Study Aids - Don Quijote, Primera Parte: Prólogo - Capítulo 10

Título (p. 1):

• The full original title for Part One is El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha, This first volume was published in 1605 (Part Two, published in 1615, has a slightly different title: Segunda parte del Ingenioso caballero Don Quijote de la Mancha.).
• What is an hidalgo? What are the various meanings of la Mancha? What is the effect of these various meanings when the phrase de la Mancha is applied to the main character?

Accompanying materials (pp. 2-6). You may skip this part.

Prólogo (pp. 7-12):

• How does Cervantes describe his relationship with Don Quijote? Why?
• Look for Cervantes' literary philosophy as expressed here (and in other parts of the book). That is, what is literature? What is good literature? What should an author do or not do? What does Cervantes do with this novel and why?
• According to the prologue, What is Cervantes' purpose in writing the work? (Who says this?) What do you think are Cervantes' reasons for writing it? (You can change your mind on this as you read more of the novel.)

Poesías (pp. 13-19):

• Read through them (rapidly), but don't worry about details. Can they be taken seriously? Or why are they included?

Capítulo 1: This begins the "first part" [first section] of the "First Part" [first volume, the one published in 1605].

• Remember (i.e., memorize) the first two or three lines of of this chapter. The word lugar here is used in the sense of "village", rather than "place".
• The opening paragraph describes the protagonist in terms of food and dress. What does all this tell us about the man and his life?
• Why does Don Quijote go mad? (Note the use of the terms loco and locura here and in other parts of the work.)
• Why does Don Quijote consider it fit and proper to become a knight errant? I.e., what purposes does this serve?
• Note the playing with names: e.g., la Mancha; Rocín + ante; Dulcinea [dulce]
• What basic information do we know about the lead character: real name, parents, family, place of birth/residence, etc.?
• What are the four things Don Quijote feels he must do to prepare himself to be a kinight errant? Are they really the preparation/qualities needed to be a knight errant?  Why are these the ones Don Quijote chooses?

Capítulo 2, Don Quijote at the first inn:

• Why does Don Quijote see the inn not as an inn but as a castle?
• P. 27 (l. 32) to 28 (l. 8): The part in single quotes is a parody of the style seen in novels of chivalry.
• P. 29-30: Don Quijote's salute to the women of easy virtue is horribly archaic even for the 16th century and thus almost unintelligible for common people. Why does he speak this way?
• Pp. 31: The poem quoted here is a popular Spanish ballad (romance); Don Quijote has substituted his name for that of Lancelot (Lanzarote). In the rest of the ballad Lancelot leaves Queen Guinevere's bed to go out and kill a man who had insulted her, then returns to enjoy more of her favors; the reading public of Cervantes' time would recognize the ballad and know the story. Note the irony between Don Quijote's situation and that of Lancelot.

Capítulo 3. The knighting ceremony:

• According to Spanish law, such a ceremony (done in jest) was of course not valid.  But could Don Quijote ever truly be a caballero andante?

Capítulo 4. The first adventure of our "knighted" Don Quijote, Andrew:

• The merchants. This episode and Capítulo 5 were probably inspired by a playlet called the Entremés de los Romances, in which a fellow goes mad from overexposure to Spanish ballads (romances). Note the use of romances in the novel.

Poetry You do remember that: Romances are Spanish ballads: they tell a story poetically, and are characterized metrically by eight-syllable lines with asonancia (assonance) in the even-numbered lines. Asonancia is a type of rhyme in which the vowels are the same starting with the last stressed vowel; consonants are ignored, e.g.: muertas and bella [feminine rhyme: two syllables are involved, an accented syllable plus an unaccented one following it] comió and sol [masculine rhyme: one syllable is involved, since the last syllable is a stressed one] To determine the number of syllables in a line, you count up to the last stressed syllable, and then add one more, e.g. (from page 45):     1      2    3     4 5  6   7 + 1 = 8 syllables in this line ¿Dónde_estás, señora mía,      [verso llano, rima femenina]     1  2  3    4 5   6    7 + 1 = 8 syllables in this line (not 7) que no te duele mi mal?           [verso agudo, rima masculina] Note that when counting syllables there are other factors to consider, for example, sinalefa: if a word ends in a vowel and the next word begins with a vowel (or h plus a vowel), and one of those vowels is unstressed, the two vowels almost always combine to form one syllable (e.g., Dónde_estás, as above).

Capítulo 5. Identity problems (for both Don Quijote and Cervantes?)

Capítulo 6. The "scrutiny" in the library.

• What is this "scrutiny" is an obvious parody of? How do the priest and the barber come off in the novel?
• Again the literary theme! You do not have to remember the individual titles and authors mentioned in this scene (with the exception of Amadís de Gaula, Tirante el Blanco, and La Galatea). Instead of considering this scene as a critique of individual literary works, you might look at it as expressing more of Cervantes' literary or artistic philosophy. What ideas, techniques, and styles is Cervantes condemning or praising? How does this tie in with the writing or purpose of Don Quijote?

Capítulo 7. Sancho Panza is finally introduced.

• Here --and in the rest of the novel-- look at how Sancho is portrayed. How is he compared to or contrasted with Don Quijote? How or why does his inclusion benefit the novel?
• Start of the second sally (i.e., journey).

Capítulo 8. The windmills (the single most famous adventure of Don Quijote).

• The fight with the Basque. To whom does Don Quijote commend himself before his (mis)adventures? Why? Why are so many of his adventures disastrous?

Capítulo 9. This starts part two (of Part I, the 1605 volume).

• Typical Cervantean technique: interruption. Why does he use this technique? Why does Cervantes interject himself as a character? Who is the real author of the novel???

Capítulo 10: P. 73: Read pp. xviii and xix of the introduction, concerning the wrong chapter title (epígrafe).

• P. 73: The Santa Hermandad ("Holy Brotherhood") was a type of rural police force or highway patrol, as indicated in footnote #7; it was NOT related to the inquisition.
• Pp. 74-76: In the conversation between Don Quijote and Sancho Panza, note how Cervantes sets up for Don Quijote (and the readers) future adventures, such as the bálsamo, el yelmo de Mambrino, los ejércitos (de ovejas), etc.

Other:

• What, if any, comparisons might be drawn between Cervantes and Don Quijote? What aspects/situations are humorous? Why?

Abbreviations which may well be used in future handouts (and which you might want to use in tests):

• DQ - Don Quijote (the character)
• SP - Sancho Panza
• C - Cervantes
• DQ - the novel Don Quijote
• DQI - the part of the novel published in 1605
• DQII - the part of the novel published in 1615

Fred Jehle jehle@ipfw.edu
Indiana U.-Purdue U. Fort Wayne
Fort Wayne, IN 46805-1499
URL: http://users.ipfw.edu/jehle/courses/s450/h1-450.htm
Home page http://users.ipfw.edu/jehle/
Works of Cervantes http://users.ipfw.edu/jehle/cervante.htm