Don Quixote 46-52

3. In chapter 47 it says, “Learned and very grave historians of knights-errant have I read. But I never read, saw, nor heard of enchanted knights being transported in this manner, and so slowly as these lazy, heavy animals seem to proceed; for they were usually conveyed through the air with wonderful speed, enveloped in some thick and dark cloud, or on some fiery chariot, or mounted upon a hippogriff, or some such animal. But to be carried upon a team drawn by oxen- before Heaven, it overwhelms me with confusion! Perhaps, however, the enchantments of these our times may differ from those of the ancients; and it is also possible that as I am a new knight in the world, and the first who revived the long-forgotten exercise of knight-errantry, new modes may have been invented.” This is an example of what Don Quixote wants to see in reality. He reads about these chivalrous knights who had quick speed, and rode an animal. The only time in this book that Don Quixote imagined this kind of travel was when he was fighting and imagined Rozinante growing wings and flying. Don Quixote reads about how these knights travel in these books, and wants to travel the same way. Don Quixote wants to be quick like these knights, he wants to travel like them. Don Quixote says that he is a new knight, so he is the one to be a leader.

2. In chapter 51, “I will not say it in one, you must immediately release that fair lady, whose tears and sorrowful countenance clearly prove that she is carried away against her will, and that you have done her some atrocious injury. I, who was born to redress such wrongs, command you, therefore, not to proceed one step farther until you have given her the liberty she desires and deserves.” Throughout the book, a recurrent theme was Don Quixotic as a quixotic figure. He promised Dulcinea that he would stay with her and protect her. He kept his promise until the end. People thought he was crazy to help someone who wasn’t who she really is. Don Quixote saw everyone as being equal, and wanted Dulcinea be treated as an equal. After everything Don Quixote has been through, he still kept his promise in protecting Dulcinea. Quixotic figures had a big impact in this book, and these figures never gave up.