Don Quixote · Chapter
LXXIV: Of how Don Quixote fell sick, and of the will he made, and how he died explained
Don Quixote falls ill from melancholy and fever, regains his sanity, renounces chivalric romances, confesses, makes his will, and dies peacefully in his bed, surrounded by his niece, housekeeper, Sancho Panza, and friends.
What happens
Don Quixote falls ill from melancholy and fever, regains his sanity, renounces chivalric romances, confesses, makes his will, and dies peacefully in his bed, surrounded by his niece, housekeeper, Sancho Panza, and friends.
Themes in this chapter
Reality vs. Illusion
Don Quixote finally sees through the illusions of chivalric romances, declaring himself Alonso Quixano the Good and renouncing his former madness.
Madness and Sanity
The chapter culminates in Don Quixote's return to sanity, as he recognizes his folly and dies with a clear mind.
Friendship and Loyalty
Sancho Panza's unwavering loyalty and grief, and the friends' efforts to comfort Don Quixote, underscore the bonds of friendship.
Characters to notice
- Don Quixote
Regains his senses, renounces chivalry, confesses, makes his will, and dies as Alonso Quixano the Good.
- Sancho Panza
Weeps at his master's bedside, begs him not to die, and is forgiven and left a bequest in the will.
- Samson Carrasco
Visits Don Quixote, tries to cheer him with talk of a pastoral life, and is appointed an executor of the will.
- The Priest
Confesses Don Quixote and is appointed an executor of the will.
- The Niece
Weeps over her uncle's illness and is left the bulk of his property, with the condition she marry a man ignorant of chivalric books.
- The Housekeeper
Weeps and is left twenty ducats and a gown in the will.
Key passages
“I was mad, now I am in my senses; I was Don Quixote of La Mancha, I am now, as I said, Alonso Quixano the Good”
I was insane, but now I am rational; I used to be Don Quixote, but now I am Alonso Quixano the Good.
Don Quixote's final renunciation of his knight-errant identity.
“for the foolishest thing a man can do in this life is to let himself die without rhyme or reason, without anybody killing him, or any hands but melancholy's making an end of him.”
The most foolish act in life is to die needlessly from melancholy alone, without any external cause.
Sancho Panza's plea for Don Quixote to live.
“Now am I the enemy of Amadís of Gaul and of the whole countless troop of his descendants; odious to me now are all the profane stories of knight-errantry”
I now oppose Amadís of Gaul and all his followers; I detest all the sacrilegious tales of knight-errantry.
Don Quixote's rejection of the chivalric books that once consumed him.