The immortal Don Quixote and his squire Sancho Panza are easily recognizable: we know exactly who they are when we see the image of a slender knight with a peculiar helmet atop a gaunt horse and a peasant on a donkey. The sad figure of the Manchegan nobleman has transcended time and space, influencing literature, music, visual arts, even cinema or Broadway musicals. Four centuries after the publication of the two parts of the novel, its iconic image still accompanies us today.
The illustrious nobleman Don Quixote of La Mancha is the masterpiece of the writer Miguel de Cervantes, and by extension, of Spanish literature. This novel, published in two parts in 1605 and 1615, tells the story of a nobleman, Alonso Quijano, who, driven by excessive reading of chivalry books, loses his sanity and decides to become a knight-errant under the name Don Quixote. He convinces a neighboring peasant, Sancho Panza, to accompany him as his squire, and together they face a series of adventures and encounters with characters and elements that are often interpreted in Don Quixote’s mind as fantastical situations, such as the famous episode of the confrontation against giants that turn out to be windmills. All this with the purpose of aiding the weak and driven by devotion to his beloved Dulcinea del Toboso (a peasant named Aldonza whom he barely knew).
The novel primarily originated as a satirical work in which Cervantes took the opportunity to mock the chivalry literature of the time. However, due to its complexity and length, it allows for various interpretations. Cervantes, moved by a humanistic sentiment and a certain melancholy, uses satire to criticize the society of his time, characterized by ambition and lack of scruples manifested in some characters that clash with the idealism of Don Quixote. His delirium, therefore, transforms into an act of rebellion against a reality that Cervantes considered unjust.
Our Spanish character par excellence, the immortal Don Quixote, has become a timeless figure that resonates in our collective conscience. He serves as a reminder of the importance of imagination and the constant search for firm and timeless values such as justice and truth in a complex and changing world.
In our catalogue you can find pieces of Don Quixote, Sancho Panza and Cervantes:
