Don Quixote, Part 2, Chapter 12 summary

What happens

1. Over supper, Don Quixote compares human ranks to actors’ costumes, while Sancho compares death’s equality to chess pieces gathered into a bag.
2. Don Quixote praises Sancho’s growing sense, and Sancho credits his master’s conversation and their time together.
3. As the companions settle down, the narrator describes the animals’ close friendship and lessons people learn from animals.
4. Two mounted travelers arrive, and Don Quixote wakes Sancho to listen to an armored knight sing and lament his love.
5. Don Quixote disputes the knight’s claim that every knight in La Mancha acknowledges Casildea of Vandalia as supreme in beauty.
6. The knights sit together to discuss love, while their squires withdraw to talk freely.

In this chapter

What to notice

Don Quixote recognizes a change in his squire. Sancho responds by crediting the education he receives through their companionship.

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