https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/c/cervantes/c41d/p2chap57.htm

Throughout this second part of the novel, Don Quixote seems like a new person. He speaks rationally and isn’t as problematic as he was in the first part of the novel. Even though he seems new, he’s the same, old, mad man he’s always been on the inside. Don Quixote is  hypocritical with his actions and words as he’s always been, and Don Quixote is still as reckless as he was before. He is still someone that is out for adventure, going through a mid-life crisis.

In chapter twenty-seven, Don Quixote was trying to stop two villages from battling. Don Quixote was speaking rationally and convincingly. He said ” a private individual cannot insult an entire community”(Cervantes, chp. 27). He then went on preaching about “the four things for which sensible men and well ordered states ought to take up arms”(Cervantes, chp. 27). He said the four main things are to defend Catholicism, your life, your honor, family, and property, and to serve the king. Don Quixote was working up this speech and basically had the angry village convinced, but Sancho interfered by offending them and Don Quixote’s work was thrown away.

https://positivepsychologyprogram.com/3-steps-negativity-bia

Because of his interference, Sancho was beat up in this same chapter and Don Quixote could not fight off so many people, so he stood back. This is hypocritical for Don Quixote because Don Quixote had just finished a whole speech on taking up arms to defend ones property and family, two areas that Sancho could fit in because he is Don Quixote’s squire and friend. Don Quixote knows Sancho’s character very well by now, often times embarrassed by it, Don Quixote knows what to expect from Sancho, he knew Sancho had no bad intentions in angering the villagers. As a knight – errant, Don Quixote is supposed to defend people and be a deliverer from bullies, but that was not the case in this situation. Don Quixote seemed annoyed with Sancho for messing things up, so he stood back and let him get beat up.

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/01/13/angry_yank_bloke_pays_the_taxman_with_five_wheelbarrows_of_coin

After that whole situation, Sancho wanted to go home. He and Don Quixote went over how much money Sancho had earned up to that point, and Sancho considered going home. Don Quixote went off on Sancho and called him an animal for being “disloyal” to him. This is very angering to read, and it is very hypocritical as well.  Sancho has just been beat up, and Don Quixote witnessed it all and did not even try to stop anyone. Sancho was still upset later in the chapters, and Don Quixote said “courage which is not based on prudence is called foolhardiness”(Cervantes, chp. 28). So basically Don Quixote has his own back and when the situation seems inconvenient Sancho has his own back too. Don Quixote really hasn’t changed because of this. Just like he did in the first volume, Don Quixote is still twisting reality and making false promises like giving Sancho an island.

Don Quixote is still also reckless and he’s always putting himself in harms way. In chapter twenty-eight we saw him desperate for adventure jumping into a boat and almost killing himself. This scene and the lions scene put Don Quixote in danger. We thought he had matured with the lion scene, since he didn’t provoke the lions, but this boat adventure was him provoking his chances. I think he has hit a deep point in his mid life crisis, and its been such a long break since the last volume, maybe Don Quixote lost his shine and he’s trying to get it back.

Don Quixote is a very confusing character at this point in the novel. He shows signs of improvement but then he does things that don’t seem so mature. He’s trying to keep his fantasy going but he’s really run out of ideas, so his progression and next adventures until the end of the novel will be interesting, and hopefully he still works up good laughs for his readers.