Ten years after the first book, Cervantes does something unprecedented in literature: he places Don Quixote in front of a mirror. The knight discovers that the whole world has read about his madness.
What changes in the second part
Published in 1615, the second part is darker and more mature than the first. Cervantes inaugurates what we today call metafiction: Don Quixote and Sancho know that their adventures have become a book and that there are readers. The character comes to know that he is a character.
There is also a concrete reason. In 1614 a false continuation appeared, signed by the pseudonym Avellaneda. Cervantes included the apocryphal book in the plot itself: his Don Quixote rejects the false version of himself.
The big episodes
The story begins again in the village and continues through memorable episodes: the Knight of Mirrors, the adventure of the lions, the meeting with the Knight of Green Gabon, the farces of the Dukes, the imaginary flight on the Clavileño and Sancho's wise government in the Baratária Ínsula.
Everything changes when the Dukes transform fantasy into spectacle. Don Quixote is no longer just dreaming: he is being dreamed by others.
Why does he die of reason
In Barcelona, the Knight of the White Moon defeats him and forces him to abandon the cavalry. Back in the village, Don Quixote comes to his senses, becomes Alonso Quijano again, makes his will and dies.
The ending is devastating precisely because it is lucid. He doesn't die of madness, he dies of reason: when he loses the narrative that organized his life, he loses meaning. The question that remains is not whether he was crazy, but what is left of us when our story is no longer believed.
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See recommended readingsFrequently asked questions
What is the second part of Don Quixote about?
Don Quixote and Sancho discover that they have become a book and set off on new adventures, now manipulated by those who have already read them. It's darker than the first part and ends with the hero's death.
Why does Don Quixote die at the end?
Defeated and forced to abandon the cavalry, he regains his senses and returns to being Alonso Quijano. Without the narrative that gave meaning to his life, he withers and dies. Die of reason, not of madness.
Do I need to read the first part first?
It helps, but the second part holds up. She returns to the characters and context right at the beginning, and a good part of the plot revolves around the fact that the first book already exists.
Continue: What is metafiction · The Baratária Island · Free will in Macbeth: destiny or choice?
Source class (YouTube): Dom Quixote, Parte Dois (NousCast)