A Farewell to Arms: Guns and the End of Knighthood in Don Quixote.

This article examines the role and symbolism of guns and gunpowder weaponry in the second part of Miguel de Cervantes’s *Don Quixote*, focusing on how their introduction signals the decline of traditional knighthood and chivalric ideals. While the first part of the novel largely avoids direct warfare, portraying Don Quixote’s battles as literary parodies, the second part increasingly incorporates modern military realities—such as gun-toting bandits, armed townspeople, and a naval skirmish involving galleys armed with artillery—culminating in a confrontation near Barcelona. Guns in the narrative connote modernity, anonymity, and moral ambiguity, challenging the knight’s outdated code of honor and Christian notions of vengeance, as seen in episodes involving Claudia Jerónima, Roque Guinart, and the braying villagers. The article situates these developments within the historical context of early modern European warfare and Spanish military practices, highlighting Cervantes’s nuanced exploration of the tension between chivalric heroism and the impersonal, often brutal nature of gunpowder warfare. Ultimately, the novel’s progression from lances and swords to firearms reflects a broader cultural and literary shift, with Don Quixote’s final defeat symbolizing the end of an era of heroic individual combat in the face of modern, mechanized violence.