Don Quixote (Part 1) - Book Summary

Don Quixote is a novel written by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. It is one of the most celebrated books of world literature, and is considered the first modern novel. The novel parodies the genre of chivalric romance and tells the story of a Spanish nobleman who goes crazy and decides to go looking for adventure as a knight-errant. The first part of the novel, published in early 1605, is entitled The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote of la Mancha.

At the beginning of the book, the nobleman dons an old suit of armor and renames himself Don Quixote of la Mancha. He gives his horse the name Rocinante, and picks a peasant girl named Aldonza Lorenzo to be his lady love, christening her “Dulcinea del Toboso”.

One morning, without being seen, Don Quixote sets out on his journey. He asks the owner of an inn, whom he mistakes for a nobleman, to make him a knight. As a joke, the man and other women who work at the inn hold a fake ceremony.

Afterwards, Don Quixote sets off in search of adventure. On the way, he tries to help a servant being whipped by a farmer, but, without realizing it, only makes the situation worse. Later, Don Quixote meets a group of merchants. He orders them to proclaim that Dulcinea is the most beautiful maiden, and as a result, Don Quixote is brutally beaten.

Fortunately, one of Don Quixote’s neighbors finds him and takes him home. Don Quixote’s niece, housekeeper, priest, and barber are all at his house, and they blame the chivalric romances for Don Quixote’s madness. The following day, the priest orders that many of Don Quixote’s books be thrown into a fire, and they wall up the entrance to Don Quixote’s library.

A few days later, Don Quixote asks a poor farmer, Sancho Panza, to be his squire. In exchange, he promises to make Sancho governor of an isle. Sancho agrees, and they depart without anyone seeing them.

During their travels, Don Quixote mistakes some windmills for giants. Ignoring his squire’s warnings, Don Quixote attacks the windmills, and then falls and breaks his lance. Later, Don Quixote encounters two friars followed by a carriage carrying a Biscayan lady and her squires. Don Quixote mistakenly believes that the friars have taken the lady prisoner. The narration cuts off just as Don Quixote is attacking one of the lady’s squires.

Shortly afterwards, the narrator discovers the rest of Don Quixote’s story in a book written by the Arab historian Cide Hamete Benengeli. According to that book, the Biscayan lady’s squire cut off part of Don Quixote’s ear and broke his helmet, so Don Quixote tries to get a new one.

Later, Don Quixote and Sancho Panza meet some goatherders, whom they accompany to the burial of Chrysostom. One of them tells them the story of Chrysostom, a shepherd who died from his love for a woman named Marcela. Don Quixote is captivated by the story of Marcela and the many shepherds who declared their love for her. Afterwards, imitating the lovers, the nobleman falls asleep, thinking about Dulcinea.

The following day Don Quixote and Sancho accompany the shepherds to Chrysostom’s funeral. Marcela, who also attends the funeral, defends herself against the accusation that she’s responsible for his death. She explains that she’s not required to love someone because they love her, and that she never gave Chrysostom any hope that she would return his love. She also asserts that she was born free, and that she chose to live in solitude.

Don Quixote and Sancho Panza resume their journey, and, a little while later, they stop to rest by a stream. There, Don Quixote’s horse, Rocinante, tries to mate with some mares, and the carriers who are guarding them begin beating Rocinante. Don Quixote and Sancho then confront the carriers, and are badly injured in the resulting fight.

Don Quixote and Sancho Panza arrive at an inn run by Juan Palomeque. There they share a room with a muleteer, who is waiting for Maritornes, a female servant who works at the inn, to visit him at night. Don Quixote misunderstands the situation and a big fight breaks out involving the woman and everyone else in the room.

The next day, Don Quixote leaves and refuses to pay the price of his stay, since he considers it unbecoming of a knight-errant. Sancho Panza tries to impersonate him, but some men detain Sancho and toss him in a blanket as a joke. In addition, the innkeeper keeps the saddlebags of his donkey as payment for his stay.