Don Quixote Group

Question:

er3
er3
Student
High School - 9th Grade

Why is the Windmill Scene (Chapter VIII) important/well-known?

I am supposed to read book 1 for my spanish 1 class.  and my teacher said that the Windmill Scene was a famous one aswell as Chapter 1.  I thought Cervantes did not even mention the Windmills very often. If anyone knows why it is "famous" please tell me. Thank you.

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Posted by er3 on Saturday February 7, 2009 at 4:18 PM and tagged with don quixote.

Answers:


  1. ms-mcgregor Teacher
    High School - 12th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    Best answer as selected by question asker.

     

    In this very famous scene, which has been immortalized by phrases such as "tilting a windmills" and in art by Pablo Picasso, Don Quixote mistakes some windmills for giants and, in true knightly style, rushes at the windmills with his spear in hand. When he realizes he attacked a windmill, and not a giant, he blames a magician and says the magician turned the giants into windmills. This scene resonates with us because many of time people fight battles against the wrong enemy. For instance, they assume that they should battle their boss for some decision when instead it was the bosses boss who actually made the decision. Fighting the wrong person means wasting your time and energy on the wrong target. Since this is such a common human foible, the expression "tilting at windmills", which is an allusion to "Don Quixote", has become synonymous with wasting your time and energy on the wrong target.

     

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/don-quixote

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    Posted by ms-mcgregor on Saturday February 7, 2009 at 6:18 PM