How we cite our quotes: (Part.Book.Chapter.Paragraph) We use the P. A. Motteux translation from 1712 for our quotes. Some familiar character names appear differently in this edition (Sancho Panza is Sancho Panca here, Rocinante is Rozinante, and Doña Rodriguez is Donna Rodriguez). We preserve Motteux's spellings in our quotes but use the more familiar versions of these names in our analysis.
Quote #4
[The] Duke and Duchess were within a hair's breadth of being thought fools themselves, for taking so much pains to make sport with the weakness of two poor silly wretches. (2.1.70.3)
At this point, even Cervantes seems to have had enough of the Duke and Duchess's pranks. He calls them out for being downright jerks and suggests that they might be just as crazy as Don Quixote is for taking so much pleasure in tricking others. But hey, Dukes and Duchesses don't have to work, so they probably get really bored sitting around all day. Hey, by the way: how much are we readers like the Duke and Duchess? How many hours have we spent laughing at Don Quixote and his misadventures? Is there a difference?
Quote #5
"In that equipage […] we will go to Don Quixote, and feigning myself to be a distressed damsel, I will beg a boon of him, which he, as a valorous knight-errant, will not fail to promise me," (1.3.12.6)
The curate and the barber from Don Quixote's village feel like the only way to help their friend is to get him home to bed, but they don't want to drag him forcefully. So they figure that the best way to get him home is to trick him with a phony quest. This kind of manipulation doesn't seem as mean as other types in the book because the curate and barber honestly want what's best for their friend.
Quote #6
"'Tis Fate's decree that Sancho, thy good squire / On his bare brawny buttocks should bestow / Three thousand lashes, and eke three hundred more." (2.1.35.1)
As the second half of the novel unfolds, it seems that every one of the Duke and Duchess's pranks involves Sancho Panza getting hurt in some way. The most hilarious of these pranks, though, has to be Merlin's command that Sancho Panza take 3,300 lashes on the bum to lift the curse on Don Quixote's beloved Dulcinea. Why do these people keep wanting to put Sancho in pain's way? Is it funny?