Capítulo 11:

• Las Cortes de la Muerte. [Note: la muerte!] Examine Don Quijote's reaction; what if he had found this scene in Part I?
• Note the ideas: El gran mundo del teatro, El gran teatro del mundo (ilusión, realidad, etc.; how does this tie in with what has gone immediately before and what will come afterwards?)
• Capítulo 12: The possible significance (or foreshadowing?) of la Muerte, espejos, etc. in this chapter, especially in the second page. Also, in the sonnet by El Caballero de la Selva/del Bosque/de los Espejos, the linking of amor-muerte-eternidad.
• Are the animals (Rocinante and el rucio) symbols of anything?

Capítulo 13-14:

• Conversations: 1) escuderos; 2) caballeros. (Same type of parallelistic structure as earlier in Pt. II, with Sancho and Don Quijote in their respective houses.) Any parallels or contrasts between the two conversations?

Capítulo 13:

• Note the motifs: cortesía, amistad (and bestias!)

Capítulo 14:

• Note the tasks the Caballero del Bosque has undertaken, especially sumir en la sima de Cabra; this inspires Don Quijote to so the same, later on in the novel.
• La batalla singular: to whom does Don Quijote first commend himself before the battle? Why does Don Quijote win?

Capítulo 15:

• Note the idea (p. 642): "¿Cuál es más loco: el que lo es por no poder menos, o el que lo es por su voluntad?", and the growing "circle" of "mad" individuals.

Capítulo 16:

• The "discreto" caballero Diego de Miranda. There is the very definite possibility of color symbolism here, with all the emphasis on green. Any ideas what it might symbolize? Don Quijote's advice to the caballero at the end of the chapter (p. 650): is it good or bad?

Capítulo 17:

• Why would Cervantes include lions in the novel? Are they symbolic of anything? Any parallels with other episodes involving lions in literature?
• On p. 657, note reference to don Manuel de León; read footnote #5, and footnote #6 for chapter XLIX (49) in Part I.
• Why a new apodo, El Caballero de los Leones, instead of El Caballero de la Triste Figura?

Capítulo 18:

• En casa de Don Diego (El Caballero del Verde Gabán). On p. 662, Cervantes says that, as translator, here in Part II he has eliminated extraneous material (frías digresiones). Why is this chapter included? Anything significant? More specifically, anything significant about the poetry included in this chapter (pp. 666-669)?
• Regarding the second poem: note the story of Piramus and Thisbe from classical mythology [remember the young lovers prevented from seeing each other, the arranged secret meeting, the lion that complicates the meeting of the two lovers, their deaths by suicide with a sword, the mulberry bushes whose fruit turns from white to red from their blood?]; does all this have anything to with what's coming up in the next chapters?

Capítulo 19:

• Introduction for a new episode, las bodas de Camacho y Quiteria (does the name Quiteria suggest anything?).
• The argument/duel between Corchuelo and the licenciado; have we seen this idea/theme before?

Capítulo 20:

• Las bodas (1). The poetry/play is a type of allegory, which really does make sense (doesn't it?). Note the theme of la Muerte at the close of the chapter...

Capítulo 21:

• Las bodas (2). Can we say that this episode illustrates the triumph of industria/arte over riqueza/fuerza? Or, what does it illustrate then?
• Now do you see what the preceding several chapters have been leading up to? Does any of this apply to Don Quijote or to the novel as a whole?

Fred Jehle jehle@ipfw.edu
Indiana U.-Purdue U. Fort Wayne
Fort Wayne, IN 46805-1499
URL: http://users.ipfw.edu/jehle/courses/s450/p2-2-450.htm
Home page http://users.ipfw.edu/jehle/
Works of Cervantes http://users.ipfw.edu/jehle/cervante.htm