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Part 2, Chapter 42
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Don Quixote, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Truth and Lies
Literature, Realism, and Idealism
Madness and Sanity
Intention and Consequence
Self-Invention, Class Identity, and Social Change
Summary
Analysis
In the last chapter Quixote advised Sancho about his soul, and here he advises him about his body. He tells Sancho to be clean, tidy, and well-groomed, to buy his servants liveries, to eat and sleep in moderation, avoid belching, and to stop mixing proverbs. Sancho comes out with a string of proverbs, and says he will mostly remember the advice about belching and trimming nails, but not much else. Quixote curses his silly proverbs, wondering how he thinks of them so easily. Sancho wonders whether his master thinks him incapable of governing well, but Quixote says that he will do well, because “heaven always favours good intentions.”
This conversation describes an odd power struggle between the two friends. First, Quixote puts himself in a position of authority by giving out a great deal of unasked-for advice. Sancho waves him off with his string of proverbs. We see, here, that Quixote’s irritation with Sancho’s nonsensical proverbs is mixed with envy. He himself doesn’t quite have the imagination to think of them so easily.
Themes
