Don Quixote Part 2, Chapter 49 - 60

Sancho Panza continued to surprise the hoaxers with his good sense, and simultaneous stupidity as he dealt with the many audience requests they had organized for him. The doctor’s sparing allowance of what Sancho could and could not eat was truly beginning to make him miserable for he had not starved as much even when he had been traveling across barren roads with his master. He then receives a letter from Don Quixote which begins by commending Sancho for having performed his duties as governor so well. It continued to advise him about his comportment as a governor and informed him of his master's intention to continue his journey as a knight errant but before which he had to resolve an issue that could cause him to lose the favor of the duke and duchess. Sancho replied with all haste and informed his master of the evil doctor that had so limited his diet that he was ever on the brink of starvation. It urged him to proceed with caution and expressed the hope that he would see him again. Sancho Panza then worked on such bylaws that their fairness caused them to remain in place even after Sancho’s governorship had ended which had not extended even to ten whole days.

The duchess had sent a page to Teresa Panza with the letter and hunting outfit that Sancho Panza had entrusted her to forward to his spouse. The duchess had also included a letter from her hand, commending Sancho’s work as a governor, and accompanied it with a beautiful piece of Jewellery. The arrival of the page gave both the Panza family and the neighborhood quite a shock, for none of them had ever thought that Sancho Panza would be fit to govern anything more than a herd of goats. The priest and Sanson, the graduate, were particularly disbelieving and spent quite a time interrogating the page.

Don Quixote had grown weary of the idle life and was just beginning to muster the courage to beg leave of the Duke and Duchess so that he could resume his travel towards Saragossa. Don Quixote was then suddenly rushed by two mourning women as he sat to dine with the duke and duchess. It was revealed to the shock of all present that the two wailing women were the Duenna Rodriguez and her daughter who had learned of Don Quixote’s resolve to depart. The duenna entreated Don Quixote to salvage her daughter’s honor by challenging the villainous youth to ensure that he married her. The duke and duchess had not planned this incident, but the duke accepted the arrangement made by the vehement Don Quixote. It was decided that the completion would take place after 6 days from the date of the challenge. The youth had escaped the country to avoid having the duenna as his mother-in-law, and so the duke hired one of his lackeys to function as the challenger. The company then received the replies of Teresa Panza, who entreated her husband to make arrangements for her to travel to the capital so that she could grow his influence by roaming around the city’s streets in a carriage,

Sancho Panza’s governorship came to an end quite abruptly when the hoaxers overcame his patience by pretending that the city was being assailed by an enemy. They tied him between to stout blocks of wood that they called shields and caused him great discomfort so much so that he resigned the very first thing upon waking after the supposed invasion had ended. He lovingly caressed his dun and ensured the hoaxers that he would report the account of his governorship to the duke as he was determined to return to the side of his generous master. On his way, he came across a group of begging foreigners among whose number he found one of his neighbors, Ricote, who had been caused to leave Spain after the king had expelled all the moors that had converted to Christianity. The man tried to get Sancho to aid him in recovering a treasure that he had buried but Sancho could not be tempted to do anything other than return to his master’s side.

Sancho had the misfortune of stumbling onto a pit as he made his way back to the duke’s palace, which opened into a cave that he followed with his ass which had fallen into the pit along with its master. Don Quixote happened to be riding outside the castle grounds in preparation for the contest that was scheduled to occur soon when he heard Sancho’s plaintive voice issuing from a pit. The valiant knight at first believed that the voice was being produced by a ghost of his now suddenly deceased squire but brought aid forthwith when the poor squire assured his master that it was indeed him in the flesh with his ass as a witness of his continued life. Sancho was lifted out of the pit and presented to the duke and duchess who had yet to hear about the conclusion of Sancho’s governorship, which was later readily supplied by the butler that had been despatched along with the squire. The day for the challenge approached, the excitement within the populace was palpable but the matter came to a rather anticlimactic end since the lackey fell in love with the duenna’s daughter upon first sight and so surrendered before the joust had even begun. The revelation that it was the duke’s lackey under the helm and not the farmer’s son caused quite a stir, but Don Quixote explained it away as being the work of the enchanters that ever opposed him.

Don Quixote departed to continue their way towards Saragossa and received Altisidora’s painful amorous sonnet that left even the duchess surprised at her maid’s impudence. On their path, Sancho wondered how the maid could have been so enamored with Don Quixote given his complete and utter lack of beauty, but Don Quixote countered that his beauty was certainly one of virtue. They came across a group of high-born families who had set up a marquee in the fields and were acting like shepherds. Don Quixote and Sancho Panza were not only recognized but also welcomed with great warmth. The knight was so moved by the generosity of his hosts that he declared he would mount a vigil on the roads to have all the travelers declare that the ladies who had welcomed him were peels in beauty, second only to the magnificent Lady Dulcinea. This arrangement came to a disastrous end rather quickly as Don Quixote refused to clear the road for a group of herdsmen leading large bulls that thoroughly trampled the knight, his squire, and both their mounts. Don Quixote and Sancho Panza slunk away to find shelter in an inn where they encountered two readers discussing a spurious second part of Don Quixote’s history.

Don Quixote glances briefly through the volume and dismisses it as being of little consequence due to three chief mistakes. He criticizes the author for the prologue, for denoting the wrong name to Sancho Panza, and claiming that Don Quixote had fallen out of love with Lady Dulcinea. They dine with the readers and their conversation about the second volume leads Don Quixote to conclude that he would not be traveling to Saragossa but rather contradict the fake tale by making way towards Barcelona instead. On the road to Barcelona, Don Quixote notes how Sancho hasn’t yet given himself any more than five lashes causing his lady to languish in her enchanted state, and so decides to supply the deficiency by taking a cropper into his hand. Sancho awakens to find his master unlacing his breeches and jumps up in protest. He overcomes his master and puts some between them to find that the trees around them are full of hung bandits. The knight and squire are then suddenly accosted by the bandit crew of the noble Captain Roque. Don Quixote remains untroubled as a young lady rushes to the captain seeking his assistance for she has just shot her lover as he was going to betray her by marrying another woman. The captain rushes to the scene of the crime where the girl gains an opportunity to speak with her wounded lover who takes her as his wife in his final breath as he tells her that she had been taken in by rumors. Captain Roque returns to Don Quixote, who watches as the honorable man robs travelers of just a little money and treats them with a lot of respect. Roque writes a letter to one of his friends in Barcelona and asks them to treat Don Quixote well.

Analysis

The duke and duchess fall further in their status as villains while the two Panzas, Sancho and Teresa, rise in the reader's estimation chiefly due to their good sense and intention. The royal couple displays their truly callous nature through the method in which they deal with the case of the duenna and her daughter. The duchess refuses to aid her employee with such a heart-rending story, while Don Quixote abandons all safety and comfort to aid the hapless woman. The duke arranges for Don Quixote to fight one of his lackeys, and though he does not wish for either of them to hurt one another, he does not forewarn them of this safety net as he wishes for them to fight with fervor. The rulers use the troubled circumstances of duenna's life to create another source of entertainment for themselves at the cost of Don Quixote and his squire. The duchess disregards Sancho's privacy as she reads his letter to his wife, and her reply without ever considering if it would be appropriate.

Sancho handles himself masterfully during his time as a governor, but his skill seems to rest only in the completion of odd tasks and not those that governors are typically expected to fulfill. For instance, he is quite sound at uncovering deceit and lies among his petitioners but is unable to lead during the time of the invasion. As the book closes, Don Quixote's hold on his imaginary world begins to weaken, and his chivalry gives way to more practical beliefs. Just as the knight-errant declines, the strong and rustic peasant rises to claim a bigger role. Sancho Panza knocks his master down and secures an oath from him when he tries to forcefully lash him without ever apologizing for it thereby indicating his changed character from the previous book.