Don Quixote Ch. 122: Hamete Explains the Plot

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Hamete Explains the Plot and Altisidora's Hell

0:00

0:00 / 0:00

0:00

Summary

Sancho would rather sleep alone after his martyrdom, but Don Quixote keeps him awake praising the power of cold-hearted scorn that slew Altisidora until Sancho begs to be let sleep or throw himself from the window, and complains that no pain matched the insult of smacks from duennas, confound them. They sleep, and Cide Hamete explains how bachelor Samson Carrasco, after failing as the Knight of the Mirrors, put a white moon upon his shield, overcame Quixote at Barcelona, and returned to tell the duke, who then staged the catafalque and sent servants to capture the pair; Hamete adds that the concocters of the joke are as crazy as the victims and the duke and duchess not two fingers' breadth from fools themselves.

Altisidora visits the bedchamber claiming she died of Quixote's cruelty until Love restored her through Sancho's sufferings, and describes hell's gate where devils played tennis with books as balls, knocking the Second Part of the History of Don Quixote of La Mancha not by Cide Hamete into the depths while Quixote says he is not the one that history treats of. She turns furious, calls him Don Stockfish, and confesses all that you have seen to-night has been make-believe; the musician of the catafalque visits, the duke and duchess arrive, Quixote prescribes honest and constant employment in lace-making, Altisidora withdraws, and they depart the same evening.

In this chapter: Terms Characters Key Quotes Modern Story

Why This Matters

Reading When the Narrator Exposes Plot and Parody

What happens when Hamete reveals Samson Carrasco's scheme and the duke's catafalque, and Altisidora mocks Quixote with a vision of devils destroying the fake Second Part. When a story pauses to explain how a joke was built, notice who staged the humiliation and who still cannot see the trick.

Read authorial exposé as proof that plotters and victims can share the same folly.

This chapter

Inside the Mind: Sancho Panza

Sancho says no pain came up to the insult of the smacks, because "it was duennas, confound them," that gave them. He begs to sleep, since "sleep is relief from misery" to those who are miserable when awake. The pinches can be counted. The hands that delivered them are the part he cannot settle.

Continue this thoughtSancho Keeps Two Ledgers Open

Coming Up in Chapter 123

Downcast after defeat yet glad of Sancho's virtue, Don Quixote rides toward home while Sancho grieves Altisidora's unpaid smocks and negotiates lashes for Dulcinea at a quarter real apiece.

PreviousPrevious Chapter NextNext Chapter

Original text

2,871 wordscomplete

Chapter 122

Hamete Explains the Plot and Altisidora's Hell

CHAPTER LXX. WHICH FOLLOWS SIXTY-NINE AND DEALS WITH MATTERS INDISPENSABLE FOR THE CLEAR COMPREHENSION OF THIS HISTORY Sancho slept that night in a cot in the same chamber with Don Quixote, a thing he would have gladly excused if he could for he knew very well that with questions and answers his master would not let him sleep, and he was in no humour for talking much, as he still felt the pain of his late martyrdom, which interfered with his freedom of speech; and it would have been more to his taste to sleep in a hovel alone, than…

Public-domain chapter text, formatted for reading.

Master this chapter. Complete your experience

Purchase the complete book to access all chapters and support classic literature

Buy atAmazon.com

Available in paperback, hardcover, and e-book formats

The Three Musketeers

Alexandre Dumas

Explores identity & self

The Blue Castle

L. M. Montgomery

Explores identity & self

Notes from Underground

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Explores identity & self

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Robert Louis Stevenson

Explores identity & self

Identity & Self-Discovery Moral Dilemmas & Ethics Love & Relationships

Lessons from Don Quixote

Theme-by-theme analyses that connect this book to modern life skills.

Deep diving the literary elements.

Hamete Explains the Plot and Altisidora's Hell

Summary

Why This Matters