In the final chapters of the first section there is a shift in Don Quixote’s from what we saw in the beginning to what he has become by the end. I believe that he still believes in his chivalric knighthood, but he is defeated in the end. In chapter 52 he has one last fight scene with a goatherd who insults him by saying that if Don Quixote really believes he is a knight he must be joking or just dumb. Done Quixote replies, “You are a villainous wretch… and you are the one who is empty as a fool, and I am fuller than a whore of a bitch who bore you ever was.” I think that this quote is a pretty offensive statement, one of the ones that use the foulest language I have read so far. It is as if Don Quixote is giving this fight all that he has left in him. At this point Don Quixote is not really “enchanted” seeing something different he is simply defending his beliefs. This is different than his other encounters. In the beginning I think that Don Quixote instead of fighting the goatherd he would have tried to prove his knighthood. But now towards the end it seems that he no longer is caught up fully in his fantasy, and feels he has to defend it. It is as if the glory of the fantasy world is fading.
After this fight he is knocked unconscious. When he awakens he decides it is time to go home. He says. “You are speaking sound sense… and it will be wise indeed to wait for the presently prevailing malign influence of the stars to dissipate.” I took this to mean that his fate is not working out as it should. He needs to go home until his bad luck goes away. It is sad and somewhat abrupt the way it ends. It is like Don Quixote just gives up. If we were comparing this to other quixotic people it is like them just giving up on their dream.
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