Chapter XXXII
I shall never be fool enough to turn
knight-errant. For I see quite well that it’s not the fashion now
to do as they did in the olden days when they say those famous knights
roamed the world.
(See Important Quotations Explained)
Don Quixote, Sancho, the priest, the barber, Dorothea,
and Cardenio arrive at the same inn where Sancho was tossed in the
blanket. The barber takes off his disguise. The innkeeper, his wife,
their daughter, and Maritornes join the priest, the barber, Dorothea,
and Cardenio to talk about Don Quixote’s madness and the books that have
caused it. The priest and the barber want to burn the inn’s collection
of chivalric literature, but the innkeeper defends these tales, claiming
that the government would not allow them to be published if they
were untrue. But he adds that he will never become a knight-errant,
because he knows chivalry is out of style. He tells the company
that an unnamed man left an old trunk filled with books and manuscripts
at the inn. The priest, despite his skepticism about the books of
chivalry, asks the innkeeper for permission to copy one of the manuscripts,
which the priest reads to the crowd.
Chapter XXXIII
The manuscript that the priest reads tells the story of
Anselmo and Lothario, two close friends who live in Florence, Italy.
Anselmo marries Camilla, a beautiful woman who has the purest intentions. One
day Anselmo tells Lothario he wants to test Camilla’s purity and
chastity. He asks Lothario to woo Camilla to see whether she will
be able to resist. Lothario, in a lengthy speech filled with sonnets and
classical references, tells Anselmo that his plan is stupid, but Anselmo
does not listen.
Lothario falsely tells Anselmo, on several occasions,
that he has tried and failed to woo Camilla. Anselmo spies on the
two of them and realizes that Lothario has been lying to him—he
has not made any false advances toward Camilla. Anselmo makes Lothario
swear that he will try to woo Camilla while Anselmo is away for
a week on a business trip. Lothario does try to woo Camilla and
inadvertently falls in love with her. Camilla sends a letter to
Anselmo begging him to come home and rescue her from his deceitful
friend Lothario.
Chapter XXXIV
Anselmo receives Camilla’s letter, realizes that his plan
is working, and refuses to come home early. Over time Camilla succumbs
to Lothario’s advances and they begin a love affair. When Anselmo returns,
Lothario tells him that Camilla has resisted his seduction. Anselmo
adds to the plan by asking Lothario to write love poetry for Camilla,
which the lovestruck Lothario is now thrilled to do. Camilla’s maid,
Leonela, helps Lothario and Camilla carry on their affair and takes
a lover of her own. Though worried that Leonela will bring her shame,
Camilla does not interfere because she fears Leonela will tell Anselmo
about her affair with Lothario.
One morning, Lothario sees Leonela’s lover leaving the
house and thinks Camilla has taken another lover. In a fit of jealous
rage, he tells Anselmo that he has seduced Camilla but that she
has not yet acted on her love for him. Lothario reveals Camilla’s
plan to meet him in a closet on a certain day and encourages Anselmo
to observe his wife’s infidelity. In the meantime, Camilla tells
Lothario of her concerns about Leonela, prompting Lothario to realize
his mistake. He tells her about his blunder, and she forms a plan
to trick Anselmo so that she and Lothario can carry out their affair
in the open. She meets Lothario in the closet and, aware that Anselmo
is watching, pretends to stab herself rather than give up her purity
to Lothario. The deception works, enabling Camilla to carry on her
affair with Lothario without Anselmo ever suspecting.
Chapter XXXV
While the priest is reading, Sancho rushes into the room
to tell everyone that Don Quixote has slain the giant who captured
Dorothea’s kingdom. Rushing to see what has happened, they find
that Don Quixote is battling the giant in his sleep and has destroyed
several of the innkeeper’s wineskins, which Sancho has mistaken
for a giant’s head. When Sancho cannot find the giant’s head, he
becomes crazed, fearing that he will not get his governorship.
