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Don Quixote
Don Quixote Summary and Complete Study Guide
by Miguel de Cervantes
Published: 1605AdventureFirst Modern Novel
Complete Study Resources:
✓ Full plot summary
A man reads so many chivalric romances he loses his mind and decides to become a knight-errant, tilting at windmills.
Complete Plot Summary
Don Quixote puts on rusty armor and sets off to revive chivalry in a world that's moved on from knights. He mistakes windmills for giants and attacks them. He frees criminals thinking they're unjustly imprisoned. He mistakes an inn for a castle. Sancho tries to point out reality, but Don Quixote insists enchanters are creating illusions. They have misadventures throughout Spain—Don Quixote gets beaten up repeatedly but stays committed to his knightly vision. Eventually, they return home where neighbors and friends try to cure his delusions.
Main Characters in Don Quixote
Don Quixote features complex characters representing different aspects of society and the human condition.
Alonso Quixano reads too many knight stories and reinvents himself as Don Quixote, a wandering knight. Sancho Panza is the practical peasant who becomes his squire, lured by promises of an island to govern. Dulcinea del Toboso is the peasant woman Don Quixote imagines as his noble lady love—she doesn't know he exists. Rocinante is his skinny, old horse that he treats like a noble steed.
The Ending Explained
Don Quixote gets tricked into a final battle where he's defeated and forced to retire from knight-errantry for a year. Back home, he suddenly recovers his sanity on his deathbed, renounces all the chivalric nonsense, and writes a will warning people against knight stories. Then he dies, leaving Sancho heartbroken. What's Cervantes saying? Idealism is beautiful but reality always wins. Living in delusion might be more fulfilling than facing harsh truth. Sometimes sanity means giving up what made life meaningful. It invented the modern novel and gave us "tilting at windmills" as a metaphor. It's funny and sad simultaneously—Don Quixote is ridiculous but also kind of admirable for refusing to accept a world without heroism and romance.
Famous Quotes from Don Quixote
“Tilting at windmills”
Why This Book Matters
Published 1605-1615, considered the first modern novel. One of the most influential works in world literature. Has sold millions of copies and been translated into every major language.
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