hometown, Quixote and Panza notice a string of strange events. Quixote believes these are bad omens while Panza is more positive. While Panza returns to his family home, Quixote visits Pero Perez, Master Nicholas, and Sanson Carrasco. He announces his plans to retire and become a shepherd, receiving their support. While the men plan out the jokes they can play on Quixote, Quixote’s niece and housekeeper encourage him to go to bed

Part 2, Chapter 74 Summary

Quixote falls sick and spends six days in bed with a fever. Panza stays at his bedside throughout this time. Quixote recovers on the seventh day. When he emerges from the fever, he seems to come out of his delusions. He agrees that his real name is Alonso Quixano rather than Don Quixote, and he dismisses tales of chivalry and knights as foolish. He repents for his foolish behavior. Perez, Nicholas, and Carrasco visit the house. Convinced he is still sick or “mad,” they try to persuade Quixote to return to his adventures. They plead that Dulcinea is still suffering at the hands of the magician’s enchantment. Quixote ignores them. He says all he must do is write his will, in which he plans to leave his estate to his niece, his housekeeper, and Panza. The will also includes a plea to the author of the counterfeit book to forgive Quixote for his foolishness. Then, Quixote dies. The narrator describes the translator’s mourning at the death of Quixote and discusses the purpose of the book, which was to satirize chivalry and stories of knights.

Part 2, Chapters 70-74 Analysis

The slow and quiet death of Quixote contrasts with the vibrancy and the absurdity of his life. He returns home, shamed and forbidden from living as a knight. The chivalric life of a knight errant gave him purpose and allowed him to truly enjoy his existence. However, the same rules that gave his life purpose mean he must forsake the lifestyle. Carrasco finally succeeds in trapping Quixote in a mire of his own logic. Quixote believes himself to be a knight; the sincerity of his beliefs means he cannot break his word, so he must resign as a knight. If he carried on as a knight, he would know he was not authentic. After his defeat, Quixote can no longer live as a knight without breaking the code of chivalry. Rather than invent an excuse or find a loophole, Quixote accepts defeat and returns home. Carrasco does not just defeat Quixote in a duel; he defeats him in a spiritual and ideological sense, removing his reason to exist.

Even after losing his status as a knight, Quixote does not want to return to his earlier lifestyle. He draws up plans to become a shepherd, hoping this lifestyle will at least give him some semblance of the direction and purpose he enjoyed as a knight. Quixote never has the opportunity to try life as a shepherd, however. He dies a quiet death after renouncing his belief in the code of the knights. He recants everything he believed during the course of the novel. Whereas the chivalric code gave Quixote so much life and purpose, the renunciation of the code seems to seal his fate. The brutal nature of reality steals his reason to live, and he fades away. The death of Quixote prompts the question of whether it is better to exist in a meaningful fantasy or an unsatisfying reality. For Quixote, life as a knight may have been a delusion, but it was at least meaningful. The fantasy, to him, was preferable to the cold harshness of reality.

Get access to this full Study Guide and much more!

8,800+ In-Depth Study Guides
4,700+ Quick-Read Plot Summaries
Downloadable PDFs

Seeing Quixote devoid of meaning, his friends try to reverse their actions. They have spent the novel trying to get him to return home, only to discover he was much better served by his life as a knight. Even Panza cannot revive his master. Both Panza and Quixote have been given everything they ever wanted. Panza was given the governorship of an island and demonstrated he had the capacity to rule, defying his previous status as a peasant and proving himself to the world. Quixote began the novel as a bored nobleman who wished to be a knight. He ends the novel as a famous knight who is forced to return to his life as a nobleman. Quixote became a knight and revived the code of chivalry throughout Spain. He becomes so famous that everyone he encounters seems to already know him, while other people are out on the road, pretending to be knights just as he did. The fake Quixotes and Sanson Carrasco were inspired to pick up their armor and become knights, either to replicate or to defeat Quixote. Not only is Quixote famous for being a knight errant, but he has also inspired other people to do the same. Panza becomes governor of an island and then resigns, while Quixote revives the chivalric code and then must adhere to it by retiring. They get everything they want, then discover that what they truly valued was the time they spent together. As Panza claims when they return home, they have conquered themselves. They have gone on an adventure and returned having learned about what they truly value. Quixote may not live long, but his short experience as a knight brought the meaning and substance he always sought to his life. Quixote dies a hero, and his reputation will endure as much as the heroes in the books he loved so much.