Don Quixote Ch. 73: Basilio's Wedding Trick

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Basilio's Wedding Trick

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Summary

Camacho and Quiteria arrive at the wedding theatre in full pageantry while Sancho rhapsodizes over the bride's jewels and velvet. Before vows can be spoken, Basilio appears in black and cypress crown, begs the crowd to wait, and impales himself on a staff that conceals a bloody rapier, cursing Quiteria's ingratitude and wishing Camacho long life while he dies.

The priest will not pull the blade before confession, but Basilio refuses unless Quiteria gives him her hand as his bride in his last moment. Don Quixote calls the request just, saying the nuptial couch must be the grave, and Camacho is pressed until Quiteria kneels and freely accepts him. After the blessing Basilio springs up, reveals an iron tube and prepared blood, and shouts that it is only a trick, not a miracle.

Camacho's party draws swords until Don Quixote halts them, arguing that love and war alike allow stratagems that do not dishonor the beloved, and that Quiteria belongs to Basilio by heaven's disposal. Camacho is pacified and would let the feast continue, but the new couple withdraw with Quixote while Sancho mourns the flesh-pots of Egypt and the skimmings he must leave behind.

In this chapter: Terms Characters Key Quotes Modern Story

Why This Matters

Seeing When Love Uses a Staged Crisis

A poor lover can stop a rich wedding with a fake death and a demand for one last vow. Basilio impales himself on a prepared blade, wins Quiteria at the grave's edge, reveals the trick, and survives only because Don Quixote says love and war share the same permission for stratagem.

Ask who freely chose, who was cornered, and whether the trick honoured the bride or only defeated the man with money.

Coming Up in Chapter 74

Basilio's village honours Don Quixote as a Cid in arms and Cicero in speech before the knight rides on toward the cave of Montesinos What follows unsettles everything settled here Basilio and Quiteria honour Don Quixote for three days, and he justifies Basilio's wedding trick as deception aimed at virtuous ends while preaching marriage, poverty, and honour to the poor newlyweds. Sancho mutters that.

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Original text

2,498 wordscomplete

Chapter 73

Basilio's Wedding Trick

IN WHICH CAMACHO’S WEDDING IS CONTINUED, WITH OTHER DELIGHTFUL INCIDENTS While Don Quixote and Sancho were engaged in the discussion set forth the last chapter, they heard loud shouts and a great noise, which were uttered and made by the men on the mares as they went at full gallop, shouting, to receive the bride and bridegroom, who were approaching with musical instruments and pageantry of all sorts around them, and accompanied by the priest and the relatives of both, and all the most distinguished people of the surrounding villages. When Sancho saw the bride, he exclaimed, “By my faith,…

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Critical Thinking Exercise

10 minutes

Name the When Love Plays the Trick Wealth Couldn't Stop Move

Re-read the chapter summary and write down where when love plays the trick wealth couldn't stop first appears, who pays for it, and who benefits from keeping it going. Then write one sentence you could say to interrupt the pattern without shaming the person caught in it.

Consider:

•Separate the person's worth from the pattern's cost
•Notice who has power to stop or fuel the scene
•Ask what truth would require someone to give up

Journaling Prompt

Write about a time when you saw when love plays the trick wealth couldn't stop in your own life. What finally made the pattern impossible to ignore?

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Basilio's Wedding Trick

Summary