List Of Characters In Don Quixote
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The following is a partial list of
characters Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...
in the novel ''
Don Quixote de la Mancha is a Spanish epic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615, its full title is ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'' or, in Spanish, (changing in Part 2 to ). A founding work of Western ...
'' by
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (; 29 September 1547 (assumed) – 22 April 1616 NS) was an Early Modern Spanish writer widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world's pre-eminent novelists. He is best know ...
.


Main characters

*
Don Quixote is a Spanish epic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615, its full title is ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'' or, in Spanish, (changing in Part 2 to ). A founding work of Wester ...
, a
Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...
gentleman A gentleman (Old French: ''gentilz hom'', gentle + man) is any man of good and courteous conduct. Originally, ''gentleman'' was the lowest rank of the landed gentry of England, ranking below an esquire and above a yeoman; by definition, the ra ...
of
La Mancha La Mancha () is a natural and historical region located in the Spanish provinces of Albacete, Cuenca, Ciudad Real, and Toledo. La Mancha is an arid but fertile plateau (610 m or 2000 ft) that stretches from the mountains of Toledo to the ...
Alonso Quijano (or Quesada, or Quijada), who believes himself and acts as a
knight-errant A knight-errant (or knight errant) is a figure of medieval chivalric romance literature. The adjective '' errant'' (meaning "wandering, roving") indicates how the knight-errant would wander the land in search of adventures to prove his chivalric ...
as described in various
medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
books of
chivalry Chivalry, or the chivalric code, is an informal and varying code of conduct developed in Europe between 1170 and 1220. It was associated with the medieval Christianity, Christian institution of knighthood; knights' and gentlemen's behaviours we ...
, riding his horse
Rocinante Rocinante () is Don Quixote's horse in the two-part 1605/1615 novel ''Don Quixote'' by Miguel de Cervantes. In many ways, Rocinante is not only Don Quixote's horse, but also his double; like Don Quixote, he is awkward, past his prime, and ...
. *
Sancho Panza Sancho Panza () is a fictional character in the novel ''Don Quixote'' written by Spanish author Don Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra in 1605. Sancho acts as squire to Don Quixote and provides comments throughout the novel, known as ''sanchismos'', ...
(or Zancas), Don Quixote's squire. He is uneducated and unable to read, but he knows numerous proverbs and rides a donkey.


Other characters

* Antonia, Alonso Quijano's niece, a woman under twenty; she urges both the priest and the barber to burn all of Alonso's books * Antonio, a goatherder, who plays a song for Don Quixote on the
rebec The rebec (sometimes rebecha, rebeckha, and other spellings, pronounced or ) is a bowed stringed instrument of the Medieval era and the early Renaissance. In its most common form, it has a narrow boat-shaped body and one to five strings. Origi ...
(in Book I, Chapter 11) * Avellaneda, author of the false Second Part of ''Don Quixote'' who is frequently referred to in Cervantes' second part. *
Cardenio ''The History of Cardenio'', often referred to as simply ''Cardenio'', is a lost play, known to have been performed by the King's Men, a London theatre company, in 1613. The play is attributed to William Shakespeare and John Fletcher in a Stat ...
, an honorable young man who dwells in misery and madness in
Sierra Morena The Sierra Morena is one of the main systems of mountain ranges in Spain. It stretches for 450 kilometres from east to west across the south of the Iberian Peninsula, forming the southern border of the ''Meseta Central'' plateau and providi ...
, driven there by the apparent infidelity of his beloved Lucinda and the treachery of Duke Ferdinand (Fernando). Shakespeare's lost play
The History of Cardenio ''The History of Cardenio'', often referred to as simply ''Cardenio'', is a lost play, known to have been performed by the King's Men, a London theatre company, in 1613. The play is attributed to William Shakespeare and John Fletcher in a Stati ...
may have been based on his story. * Ferdinand (Fernando), a young and reckless nobleman, who promises to marry Dorotea, but leaves her and instead takes Lucinda from Cardenio, but eventually repents (since his promise to Dorotea is legally binding), returns Lucinda to Cardenio and marries Dorotea. * Dorotea (Dorothea), a modest young woman, whom Ferdinand promises to marry, seduces, and then leaves. She remains loyal to Ferdinand despite his reckless behavior. Like Cardenio, she hid out in the mountains, but dressed as a young man. Pretended to be Princess Micomicona to get Don Quixote to leave the mountains. *
Cide Hamete Benengeli Cide Hamete Benengeli is a fictional Arab Muslim historian created by Miguel de Cervantes in his novel ''Don Quixote'', who Cervantes says is the true author of most of the work. This is a skillful metafictional literary pirouette that seems to ...
is the fictional
Moorish The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a distinct or se ...
author created by Cervantes and listed as
Don Quixote is a Spanish epic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615, its full title is ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'' or, in Spanish, (changing in Part 2 to ). A founding work of Wester ...
's chronicler. Cide is a title like ''sir'', meaning ''My Lord''; Hamete is the Spanish form of the Arabic name Hamed, ''he who praises''; and Benengeli is a comical invention of Cervantes that suggests ''aubergine-eater'' via the Spanish ''berenjena'' or aubergine, popularly considered to be the favorite food in Toledo at the time of the novel. * Friston the magician (El Sabio Frestón), an imaginary character who Quixote imagines as the thief of his books and the enchanter of the windmills. *
Dulcinea Dulcinea del Toboso is a fictional character who is unseen in Miguel de Cervantes' novel ''Don Quijote''. Don Quijote believes he must have a lady, under the mistaken view that chivalry requires it. As he does not have one, he invents her, mak ...
of
El Toboso El Toboso is a town and municipality located in the Mancha Alta de Toledo comarca, province of Toledo, Castile-La Mancha, central Spain. According to the 2009 data, El Toboso has a total population of 2,219 inhabitants. The economy of the town ...
, the woman Don Quixote fancies his lady love; her real name is Aldonza Lorenzo, and he has never actually met her. * Ginés de Pasamonte a.k.a. Ginesillo de Parapilla, a criminal freed by Don Quixote. He later reappears as Maese Pedro, a puppet-showman who claims that he can talk to his monkey. * Grisóstomo, a shepherd who dies of a broken heart after his declaration of love is spurned by Marcela, a wealthy orphan girl who dresses as a shepherdess and lives in the woods to commune with nature, and whose beauty attracts dozens of suitors. His friends/defenders include Ambrosio, a shepherd, and Vivaldo, a hidalgo who saves Grisóstomo's poems of unrequited love from the fire * Marcela, a young woman who escapes her suiters by becoming a shepherdess. At Grisóstomo's funeral, she rejects that she is to blame, stating that her beauty does not oblige her to accept the affections of any of the men who are enraptured by her. * Juan Haldudo, a peasant, and Andres (Andrés), his mistreated servant. * Maria Zoraida, the daughter of a wealthy merchant in Algiers who is a Christian convert. She escaped Algiers with some captured Christians via boat. * Maritornes, a half-blind servant girl at the inn in which Quixote stayed in. She is unwittingly involved in a brawl in the middle of the night through a complex series of misunderstandings. * Montesinos and Durandarte, heroes whom Quixote claims to have seen when he descended into a cave. * Nicholas the barber (Maese Nicolás), Don Quixote's friend * Pedro Alonso, a neighbor of Quixote. * Pedro Perez the priest, who, along with Antonia, orders nearly all of Don Quixote's books burnt in hopes of curing him of his delusions (I:6) *
Ricote Ricote is a Spanish municipality in the autonomous community of Murcia. It has a population of 1,509 (2004) and an area of 87.7 km2. Ricote had a community of Moriscos until their expulsion from Spain in 1609. Govert Westerveld Westerveld, ...
, a
Morisco Moriscos (, ; pt, mouriscos ; Spanish for "Moorish") were former Muslims and their descendants whom the Roman Catholic church and the Spanish Crown commanded to convert to Christianity or face compulsory exile after Spain outlawed the open p ...
friend of Sancho, banned from Spain, but returned as a German pilgrim. Father of Ana Félix, a fervent Christian maid, who separately returns from Berbery to Spain. * Teresa (also named Juana or Joana) Panza the wife of Sancho Panza, who thinks that Sancho will become rich through being a squire, but does not think he should be a governor. *Sanchica (also named Mari Sancha), the daughter of Sancho Panza who is beautiful, but works hard and is poor. * Bachelor Samson Carrasco, Don Quixote's friend who jousts with him disguised as a rival knight, in an effort to get him to return home. *The Knight of the Wood (also known as The Knight of the Mirrors) Bachelor Samson in disguise as a knight. he lost the joust with Don Quixote the first time and won it the second time. Once he won, Don Quixote had to stop being a knight for a year and Don Quixote died of depression. * Don Sancho de Azpeitia, a Biscayne squire who cuts part of Don Quixote's ear off in a sword fight (I:9) * Ruy Perez, a Spanish sailor who was held captive by the moors and escaped back to Spain with the help of Zoraida, also called Maria, a Moorish young lady who decided to convert to Christianity. * Juan Pérez de Viedma, the brother of Ruy Perez; Clara de Viedma, the daughter of Juan Pérez; Don Luis, a young man in love with Clara de Viedma * Tom Cecial (Tomé Cecial), a neighbor of Sancho and the squire of Samson Carrasco, when he is disguised as "The Knight of the Mirrors". * Don Diego de Miranda, a learned hidalgo who hosts Quixote and Sancho at his home; Don Lorenzo, his son, an aspiring poet. * Altisidora, a young woman in the court of the Duchess, who pretends that she loves Quixote. * Doña Rodriguez de Grijalba, a
duenna A chaperone (also spelled chaperon) in its original social usage was a person who for propriety's sake accompanied an unmarried girl in public; usually she was an older married woman, and most commonly the girl's own mother. In modern social u ...
in the court of the Duchess; Tosilos, a lackey sent by the Duchess to fight with Quixote * Roque Guinart, a fictional version of the Catalan bandit
Perot Rocaguinarda Perot may refer to: People * Ross Perot (1930–2019), United States business leader and presidential candidate * H. Ross Perot, Jr. (born 1958), United States businessman and son of Ross Perot * Alfred Pérot (1863–1925), French physicist * ...
. * Don Antonio Moreno, Quixote's host in Barcelona. *
Lothario Lothario is a male given name that came to suggest an unscrupulous seducer of women, based upon a character in ''The Fair Penitent'', a 1703 tragedy by Nicholas Rowe.
, Anselmo, Camilla and Leonela are characters in "The Ill-Advised Curiosity", a story embedded in the first volume of Quixote.


Unnamed but important characters

* The Duke and The Duchess, a couple of
Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to sou ...
ese aristocrats who invite Don Quixote and Sancho to their castle, where they "amuse" themselves by playing all sorts of humiliating pranks on them. * Don Quixote's housekeeper, who carries out the book-burning with alacrity and relish. * The innkeeper who puts Don Quixote up for the night and agrees to dub him a "knight," partly in jest and partly to get Don Quixote out of his inn more quickly, only for Don Quixote to return later, with a large number of people in tow. His wife and daughter also play pranks on Don Quixote. * The innkeeper's wife who does not enjoy the presence of Don Quixote and Sancho, but likes to deceive them. * The innkeeper's daughter loves the books of chivalry and talks the priest into reading one of the books. She also loves to prank Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.


Characters from chivalry romances

Don Quixote interprets in his delirium everyday items as fantastic props from the characters of
chivalry romance As a literary genre, the chivalric romance is a type of prose and verse narrative that was popular in the noble courts of High Medieval and Early Modern Europe. They were fantastic stories about marvel-filled adventures, often of a chivalric ...
s: *
Mambrino Mambrino was a fictional Moorish king, celebrated in the romances of chivalry. His first appearance is in the late fourteenth-century ''Cantari di Rinaldo'', also known as ''Rinaldo da Monte Albano'', ''Rinaldo Innamorato'' or ''Innamoramento di R ...
's helmet. Actually a barber basin. *
Fierabras Fierabras (from French: ', "brave/formidable arm") or Ferumbras is a fictional Saracen knight (sometimes of gigantic stature) appearing in several '' chansons de geste'' and other material relating to the Matter of France. He is the son of Balan ...
' balm. A concoction that would heal any wound but actually has ill effects on Don Quixote and Sancho.


See also

*''
Don Quixote is a Spanish epic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615, its full title is ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'' or, in Spanish, (changing in Part 2 to ). A founding work of Wester ...
'' * Cultural influence of ''Don Quixote'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Don Quixote Characters, List Of Lists of fictional characters