Don Quixote, Part 2, Chapter 39 summary

What happens

1. Trifaldi says the vicar approves Antonomasia’s marriage to Don Clavijo, and her enraged mother dies within three days.
2. Sancho questions the queen’s extreme grief, and Don Quixote agrees that a knight errant can rise to supreme rank.
3. Trifaldi recounts Malambruno’s transformation of the lovers into metal animals, with release dependent on combat against the valiant Manchegan.
4. Malambruno threatens Trifaldi with death, then instead condemns all the palace duennas to growing beards.
5. The women uncover their faces, astonishing their audience, and Trifaldi laments their suffering until she seems ready to faint.

In this chapter

What to notice

The question connects the visible punishment to Trifaldi’s fear of rejection. Her distress concerns both changed appearance and the loss of help or sympathy.

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