- 01Contents of Volume I
- 02Introduction
- 03Prefatory Cervantes
- 04Don Quixote
- 05The Author’s Preface
- 06Commendatory Verses
- 01Chapter I: Don Quixote's character and pursuits
- 01Chapter XV: The Yanguesan Adventure
- 01Chapter XXVI: Don Quixote’s refinements as a lover in the Sierra Morena
- 01Chapter XXXIX: The captive's life and adventures
Don Quixote
by Miguel de Cervantes · 1605 · 139 chapters · 24/7 tutor
Fiction, idealism, reality, and modernity.
139Chapters
405Lessons
960Topics
Certificate of completion included
This course was produced by Cavua from a public-domain text.
Skills this course leaves you with.
- Analyze the themes of idealism, reality, and modernity in Don Quixote
- Trace the plot and major episodes across the novel’s chapters
- Interpret Cervantes’ satire of chivalric romances and social conventions
- Explain the roles of Don Quixote, Sancho Panza, and other key characters
- Assess the novel’s literary significance and influence on the modern novel
Curriculum
The full table of contents.
Every chapter, every lesson, every topic — laid out before you enroll. Click any chapter to expand it.
- Chapters
- 139
- Lessons
- 405
- Topics
- 960
- 01Contents of Volume II
- 01Chapter XXIII: The Cave of Montesinos
- 02Chapter XXIV: Trifling Matters for the History
- 03Chapter XXV: The Braying Adventure and the Puppet-Showman
- 04Chapter XXVI: The Puppet-Showman Continued
- 05Chapter XXVII: Master Pedro, His Ape, and the Braying Mishap
- 06Chapters XXVIII-XXXV: Later Adventures and Dulcinea's Disenchantment
- 01Chapter XXXVI: The Distressed Duenna, Alias the Countess Trifaldi
- 01Chapter XLVIII: Doña Rodriguez and other occurrences
- 02Chapter XLIX: Sancho’s round of his island
- 03Chapter L: The enchanters and the page to Teresa Panza
- 04Chapter LI: Sancho’s government
- 05Chapter LII: The second distressed duenna
- 06Chapter LIII: The end of Sancho’s government
- 01Chapter LX to Chapter LXXIII chapter list
- 01Don Quixote's sickness, will, and death
- 01Shelton’s early translation and its limits
- 02Later English versions: Phillips, Ward, Motteux, and Jervas
- 01Later translations and their defects
- 02Fidelity to Cervantes in translation
- 01Avoiding affectation in translation
- 02Preserving familiar names and phrases
- 01Navarrete’s documentary biography
- 02Cervantes family origins
- 01Origin of the Cervantes surname from Cervatos and San Cervantes
- 02Cervantes family branches and descendants
- 01Cervantes's birth and early reading
- 02Spain's political and literary transition
- 01Alcalá de Henares and early reading
- 02Questioning Salamanca and the evidence for Cervantes's schooling
- 03Juan López de Hoyos and the 1569 verses
- 04Departure for Italy with Cardinal Acquaviva
- 01Battle of Lepanto and Cervantes's wounds
- 02Return to service and capture by Algerine galleys
- 03Ransom efforts and first escape attempt in Algiers
- 01First and second escape attempts from Algiers
- 01Release from Algiers and evidence against Blanco de Paz
- 02Return to Spain and military service in Portugal and the Azores
- 01Turning from soldiering to literature
- 02Early plays and dramatic failure
- 03Literary prize and tax-collector troubles
- 01Composition and early circulation of Don Quixote
- 02Cervantes’s literary ambitions and delayed Second Part
- 03Avellaneda’s spurious continuation
- 01Avellaneda’s personal attack and literary worth
- 02How Avellaneda forced the completion of Don Quixote
- 03Publication of the second part and the comedies and interludes
- 01Death and final dramatic work
- 02Assessment of Cervantes’ life and poverty
- 03Burial, neglect, and Spain’s reception of Don Quixote
- 04Monuments and posthumous reputation
- 01Widespread editions and translations
- 02Cosmopolitan yet deeply Spanish character
- 03Catholic appeal to all readers
- 04Farce and early popular reception
- 01Lord Carteret’s 1738 London edition
- 02Changing critical views of Don Quixote
- 03Romances of chivalry as the source
- 01Cervantes did not destroy chivalry
- 02The real target of Don Quixote
- 03The book's moral and structure
- 01Sancho Panza’s origin and role
- 02Cervantes’s revised plan for the Second Part
- 03Don Quixote and Sancho as popular realities
- 01Don Quixote’s madness and sanity
- 02Sancho’s character and mendacity
- 03Burlesque of chivalric romance and Dulcinea
- 01Dulcinea and burlesque of courtly love
- 02The novel’s simplicity and La Mancha
- 03Incongruity as the source of humour
- 01Incongruity in Don Quixote's surroundings
- 02Cervantes' grave, matter-of-fact humour
- 03Spanish gravity and the difficulty of translation
- 01Humour as the defining quality of Don Quixote
- 01The author’s difficulty with the preface
- 01Sonnets, quotations, and marginal notes
- 01Latin quotations and scholarly annotations
- 02Borrowed references to authors from A to Z
- 01No need for borrowed authorities
- 01Commendatory verses to Don Quixote
- 02Amadis of Gaul sonnet
- 03Don Belianis of Greece sonnet
- 04The Lady of Oriana sonnet
- 01Sonnet to Sancho Panza
- 02Mock-heroic verses on Sancho and Rocinante
- 03Sonnet to Don Quixote from Orlando Furioso
- 04Sonnet of the Knight of Phœbus
- 01Sonnet to Don Quixote of La Mancha
- 02Dialogue Between Babieca and Rocinante
- 01Dedication to the Duke of Bejar
- 01Don Quixote's household and habits
- 02His obsession with books of chivalry
- 01Books of chivalry and the loss of his wits
- 01Rocinante and Don Quixote's chosen name
- 02The Lady of His Thoughts, Dulcinea del Toboso
- 01Don Quixote’s first departure and knightly reflections
- 02The inn mistaken for a castle
- 03Dinner, music, and the need for knighthood
- 01Don Quixote requests knighthood
- 02The landlord’s mock chivalric response
- 01Money and provisions for knights-errant
- 02Watching the armour in the inn yard
- 03The carrier disturbs the armour
- 01Don Quixote strikes the carriers
- 02The second attack and the innkeeper’s intervention
- 03The landlord decides to dub him knight
- 01The knighting ceremony at the inn
- 01Don Quixote sets out for home
- 02Don Quixote intervenes for Andres
- 03Juan Haldudo promises payment
- 01Andres’s punishment and Don Quixote’s self-congratulation
- 02The Toledo traders and the demand to praise Dulcinea
- 03Rocinante’s stumble and the muleteer’s beating
- 01Don Quixote’s imitation of the wounded knight
- 02The peasant’s discovery and questioning
- 01Return to the village with Don Quixote
- 02Household alarm at his arrival
- 01Household alarm over Don Quixote's disappearance
- 02The curate and barber condemn the chivalric books
- 03Don Quixote's return and imagined battle wounds
- 01The curate questions the peasant
- 01The library purge of chivalric romances
- 01Tirante el Blanco
- 02Books of poetry and pastoral romances
- 01Don Quixote's fevered delusions after the books are burned
- 02The room is walled up and the books vanish by magic
- 03Fifteen days at home debating knight-errantry
- 01Sancho Panza joins as squire
- 02Preparing for the sally
- 03Promises of an island and kingdom
- 04Sancho's hopes for his family
- 01The windmills mistaken for giants
- 02The aftermath of the windmill fall
- 03The friars and the coach
- 04Don Quixote and the Biscayan's duel
- 05The interrupted history and missing conclusion
- 01The missing continuation of the history
- 02Discovery of the Arabic manuscript
- 01Don Quixote’s attack on the Biscayan
- 02The ladies plead for mercy
- 01Sancho’s plea for the promised island
- 02The Holy Brotherhood and knight-errantry
- 03The balsam of Fierabras
- 04The shattered helmet and vows of vengeance
- 05Food, fasting, and the night among the goatherds
- 01Goatherds' supper and Sancho's refusal of honors
- 01Don Quixote's praise of the golden age
- 01Antonio sings his love ballad
- 02Sancho seeks sleep and the goatherd treats the ear wound
- 01Chrysostom's death and burial plans
- 02Chrysostom's learning and love for Marcela
- 03Marcela's family background
- 01Marcela’s upbringing and inheritance
- 02Marcela’s refusal of marriage
- 03Marcela’s shepherdess life and rejection of suitors
- 01Journey to Chrysostom’s burial
- 02Vivaldo’s account of Marcela and Chrysostom
- 03Don Quixote on the knight-errant’s calling
- 01Knight-errantry and the order of chivalry
- 02The knight-errant’s hardships and duties
- 01Dulcinea del Toboso and the knight-errant's lady
- 01Chrysostom’s funeral bier and grave
- 02Vivaldo’s plea to save the papers
- 01Chrysostom’s lament of despair
- 01Ambrosio’s defense of Marcela
- 02Marcela’s defense of her freedom and beauty
- 01Marcela's defense and Don Quixote's protection
- 02Chrysostom's burial and farewell
- 03Don Quixote's resolve to seek Marcela
- 01Rest in the glade and Rocinante's encounter with the Yanguesan ponies
- 02Don Quixote and Sancho's attack on the Yanguesans
- 03Aftermath of the beating and Don Quixote's warning to Sancho
- 01Sancho's refusal of knightly retaliation
- 02Don Quixote's lesson on chivalric governance and endurance
- 03Examples of knights' sufferings and the law of the duel
- 01Sancho carries Don Quixote toward the road
- 01Don Quixote’s lodging and plastering
- 02Sancho’s account of knight-errantry
- 03Don Quixote’s castle delusion
- 04Maritornes, the carrier, and the nighttime brawl
- 05Nighttime brawl in the inn
- 01Don Quixote’s account of the enchanted castle
- 02Sancho’s bruises and the balsam remedy
- 03The cuadrillero’s lamp blow
- 01Preparation of the salutiferous balsam
- 02Don Quixote's trial of the balsam
- 03Sancho Panza's disastrous dose
- 01Sancho’s illness after the balsam
- 02Don Quixote demands payment at the inn
- 03Sancho refuses to pay and is blanketed
- 04Sancho’s departure and the detained alforjas
- 01Sancho's beating and Don Quixote's enchantment theory
- 02Sancho's plea to return home
- 03Don Quixote's defense of chivalry
- 01Sancho’s complaint about their defeats
- 02The imagined armies of Alifanfaron and Pentapolin
- 03Don Quixote’s catalogue of phantom knights and nations
- 04The charge against the sheep
- 01Don Quixote attacks the flock of sheep
- 02Sancho finds his master wounded
- 03Don Quixote explains the enchantment
- 01The balsam vomit and missing alforjas
- 02Don Quixote’s consolation and Sancho’s complaint
- 03Teeth lost and the search for shelter
- 01Sancho's rebuke and Don Quixote's forgotten oath
- 02The night road and the approaching lights
- 01Night procession of encamisados and the bier
- 02The bachelor’s complaint and Don Quixote’s defense
- 03Sancho’s spoils and the Knight of the Rueful Countenance
- 01The Knight of the Rueful Countenance
- 02Retreat to the valley and meal
- 01The ominous night sounds in the meadow
- 02Don Quixote resolves to face the adventure
- 03Sancho’s pleas and the delay until dawn
- 04Sancho ties Rocinante’s legs and tells a story
- 01Sancho’s tale of Lope Ruiz and Torralva
- 02Sancho’s embarrassment and Don Quixote’s mockery
- 03Don Quixote prepares to enter the adventure
- 01Discovery of the fulling mills
- 02Don Quixote rebukes Sancho's laughter
- 03Master and squire: wages and respect
- 01Don Quixote mistakes the barber’s basin for Mambrino’s helmet
- 02Sancho’s doubts and the rules of chivalric spoil
- 01Sancho’s proposal to seek service under a prince
- 02Don Quixote’s fantasy of courtly advancement and marriage
- 03Royal lineage, seizure, and Sancho’s future countship
- 04Sancho’s barber and count ambitions
- 05Don Quixote’s promise of kingship and advancement
- 01Don Quixote confronts the galley slaves
- 02The prisoners explain their crimes
- 03Gines de Pasamonte and his unfinished life story
- 04Don Quixote frees the galley slaves
- 05The slaves’ refusal and Don Quixote’s defeat
- 01Don Quixote yields to Sancho’s warning
- 02Entering the Sierra Morena and camping for the night
- 03Gines de Pasamonte steals Sancho’s ass
- 01Discovery of the valise and memorandum book
- 02The sonnet and rejected-lover letter
- 03Search for the owner in the Sierra Morena
- 01The ragged youth’s first appearance and thefts
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01How many chapters are in the Don Quixote course?
The Don Quixote course has 139 chapters, each with its own lessons and topics.
02How many lessons are in the Don Quixote course?
There are 405 lessons across the course, and you can ask your 24/7 tutor about any of them.
03Can I see what the Don Quixote course covers before I start?
Yes. The full curriculum is listed on this page, beginning with "CONTENTS VOLUME I INTRODUCTION · PREFARATORY CERVANTES · THE AUTHOR’S PREFACE COMMENDATORY VERSES".
04Do I get a certificate for the Don Quixote course?
Yes. Finishing the course earns a personal Cavua certificate of completion.
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