Don Quixote Notes | Volume 1, Chapter 2

Eager to fight injustice, Don Quijote sets out before dawn one day in July. Riding out on Rocinante, with his make-shift helmet on and shield and spear in place, he feels wonderful until he realizes that he is not officially a knight and can not enter into armed combat with anyone until properly dubbed. He decides to have the first knight he meets dub him -- just like in the books. With his horse leading the way, he begins fantasizing about how his adventures will be depicted in some future book on knight errantry. Continuing these absurdities aloud, he speaks to the absent Dulcinea of her cruelty in rejecting him and commanding him to stay away from her.

Topic Tracking: Grandiosity 1
Topic Tracking: Helmet Imagery 2
Topic Tracking: Idealized Women 2

And so he continues to work out the plot of his mad fantasy all that hot day. That night he comes upon an inn, which his madness turns into a castle -- complete with all a castle's trappings. Two prostitutes outside become gracious ladies (whom he refers to as "noble virgins" (pg. 19)) making them laugh and angering Don Quijote. A pig herder's horn blowing becomes a dwarf announcing his arrival and the innkeeper a castle warden.

Topic Tracking: Idealized Women 3
Topic Tracking: Grandiosity 2

After entering the inn, the two ladies help him out of his armor; but can not remove the helmet and neck guard since they can not get the ribbons untied (that hold it together). Don Quijote will not allow the ribbons to be cut. Since he needs two hands to lift the visor to eat, the ladies feed him and the innkeeper pours wine through a reed stem inserted into Don Quijote's mouth. During it all, he maintains the delusion that he was dining sumptuously at a castle, and when the pig castrator announces his arrival at the inn by blowing on a reed whistle -- the fantasy is complete -- as he imagines that he is dining with musical instruments playing in the background. His only thought of discontent is that he is not yet a properly dubbed knight.

Topic Tracking: Helmet Imagery 3
Topic Tracking: Grandiosity 3