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This article analyzes the Duke and Duchess episode of part two of Don Quijote, paying particular attention to the role of courtesy as shaped in manuals like the Galateo español that were popular in early modern Spain. In this episode, Cervantes develops a critique of the discourse of courtesy that is also present, from a satirical and moralistic perspective, in the picaresque genre. These chapters from the second part reveal the intense interaction—a product of early modern social tensions—between Cervantes’s fictional parody and the restrictive discourse contained in the Galateo español and other manuals. Considering Cervantes’s literary production, as well as his relationship to the noblemen from whom he sought patronage and protection, it is evident that Cervantes was disillusioned by the courtly world and that he expressed his disenchantment with this world in the second part of Don Quijote.
