The Death of Don Quixote and the Birth of Modernity: The Omens in Don Quixote, Part II, Chapter 73

Abstract

The article begins by reviewing the critical debate about Don Quixote and modernity. It then studies in detail the incidents of the hare and the cricket cage that occur towards the end of Part II, shortly before Don Quixote’s death. It concludes that if these are interpreted in the light of their literary antecedents they acquire a symbolic value that recalls the providential world of the novels of chivalry. In the novel of Cervantes, however, their prophetic significance is not evident. In this respect the episode reflects the experience of a disenchanted world that according to Max Weber characterizes modernity.