The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, Part 32

In Short

This narrative tracks the parallel misadventures of the knight Don Quixote and his squire Sancho Panza while they reside with a cynical duke and duchess. Don Quixote suffers midnight trickery, cat attacks, and phantom beatings inside his chamber, all while attempting to preserve his chivalric vows. Simultaneously, Sancho governs the mock island of Barataria, handling erratic petitioners, a tyrannical physician, and threat-laden dispatches with surprisingly shrewd common sense. The text balances high-minded idealism against raw earthly appetites, revealing how aristocratic cruelty unwittingly highlights the dignity, resilience, and inherent humanity of the two lower-class wanderers.

The Story

The chronicle unfolds in two main locations, shifting between the courtly traps of a noble castle and the administrative chaos of a fake island government. Don Quixote, nursing his wounded pride and broken stockings, tries to navigate the elaborate romantic pranks engineered by his hosts. When the young damsel Altisidora fakes a fainting spell out of unrequited love for him, the knight stays true to his distant lady, Dulcinea del Toboso. He requests a lute to sing a ballad on the virtues of constancy, but his midnight concert is violently interrupted. The duke and duchess release a sack of cats tied to noisy bells into his chamber. A terrifying battle in the dark leaves Quixote badly clawed on the face and nose, forcing him into days of bedridden isolation.

Meanwhile, Sancho Panza assumes his long-promised role as governor of the island of Barataria. His elevated status brings immediate misery at the dining table. A court physician, Doctor Pedro Recio de Aguero, uses a whalebone wand to snatch away every dish before Sancho can take a bite, citing medical aphorisms against heavy food. Enraged by hunger, Sancho threatens to break his chair over the doctor's head, demanding actual nourishment over grand titles.

Sancho's administrative troubles multiply when a urgent courier arrives with a letter from the duke, warning of impending night attacks and disguised assassins targeting the new governor. Despite the paranoia around him, Sancho attempts to process local business. A wealthy farmer visits with a convoluted, absurd story about his disabled prospective daughter-in-law and demands a massive cash portion. Recognizing a fraud, Sancho flies into a fury and chases the petitioner away with threats of violence.

Back at the castle, Quixote receives a secret visitor in his dark bedroom. The duchess’s elderly duenna, Dona Rodriguez, arrives in spectacles and a white veil seeking chivalric justice for her disgraced daughter, who was seduced and abandoned by a rich farmer's son. During their solemn conversation, Dona Rodriguez gossips freely, revealing that the duchess maintains her smooth complexion through artificial drains in her legs. Before Quixote can promise his sword to her cause, mysterious hands burst into the dark room. The intruders fiercely spank the duenna with a slipper and pinch the knight black-and-blue before vanishing into the night, leaving both victims battered, silent, and deeply bewildered.

How It Unfolds

The midnight serenader Altisidora pretends to faint from love to ensnare Don Quixote, prompting the knight to request a lute so he can sing a song defending marital fidelity and his devotion to Dulcinea.

The feline assault During Quixote's late-night song, his noble hosts drop a sack of bell-bearing cats into his chamber, resulting in a dark, chaotic brawl that leaves the knight’s face heavily scratched and bandaged.

The starving governor Sancho Panza takes his place at a lavish gubernatorial feast, only to have every savory dish whisked away by a pedantic doctor who claims that solid food will destroy the governor's health.

Threats and petitioners After threatening his doctor, Sancho receives a warning letter about imminent assassins, yet he still finds time to drive out a greedy, scheming farmer who asks for a six-hundred-ducat hand-out.

A nocturnal caller Dona Rodriguez creeps into Quixote's dark bedroom to ask for his help regarding her wronged daughter, sharing intimate, unflattering gossip about the household while the knight worries about his chastity.

Puffed up and pinched Interrupting the duenna's plea, hidden attackers swarm the pitch-black room, soundly beating Dona Rodriguez with a slipper and severely pinching Quixote before melting back into the darkness.

The People

• Don Quixote: An aging knight-errant who wants to uphold classical chivalry and remain faithful to Dulcinea del Toboso. His rigid romantic ideals leave him vulnerable to physical injury, public humiliation, and constant manipulation by bored nobles.
• Sancho Panza: Quixote's practical squire, currently acting as governor of Barataria. He wants basic food, rest, and fair dealing, but finds his authority undermined by bizarre aristocratic pranks, ridiculous petitioners, and a controlling court doctor.
• Doctor Pedro Recio de Aguero: A pedantic physician from Tirteafuera who uses medical jargon to deny Sancho any real food. He views himself as the protector of the governor's health, though Sancho views him as a starving executioner.
• Dona Rodriguez: A widowed duenna of honor serving the duchess. She seeks a chivalric champion to force a rich farmer's son into marrying her seduced daughter, but her urge to gossip exposes household secrets and brings down swift physical punishment.
• Altisidora: A young damsel in the duchess’s court who pretends to be madly in love with Quixote, eagerly participating in elaborate psychological tricks to mock the old knight's steadfastness.

In Its Own Voice

"Do me the favour, senora, to let a lute be placed in my chamber to-night; and I will comfort this poor maiden to the best of my power; for in the early stages of love a prompt disillusion is an approved remedy..."

Don Quixote offers a sensible therapeutic cure to a damsel who claims her heart is breaking for him.

"Then let Doctor Pedro Recio de Malaguero, native of Tirteafuera, a place that's on the right-hand side as we go from Caracuel to Almodovar del Campo, graduate of Osuna, get out of my presence at once; or I swear by the sun I'll take a cudgel..."

Sancho Panza reaches his breaking point when his official doctor forbids him from eating solid food at dinner.

"...for I am not marble, nor are you brass, nor is it now ten o'clock in the morning, but midnight, or a trifle past it I fancy..."

Quixote nervously reminds his late-night visitor of their mutual human vulnerability while trying to preserve his knightly virtue.

What It's Really About

Underneath the slapstick beatings and ridiculous pranks, the text explores the cruel dynamics of social class and the vulnerability of idealists. The wealthy duke and duchess construct elaborate scenarios to mock their guests, treating human beings as living playthings for their own entertainment. Yet, as Sancho governs with genuine, earthy wisdom and Quixote maintains his courtly dignity despite physical suffering, the narrative quietly flips the moral hierarchy. The noble tormentors appear hollow and petty, while the delusional knight and his illiterate squire demonstrate actual moral weight. The text questions what it means to act honorably in a world that routinely rewards cynicism, deceit, and institutional malice.

Why Read It Today

This narrative remains strikingly fresh because its core dynamic—the clash between high-minded illusions and harsh physical reality—never goes out of style. Modern readers will easily recognize the absurdity of official bureaucracy through Sancho’s hilarious battle against medical pedantry and extortionate petitioners. The prose flows with rapid comedic timing, balancing lighthearted banter with sudden, chaotic bursts of action.

Reading this work requires patience with early modern conventions, including long-winded background speeches, archaic social hierarchies, and explicit references to 16th-century medical theories like body humors and purging. The text also displays period attitudes toward physical disabilities and rustic poverty that are described with unsparing, satirical roughness.

Despite these historical hurdles, the book rewards you with timeless comedic genius and profound empathy. You will come away with a deep affection for its central duo: an old man who insists on seeing nobility in a callous world, and a hungry squire who discovers that power is not worth a missing dinner.