Questions on Volume 1                 Questions on Volume 2

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Don Quixote Volume I

1. Why do Alonso Quixana's "brains dry up"?
   
2. Discuss the significance of Aldonza being chosen as Dulcinea.
   
3. What do you make of Don Quixote’s "Golden Age" speech (Chapter 11)? What is Don Quixote saying here and how does this connect with the rest of the novel?
   
4. What is Don Quixote’s view of crime as seen in the chapter where Don Quixote frees the chain gang? (Chapter 22) What are the crimes that the men are arrested for and what is Don Quixote’s response as he hears their stories?
   
5. What do we make of Marcela, the woman who chooses to reject riches and a husband in order to live in the woods? How do we evaluate this character? Are we to admire her? Are we to question her actions? In general, how are women presented in this novel?
   
6. Why is "the original" Don Quixote written by Sidi Hamid Benengali? What does Cervantes gain from "adding" an author to the story? Is Sidi Hamid Benengali a reliable narrator? Why does Cervantes choose an author who writes in Arabic?
   
7. In Don Quixote is religion presented in a positive or a negative light?  Think about the presentation of priests in Don Quixote. Also consider the book burning scene and Don Quixote’s excommunication.
   
8. What do you make of all the pairings at the end of the section that takes place in the Sierra Morrena Mountains: Don Quixote/Sancho Panza, the priest/the barber, Cardenio/Dorothea? Do you see any links between Don Quixote and Cardenio?
   
9. Does Don Quixote adhere to a neo-Platonic view of art and artifice or a neo-Aristotelian view? Explain why. (Check your notes if you forget what I mean by "Platonic" and "Aristotelian".)
   
10. What is the purpose of the Anselmo/Camilla/Lothario story? How does it relate to the novel as a whole?
    
11. Why does Don Quixote interrupt the story of The Man Who Wouldn't Keep From Prying (i.e. the wineskin incident)?  What is the connection between Don Quixote and the Innkeeper?
    
12. How do we feel about Don Fernando when we meet him? Why does he change so quickly? Is Dorothea in good hands here?
    
13. Why does Don Quixote compare soldiers with men of learning? What is the purpose of his lengthy speech on the subject? Why does he value the soldier over men of learning?
    
14. What is the Captive’s role in Don Quixote? Why are he and Zoraida included in this novel?
    
15. How do Clara and the young man infatuated with her fit into this story?
    
16. Why is the inn the location of all the reunions?
    
17. What do we make of Don Quixote’s encounter with the monsignor (the canon)? Who follows a more neo-Platonic—Don Quixote or the monsignor? Who follows a more neo-Aristotelian argument? Where is Cervantes in this conversation?

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Don Quixote Volume II

1. What does Samson Carrasco want? Who is he and why is he in this novel?
   
2. Why does Don Quixote react the way he does to hearing that his life has been written down?
   
3. Why doesn’t Don Quixote see Dulcinea when Sancho points her out? How does Sancho use illusion here? What do we think of Sancho at this point? How would you characterize Don Quixote’s mood here?
   
4. Why does Don Quixote see the actors as merely actors?
   
5. Compare the Knight of the Mirrors and his squire with Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.
   
6. Discuss instances of the sanchification of Don Quixote and the quixotification of Sancho Panza in the first 15 chapters of Part Two
   
7. How and why has Don Quixote’s demeanor changed now that he has defeated the Knight of the Mirrors?
   
8. Compare Don Diego de Miranda (the Knight of the Green Coat) with Don Quixote. How does Don Quixote react to his son the poet? Why do you think he reacts this way?
   
9. How do Don Quixote and Sancho view social class in the Basilio/ Quitiera (and Camacho) wedding incident?
   
10. Describe the course of events that take place in the Cave of Montesinos. How are we to read Don Quixote’s fantasy? What do we learn about Don Quixote from his dream in the cave?
    
11. Why does Don Quixote attack the puppets and not the actors he came across earlier in part II?
    
12. How are we to view the Duke and the Duchess? Why are they so cruel to Don Quixote and Sancho? Compare their treatment of Sancho versus their treatment of Don Quixote. To what extent do their jokes backfire?
    
13. How does Sancho rate as a governor? Can we, in any way, make a comparison between his abilities as governor and the social class issues presented during the Basilio/Quitiera wedding?
    
14. Compare Don Quixote and Roque the bandit.
    
15.   How does Don Quixote react to hearing the news of that a phony part II of Don Quixote exists?
    
16.  Why does Samson Carrasco come back a second time to destroy Don Quixote? How do others react to Samson Carrasco’s destruction of Don Quixote? Compare Samson Carrasco with the Duke and the Duchess.
    
17. Why does Don Quixote choose to become a shepherd when he is forced to return home?
    
18. Why does Alonso Quixana relinquish his identity as Don Quixote? What happens to Sancho? What happens to Dulcinea? What happens to Don Quixote?

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